Front Bumper Clearance Issues, Drift or BC2

Jutzi420 · Post by **Jutzi420** » June 14th, 2006, 6:54 pm

I've been debating a body kit install for a couple years now. Right now I'm just rockin a GS lip and mud guards all the way around. I'd love to get either a Drift of a BC2 front end for my car but I'm a little wary of scraping. My car has a Tokico/H&R combo and my GS lip is about 4 and 1/4 inches off the pavement. I've been driving it so long I rarely have problems hittin even on steep grades.

So, question, can anyone with either of those bumpers and the same spings/struts lemme know what their clearance is? Failing that, what about the total height of the bumper? That way I could get a better idea how much I'm gonna drop.

Thanks.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » June 15th, 2006, 3:16 am

The drift has about that same clearance on stock springs. So subtract what you dropped and you know what clearance you will have with the drift bumper. They are super low...

Bling Bling · Post by **Bling Bling** » June 15th, 2006, 8:16 am

Yes they are low. I wanted to lower my car but I have difficulty with curbs and steep approaches. Unless you don't have them to worry about, go with a different front then the drift. But they look so damm sexy

Jutzi420 · Post by **Jutzi420** » June 15th, 2006, 2:10 pm

Anyone have experience with the bc2? does it have better clearance than the drift?

Jutzi420 · Post by **Jutzi420** » June 15th, 2006, 2:40 pm

Streetconcept: Ground clearance is 4.25" in the front and 3.5" on the side in front of the tire...

...Yes the ground clearance is on an eibach pro kit lowered mx3

I just dug this up, Corksport claims that the Eibach will drop the front 1.3". If that's true then the drift should have a clearance of roughly 5.5" front and 4.8" side stock. With H&R springs I should only lose another quarter inch.

At least that's how the math works out, Most of what I've read leads me to believe that the drift is lower, Anyone out there with a Drift of BC2 have a tape measure handy?

Legato626 · Post by **Legato626** » June 15th, 2006, 8:09 pm

I have BC2 bumper and I lowered my car. I live in North Dakota and its a battle every day to keep my bumper in one peace. But I can get around really good on my bumpy roads. When I Auto X race I even have enough clearance not to worry about scraping the bumper. But when it does scrape its under the bumper you cannot see it with out looking under it.

Bling Bling · Post by **Bling Bling** » June 15th, 2006, 9:31 pm

I just measured my drift front and I have 5.5" clearance. I am running OEM springs and struts.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » June 16th, 2006, 1:59 am

You need to go back to school. When DROPPING the car you would take away or subtract from the clearance not add to it.
First you don't have enough info to properly figure it out in any event. (unless I missed something)
Second, you do have enough info to tell what the drift would have with a Eibach kit, but that doesn't help since you use H&R not Eibach.
So with the info you have you can tell that the stock bumper and lip have 4 1/4 inch clearance. Eibachs lower 1.3 inches in the front. So if we use our word problem solving skills we coudl say that we have 4.25 minus the drop of 1.3 which leaves us with 2.9 inches of clearance with a stock bumper and Eibach springs.
Note that it has nothing to do with a drift bumper or H&R springs so it helps you zip...
Or we have a person who sais that his car has 5.5 inches of clearance with the drift and stock springs. (I doubt his tape measuring skills though since I have seen a drift on stock springs and it has alot less that 5.5 inches) So that with that info we could say that a drift with Eibach has 4.2 inches clearance. CRAZY how it has 1.3 inches more clearance than a stock bumper with Eibachs.
Impossible since the stock bumper is not lower than the drift bumper...

Jutzi420 · Post by **Jutzi420** » June 16th, 2006, 8:43 am

Sorry, I forgot to add the drop Corksport claims for the H&Rs, 1.5 inches. And that quoted text was refering to clearance on eibachs with the drift bumper, as claimed by the guys building it. Also, I didn't mention it in my "math" post, but in my first post (and my sig) I stated that I'm already dropped on H&Rs.

Sooo..... if Eibachs drop 1.3 inches, and H&R's drop 1.5 inches, that means my setup is 0.2 inches lower. I rounded to one quarter just to make it easier.

Ok, now 4.25 minues 0.25. That'd be roughly 4 inches of clearance. My first post stated that I measured 4.25 with my GS lip. And that's how I came to the conclusion that I'd only lose another quarter inch of clearance.

I was a little rushed with that last post, I hope that fills in all the holes.

oh yea, It'd be nice to know the total height of the drift, then clearance could be easily estimated by anybody.

Bling Bling · Post by **Bling Bling** » June 16th, 2006, 9:46 am

Or we have a person who sais that his car has 5.5 inches of clearance with the drift and stock springs. (I doubt his tape measuring skills though since I have seen a drift on stock springs and it has alot less that 5.5 inches)

Are you calling me a liar PatDiesel

I have the car in MY garage ... oh... I actually use a tape measure everyday. Perhaps taking someone elses word for it might be a step in the right direction from coming down from your GODLINESS stature.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » June 16th, 2006, 10:15 am

I'm no God. I'm stating what I've seen and only giving my opinion so that the guy looking to buy a bumper doesn't get one that will basically drag the ground without any elevation changes. I have no idea how you have more ground clearance than a stock bumper, but whatever.
I did say that I doubt your mearuments, not that you are wrong. I'm not on here to bash or call anyone a liar, only to help where I can. Don't you find it funny that you have more clearance than a stock bumper. You HAVE the drift front end and surely you agree that it looks lower than the stock bumper.
So we have an issue of one of a few things. Either you measured wrong, your springs are taller by a decent amount than the ones that the guy riding the stock bumper are (which is possible, Mazda made a few different springs for the MX. I don't know the difference in the springs, but it very well could be ride heigth) or lastly there is something wrong with the stock guys measurements (although it sounds about right if memory serves me).

Bling Bling · Post by **Bling Bling** » June 16th, 2006, 10:42 am

I appologize about being condecending. I actually did not know that our rides had different stock springs giving different heights. I know that my springs are OEM and the front does look lower than stock ( with the drift front ). But the matter at hand is clearance. In Alberta, or Canada for that matter, we have ugly weather, crazy curbs ( like big a$$ speed bumps, and poor approaches into malls, stores, or any businesses for that matter. I'm not sure that lowering my car would be smart with my kit here. Are the approaches, curbs, etc different in your state(s)? I would love to bring it closer to the ground but worried I'll lose parts somewhere.

Jutzi420 · Post by **Jutzi420** » June 16th, 2006, 2:15 pm

Bling Bling, looks like you have close to 6" there. If that's the case and you dropped it an inch and a half you'd have roughly the same ground clearance as me. I've been driving the car 4 and a quarter off the ground at the front for almost 5 years now in Kitchener Waterloo area. Yeah, my bumper will hit a curb, but I don't have a problem with speed bumps (take em under 10). Also, I haven't found a steep drive yet that I can't get into, drive in at a sharp angle and you're fine (once again, slow)

Make sure your struts are in good condition tho, if they're wore and you're gettin too much travel outta them you could have issues.

Jutzi420 · Post by **Jutzi420** » June 16th, 2006, 2:19 pm

As a side note, what are you doing for turn signals Bling Bling? I didn't notice any in the pics.

Legato626 · Post by **Legato626** » June 16th, 2006, 8:24 pm

after lowering my car I was about 3-4in from the ground. Plus this bumper is so much better looking!!