Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

OK so I stupidly went out and got a hot looking front bar for my R34 before getting my suspension done. The bar scrapes just a touch on my drive way no matter how I seem to turn the wheel. Once I was able to get in without scraping but I cant figure out what I did right! Now my car is back from the shop getting the SK kit fitted and it will be lower again (not by much but maybe 1 inch). The drive way is a dip basically. Our road is curved in the centre and then the drive way banks up over the pavement before flattening out in our property. So you can see my issue. Over speed bumps I know to go at an angle and all is fine but I need to know how to go at an angle and then when to turn back straight or opposite to get over such dips without killing my kit? Suggestions?

If worst comes to worst I might need to install a metal grill between the road and the drive way to even out the angle. But that might be overkill!

I have a very steep driveway so here's how I get in / out, but its only possible because my driveway is really wide, it can fit two cars side by side (nearly :yes:).

On the way out: drive onto the nature strip, reverse back on a sharp angle to stick the rear towards the road, then change it the other way full lock, I often do drive a little onto the other side of the kerb because the rear of the car is high enough off the ground. Sometimes forwards / backwards one more time to get the angle right and then gently across the road and it just makes it.

Getting in, completely different, I drive on the wrong side of the road because one side of the driveway is less steep then the other, turn late and sharp and the bar *just* makes it (and I"m heading straight for the wall so I stop, I then reverse and go in the 2nd turn :)

Every driveway is different, I've seen a few people make ramps (usually illegal under council law) and someone who had a WRX had a "cross over" built by his council (cost some serious $$$), another person got a free cross over made because she was near a council that did it for free :)

Personally I'm really tempted to pull out a ramp and drive onto it and take it away afterward.

Oh how lows your car? My one was 8cm from the ground when I put the Japanese suspension in, raised it to 13.5 and now its about 11.5 or 10.5 at the front bar...

Good luck!

My one is pretty much sitting 10cm at the front and sides but the shape of my front bar sticks out at the lip which caused me a lot of grief during my first couple months owning the car (I had to eventually get it re-fiberglassed + resprayed). I still occasionally sand the paint underneath from scraping some driveways but nothing too drastic.

I live in a cul-de-sac with a very steep curb but mastered it by just keeping in mind to take a big angle. For some of the driveways with dips, you could also try reversing in. Some driveways you may just have to completely avoid altogether. It's just part of having a lowered car.

Hang in there...

P.S. There is no shame in getting a mate to step outside and check as you attempt to drive up. Sure, onlookers might think you are a wank, but at the end of the day you are saving unnecessary stress and money!

just smash it up there and keep repairing the bumper haha, nah the best way is just go up it at an almost parrallel angle it helps when you have wide wheels that stick out the guards because they go up the curb before the bumper hits

Well guys, got the car back today. Its about 1cm lower than it was before (just purrrrfect), and low and behold, it doesnt scrape AT ALL!

Guess the lower back end and harder suspension helped!

i have the worst driveway in aust...an extremely steep twisting item that i have to put the Jeep in 4wd to reverse it up.

thats why i have a high ride height drag car not a gutter scraping circuit item.

Dirtgarage, that driveway sounds dangerous, for any non-4WD on my driveway you can't attempt to drive straight in without angle to you hear a scraping sound (in stock cars its often the rear).

videospace, glad to hear you got it in, I ended up getting my bar re-fiberglassed and re-sprayed and I've been very very careful since then...it wasn't really bad damage but enough scratches to get to me :)

just smash it up there and keep repairing the bumper haha, nah the best way is just go up it at an almost parrallel angle it helps when you have wide wheels that stick out the guards because they go up the curb before the bumper hits

not if you run stretched tyres tho :)

Have a look at the gutter and slope of the road. I put a thick board in the gutter and that gave me the 1" I needed to clear when leaving. Roads are purposely crowned to drain the water away to the gutters. For me the clearance problem was simply coming off the lip of the driveway into the gutter. That 1" drop caused the bar to drop down onto the slope of the road.

I got some 2" x 12" from the lumber store and put two sections out on the road.

I worked pretty well until the first big rain - I live on a hill.

Since then I've changed the suspension to put the car to only 1" lower than stock.

When I get on my other computer I'll show a picture of the driveway hell I went through. My driveway has a steep slope down and to keep the water at the top the previous owner created a sharp crest up then down. Everything bar my 4-runner got high centred on it. So it took a 2 weekends of kanga hammering and rebar cutting to remove the crest to a plateau.

Ah, what we do for the love of our cars.

I've just moved into a place with a driveway that a standard commodore can scrape its front bar on! I haven't tried with the skyline yet because it's still off getting work done but i'm not looking forward to it :blush:

i havnt even bothered with my driveway, Its narrow, steep and short and isnt even from one side to the other. my mate in a vy commo tore his muffler off coming into it, his is lowered a little but nothing compared to my gtr. my gf suzuki swift scraps front on coming down it and they are a short car...

ill have to post a pic one of these days...

I feel your pain.

Start on a 45 degree angle (pointed right), slowly bring it back to 45 degree left and slowly over the top rise.

I can have either my 2 dogs, or 1 passenger under 100kg in the passenger seat else I scrape exhaust tip on the bottom and the front pipe over rise (worse with 3" exhaust).

If I have a car load of people, they all get turfed at the bottom and have to walk up. 40C or 14C with hail = GTFO and walk up.

Part of the reason we are moving next week :)

Even my wife's Magna has been known to scrape and we had mates who were going to back their HiLux up, but couldn't clear the towball.

