Check the dropped thread. You'll see many examples of Miata's at their peak performing height.

 

Oh
Dear
God

This thread is going to end poorly and with a mod lock before the weekend...

 

If your lower control arms are parallel to the ground, thats a good performance height. This gives you the best range of adjustment for the other alignment parameters, and is generally a sweet spot for low and suspension travel.

 

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=26208&highlight=track+style

 

That depends on what size wheels you have, say if you're running 19x5.5, you could easily achieve a credit card gap and retain ground clearance. This is what most of the people here do, most of the pictures in the "slammed" thread are photoshops and simply fake.

 

Well, where do you live? I am in CT and I can pull slammed off with a butterfly brace robbing me of 1.5" of clearance. I would say between 12" (lowest) and 12.75" (makes control arms parallel with the pavement on my 90).

Going lower than 12" (from fender to center of hub) you start to really screw up geometry and your car can act undesirably in some situations which would force you to drive slowly everywhere or something.

Also read emilio's stuff on handling, it is good

BAM: http://949racing.com/miataracealignmentinfo.aspx

 

There are alot of fast miatas that run lower than 12" hub to fender.

 

i have my car set up at 4 1/4 in front and 4 1/2 in rear i dont scrape anything still looks good and handles very well.

i do 5.30 down backside at gmr with my set up. on used tires i found

 

Oh excellent! Let's all post up our touge times to prove our car handles better dumped.
:fp:



I cry for CR.net.

 

oh and what i mean by thoes measurements is from the gound to the pinch weld where you jack the car up with the scissor jack.

 

 

lol

 

Probably could have had a 5.29 if that ground strap wasn't causing so much friction ... no? or is that banana drift charm?

 

keep about 1/2 inch tire to fender and you will be ok.

 

The one in front is stock height, the one in back is a little lower.

VVVV​

 

I was running at 11 1/2" from Hub to fender on my NA for a few months, Then the speed bumps in my complex were re paved. I had to raise the NA to 12" Hub to fender to not scrape going over them even while crawling. It does ride smoother now and still looks good.

 

Dropped is the new slammed.

 

+1, everyone loves a cherry undercarriage. i should have never slammed my car.

 

Wow thanks for the feedback guys! didn't expect so many replies, a lot of good information I will have to read through in between classes and work. As mentioned my two main concerns are:

#1 - The car scraping, this makes no sense to me, especially being a college student and being only able to afford one car I want to take care of it, not damage it! (excluding cone damage heh).

#2 - What wheel size fits in the practical category. I have been looking at V2 competition's wheels (13x8) and the ever over used 15x8 0. Does 15x8 0 fall under the "impractical" category, or it's actually a decent track/streetable size for our cars (NA model)? I have yet to read if anyone tracks 15x8 -0 or anything (and I read quite a bit forums).

 

what i mean by scraping the car is.

when you go over speed bumps in a parking lot or something and you scrap your frame rails,exhaust or something under your car.The best is when driving on the freeway and there is a drop when you go over a bridge or something and you bend the rear diff support bar like i did.

 

dude if you scrape. it means your not low enough. go lower.

 

Here's my dropped roadster

 

don't listen to anyone, just lower it how you want, and DRIVE.

 

XDEEDUBBX - stop that... you keep making me want some for daily!

 

i love you too:mrgreen:

 

Is there a medium point of of 'practical' low or rather a functional medium point?

Really I think it all has to do with you. Do you know how to drive a lowered/slammed car? Do you feel you should be able to exit EVERY driveway without risking ripping off your front lip? What kind of roads do you drive? Big speedbumps you just can't avoid? (ie. Where you live, or work?) Once you answer these questions, then you can figure out how low you can go.

I was a lot lower before and it was too much for me. There were many places I couldn't even attempt to go. I finally raised it a little and now I can clear most obstacles with little to no scraping. For me it's acceptable now, for others it would still be too much. I think it just depends on you.

 

Really I think it all has to do with you. Do you know how to drive a lowered/slammed car? Do you feel you should be able to exit EVERY driveway without risking ripping off your front lip? What kind of roads do you drive? Big speedbumps you just can't avoid? (ie. Where you live, or work?) Once you answer these questions, then you can figure out how low you can go.

^^^ this!!

Ive always thought it was retarded to ask other people what to do with your car, i mean its YOUR car so YOU decide so dont let anyone tell you what to with it, do some research and find what works for you.

 

the real answer is .
as low as you can go and still have clearance .
tire clearance to clear your fenders.
ground clearance to turn at full compression without slamming pavement
shock clearance so you dont bottom out on your bump stops prematurely

 

A+ perfect answer

 

^ well, he WOULD know best . . .