18 X 10's on the lowered Leaf with Megan Coilovers

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Armadillo

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2012
Messages
20
Obviously not everyone's taste but wanted to go a little different route. Went for a wheel change and dialed down the Megan coilovers some more. Wheels are staggered 18X10 with 25 mm offset on the rear with a 225/40/18 tire and 18X8.5 with 25 mm offset on the front with 215/40/18 tire. Lowered 4 inches in front and 3 inches in the rear. I added some yellow tint to the headlights, removed all of the rear emblems and blacked out the front emblem and added some camo vinyl to the front 'grill':






A little comparison to a stock Leaf -
 
Well, that drop is a little _too_ low for me but I love those wheels. I would raise it back up so the gap between the tire and wheel well is even all the way around and tint the rear windows. What are the wheels?

Overall, even with drop, that's the best looking black Leaf that I have seen. Good job, brother.
 
Thanks! The wheels are XXR 521, not a high dollar wheel. They are about the same weight as the stock 16's - fronts are 21 lbs and the rears are 22 lbs. They aren't a true 2-piece wheel but you can remove the perimeter bolts. The wheels have a black center and polished lip but I didn't really like they way they looked on the car. So I sprayed them with camo tan plasti-dip and added the NISMO center caps.
 
I have been going back and forth with the air suspension. I do have Universal Air Aerosport bags that slip over the coilovers. They just replace the spring on the coilover so you still get the dampening of the coilover and you can fine tune the ride height. But I've been having some tiny leaks in the other air lines so I took them back off to try and sort it out. I'm sure I'll go back shortly.
 
that's cool you can do all the work yourself. It saves you ton's of cash.
Maybe on the next ride, i'll look into AccuAir.
Sucks when I follow BecauseBags and see all the local cars out here on air.

makes me envious !!!
 
Armadillo -- Did you take any pix while installing your coilovers? Was it a straightforward job, or did you run into any unexpected hassles?

PS -- What can you tell us about the electric MR2? ;)
 
Yes I do have a bunch of pictures documenting the process. The kit I installed was a Megan Racing prototype of the kit they sell now. So they had me install it and document any issues I had and do a write up on the installation. I have a PDF file of the pictures and some notes I can send you. Just send me a message at [email protected] and I'll send it over to you.

It really isn't that bad since it is a full replacement of the strut, no spring compressors involved. There's only 6 bolts holding in each strut. Getting access to the bolts is the trickier part. If you have enough wobbly extensions you can remove the top three strut nuts without removing the plastic cover at the base of the windshield. But its much easier to remove the wipers which allows you to remove the plastic cover and get better access to the top 3 nuts. For the rear there's an easy way and a hard way. The easy way is to get both rear tires off the ground at the same time, remove the lower shock bolts and the torsion beam will drop down enough to release the tension on the rear springs. The hard way is one side at a time. You'll be fighting and fighting trying to get one side of the torsion beam to drop down far enough to allow you to remove the spring.

Funny you found the MR2. That was my first conversion, I built it for someone else. Here is a link to it on the EValbum site that has most of the details: http://www.evalbum.com/2234
 
Hey armadillo,
car looks good. Can you point me in the right direction? I have been looking for a set of coilovers for my leaf with no luck... I bought a set of megans on ebay but they told me 6-8 weeks and I'm here now past that and they still don't know when the would be coming in.
I just put a set of staggered xxr 550 (20x9.25 and 10.25) and the gap is killing me.
Thanks in advance
Miguel
 
Once I'm able to get some coilovers and get this lowered I'll post pics.


LeafMuranoDriver said:
Great to see a modified Leaf! Looking good!


gamboa98 - Would love to see a pic with the Leaf with 20's.
 
Sorry I wasn't receiving any notifications of replies to this thread. Did you ever get your wheels on? What size tires did you mount on those 20 inch wheels?

Did you find any available coilovers to help lower the car? Besides Megan, a couple other companies with coilovers for the Leaf are Blitz and Tein. They may have kits readily available.
 
I know this is an older post, but I am looking to do a similar setup, Megan CO's and those wheels, in Gold of course. :) Did you need to use spacers at all? What about rubbing, did you have to roll the fenders at all?

Looking to close the gap and fill it out more, but wanting to limit to CO's, wheels and tires if possible.

Thanks!
 
I didn't use any spacers as those would push the wheels out even further. Both the front and the rear have a 25 offset. The rear tires are 225/40/18 so they have some stretch which helps with the clearance. I didn't have any rubbing on my 2012 Leaf, the black one, as the fender has basically no lip. But I now have a 2016 Leaf and the rear fender has a large lip so with the rear adjusted all the way down they will rub occasionally. I fabricated a rubber bump stop to limit the suspension compression which prevents the tires from rubbing but rolling the fender would be your best bet.

For the front I have the suspension all the way down, the tires are 215/40/18. The only time they rub, and only on the inner fender liner, is if you are entering a driveway at an odd angle. I have had a previous tire of the same size, different brand, that did rub fairly often so I had to raise the suspension a 1/4 inch or so.

Here is the 2016 Leaf with the same wheels, painted a different color.

[img ][/img]
 
Awesome! Thank you so much for the reply, I have a 2017 so that lip on the fender is probably still an issue. I just got back in town so I am going to start ordering things here soon. I am in Colorado so I might not be able to lower all the way down, roads are too rough, so I might be okay.
 
Here is mine finnely got my rims and bc-racing coilovers 8,5x20 whit 225/30/20tires this is whit the coil put on the lowest setting minus counter look nut.look like the megan coils can go lower!
https://flic.kr/p/WEZ1Gb
 
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