Edited by iamhe77
  • 11 years later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Thanks for all the replies fellas. Gonna finish putting it back together and see how it handles the set up. If it starts pinging it’ll be parked.
    • Well, I can recommend the partial AV system translation CD I ordered from Car Audio Workshop in NZ. Whilst it didn't address the date issue, it has conveniently translated on-screen menu items into English, and now allows the GPS-received time to be offset in hours rather than minutes, so I can display Eastern Australian time accurately ( and bump it by another hour when daylight savings starts ).
    • Yuh, if it's 45°C outside, my car is driving in it.
    • I'd be curious to hear more. Otherwise, have you driven a modern x-trail? I wonder how it compares. Here in Australia they are/were popular for rentals and fleet vehicles. I have been in some and my impression was they are bad. But, this may have been very different in the 2000s at a good trim level. Twenty years is plenty of time to make the model worse. I do very much agree with the 2 silver cars in the garage approach. But, not driving because it's too hot would not leave a lot of time in the year for many Australians. I don't think you need to worry too much unless the car has actual issues with overheating. 
    • Back again. I returned to Japan in Jul/Aug to spend time with the car on my birthday and remind myself what all the sacrifice and compromise is for. It happened to line up with the monthly morning meet in Okutama, which I have been wanting to go to for a long time. It's a unique event at a unique spot with really rare, interesting, and quirky cars. It's where all the oldheads and OGs gather. The nighttime scene at DKF certainly has its place and should be experienced if you're into cars, but there's too much bad attention and negativity around it now. IMO the better time is Sunday morning at DKF or Okutama; it's more chill and relaxed. I'm glad I was finally able to go, but not sure it's worth the drive from all the way from Nagoya immediately the day before, unless I was already staying in Tokyo for the days right before the meet, because you have to wake up quite early to make it in time. Funnily enough though I didn't drive the car all that much this trip because it was just too damn hot. While there were zero issues and running temps were nominal and the A/C was strong, RBs already run crazy hot as it is. Sure, it took it all like a champ but something about driving these cars in the ridiculous heat/humidity bothers me and makes me feel like I'm asking too much of it. I'm just me being weird and treating the car like a living thing with feelings; I'm mechanically sympathetic to a fault. Instead I was mainly driving something else around - a KX4(silver) 2001 X-Trail GT, that I acquired in May. There's a few different flavors to choose from with Xs, but visually it's the Nissan version of the Honda CR-V. Mechanically it's a whole different story as this, being the top-trim GT, has an SR20VET mated to a four-speed auto and full-time AWD! It was a very affordable buy in exceptional condition inside and out, with very low mileage...only 48k kms. Most likely it was owned by an older person who kept it garaged and well-maintained, so I'm really happy with how it all worked out. It literally needs zero attention at the moment, albeit except for some minor visual touch-ups. I wanted something quirky, interesting, and practical and for sure it handily delivers on all three of those aspects. I was immediately able to utilize the cargo and passenger capacity to its full extent. It's a lot of fun to drive and is quite punchy through 1st and 2nd. It's very unassuming -in the twisty bits it's a lot more composed than one would think at a glance- and it'll be even better once I get better tires on it(yes, it's an SUV but still a little boat-y for my liking). So...now I have two golden-era Nissans in silver. One sports car and one that does everything else; the perfect two-car solution I think👍 The rest of the trip...I was able to turn my stressed brain off and enjoy it, although I didn't quite get to do as much as I thought. I did some interesting things, met some interesting people, and happened into some interesting situations however, that's all for another post though only if people really want to know. Project-wise, I went back to Mine's again to discuss more plans and am hoping to wrap that up real soon; keep watching this space if that interests you. Additionally, while working in the tormenting sweatbox that is the warehouse, I was able to organize most of the myriad of parts that my friend is storing for me along with the cars, and the 34 has a nice little spot carved out for it: And since it can get so stupid hot in there, that made it all the more easy -after I was standing there looking at the car and said 'f**k it'- to finally remove all the damn gauges that have mostly been an eyesore all this time. Huzzah. The heat basically makes the adhesive backing on the gauge mounts more pliable to work with, so it was far less stressful getting this done. I didn't fully clean it up or chase the wiring though; that will happen once I have the car in closer possession. Another major reason to remove all that stuff is to give people less reasons to get in my car and steal s**t while it's being exported/imported when/if the time comes, which leads us to my next point... ...and that is even though it's time in Japan is technically almost up since it's a November car and the X would be coming in March, I'm still not entirely sure where my life and career is headed; I don't really know what the future looks like and where I'm going to end up. I feel there's a great deal of uncertainty with me and as a result of that, it feels like I'm at a crossroads moreso now than any point in my life thus far and there are some choices I need to make. Yes, I've had some years to consider things and prepare myself, however too much has happened in that time to maintain confidence and everything feels so up in the air; tenuous one might say. Simply put, there's just too much nonsense going on right now from multiple vectors. Admittedly, I'm struggling to stay in the game and keep my eyes on the prize. So much so in fact, that very recently I came the closest I ever have before to calling it quits outright; selling everything and moving on and not looking back. The astute among you will pick up on key subtext within this paragraph. In the meantime I've still managed to slowly acquire some final bits for the car, but it feels nice knowing there's not much left to get and I'm almost across that finish line; I have almost everything I'll ever want for my interpretation and expression on what it is I think an R34 should be. 'til later.
×
×
  • Create New...