VIP for DD is it even real??

New to the VIP world but have modded lots of cars. Looking at getting a ls430 and doing it up. My only concern is, this is going to be my daily driver and can not be buying tires every 3 months. Basically looking at bags and some nice wheels. Is it possible to have the wheels cambered in when layed out and a little straighter when aired up to ride height.  I would have to get aggressive wheels and don't want to pay the price for negative camber. Plus I have my son riding in it and dont need blowouts

Sorry I don't have a direct answer for you... But I just picked up my LS a couple days ago. Doing all the maintenance int he next couple weeks.

It is my daily and it will be a vip car. Air bags, camber, wheels, interior, everything. I'm a college student without a job, still going to do what I want. 

I have also read a lot of owners using theirs as a dd. 

Personally, I think the biggest issue isn't the car itself, but the people who want to mess with it when it's parked...

tire wear is all due to your alignment.

Bags, well they can be notorious since it is almost impossible to keep it at the ride height that it was when it was aligned. Bags also can be softer than coilovers, and can cause tire shaving by the wheel moving up and down a lot more while driving and not keeping a true dialed in alignment. You can spend a lot of money and get a really really good iphone control for your bag setup so you can get the right height every time. but, air psi varies a lot depending on temps. So if you think such and such psi is good to drive at, it may not be the correct one since it could be colder out making your 50psi be more like 45 or if its hot its more or what have you.

I think bags have to way to much variation to keep anything correct. It is cool to have to lay out the car for sure. But now days, you can get coilovers with a cup kit on top to raise the car to get over things. But maintaining a predictable ride that Coils give you.

I say, go for it. I like to daily my F50. Even in under construct mode. Now that I got my other car back I can put it under the knife again. I love the craziness of it, and i love reping what most people dont understand and like to teach them about it. So i say VIP daily!

Look at what a lot of others do to their cars that daily them. Most of them arent as jdm style as low as you can go, but very good for the streets and locations they live.

I daily my F50 on air, stretched tires slight camber lol. Knock on wood so far so good lol. As for my airride... Mine feels like coilovers and I'm happy :)

how is it on tires though? and how much of a tolerance can you run at ride height?

Daily my merc...except winter...put 8k mi on tires - almost no wear whatsoever and I usually drive dumped...luckily never had to do any alignment (knock on wood)..I think it depends on suspension,tire and.rim brand and spec and of course how low or high u drive....:biggthumpup:

[QUOTE=Kouki Monster;432387]tire wear is all due to your alignment.
 
Bags, well they can be notorious since it is almost impossible to keep it at the ride height that it was when it was aligned. Bags also can be softer than coilovers, and can cause tire shaving by the wheel moving up and down a lot more while driving and not keeping a true dialed in alignment. You can spend a lot of money and get a really really good iphone control for your bag setup so you can get the right height every time. but, air psi varies a lot depending on temps. So if you think such and such psi is good to drive at, it may not be the correct one since it could be colder out making your 50psi be more like 45 or if its hot its more or what have you.
 
I think bags have to way to much variation to keep anything correct. It is cool to have to lay out the car for sure. But now days, you can get coilovers with a cup kit on top to raise the car to get over things. But maintaining a predictable ride that Coils give you.
 
I say, go for it. I like to daily my F50. Even in under construct mode. Now that I got my other car back I can put it under the knife again. I love the craziness of it, and i love reping what most people dont understand and like to teach them about it. So i say VIP daily!
 
Look at what a lot of others do to their cars that daily them. Most of them arent as jdm style as low as you can go, but very good for the streets and locations they live.[/QUOTE]
 
I do air bag suspension on a daily basis.. With the introduction of Accuair years ago, you can run on air and keep your car as aligned as any car thats static with the e-level system.
 
All you do is have the car aligned at the ride height, so that even when you park it low, when you drive it it goes back to the pre set height and therfore goes back to the proper alignment.. Every cars alignment will change over time, and having adjustable suspension may cause it to go out of alignment quiker, but the change in alignment would still be minimal.
 
Air makes life easy, If its a daily drive I would deffinately say do it.

lets say you drive low, park even lower. I mean drive low like how you would with coils, meaning super fitted not air it up so you have a 1 inch gap all around. To achieve a good ride quality, would you lower the bag so when you inflate to ride height the bag is almost fully filled with air, and to get over things you inflate it all the way to get over said obstacle? Other wise you do not have enough air in bag to work with the shock and have a super saggy ride or, possible over bouncy one

It all comes down to what struts you are using.. And how much work you are willing to do to drive it extremely low.
 
Where there is a will there is a way.

I Daily my F50 and I'm at -13 rear and -4 front on AccuAir/ UA bags. 
and I have a toddle son and he goes with me on short trips (no frwy) .Take my wifes car for the regular daily trips with the my son. 
 
But tire wear just get it aligned and also go big or go home this is VIP bro!
tire wear is part of the game when it comes to cambered life! And I love it rolling down the streets and people taking pics and videos, breaking there necks looking like :eek2: daily!! lol Good luck on your build!

i daily mine on coils, so air would be much easier. your tire production will be in direct relation to how aggressive you wheels setup is and the camber that you use. take it easy and stau high in the offset range= long tire life. go hard and run some sick negative offset wheels on that car= new tires every couple of months.

[QUOTE=Kouki Monster;432400]how is it on tires though? and how much of a tolerance can you run at ride height?[/QUOTE]

Well so far so good lol. I usually drive with the front 1 inch from lip to fender and the rear 1/4 inch lip to fender and it still rides great no caddilac saggy ride lol. :biggthumpup:

Here in texas, some Brake Check's have low in ground racks, and you can  buy an 115 buck alignment which is life time, and come in anytime you  want and get it realigned for 4 bucks(for as long as you own the car),  pretty good if your changing suspension geometry, dialing everything  in.  I have coilovers, but it sounds like it would be a good investment  for people with air, especially if you daily.

Daily driver, I drop my son at Kindergaten every day, -6º camber front/rear (pretty much -6f / -5r), scrape every speed bump, occasionally get stuck going in / out of driveways and have to "smoke" the tires to get in / out, it's not a big deal really.  It's all up to wether you want to make it happen or not.

what do you scrape on? is it actual body of car or the exhaust? I am no where near hitting body, but i removed all cats and the only resonator is the one in the center, and i hit that. and the rest of the exhaust out back hangs kinda low

only thing i scrape is front bumper/jack points/exhaust. oh and side skirts.

I scrape front bumper and side skirts. Every now and then i hit the two side rail frames and Cats. One of my cats is going out becuse of it :sad:
 I hear it jinglin' like its christmas or Something

Adrian & iryde: Ever thought about bolting skid rails underside? I just bought 6meters of square  steel tubing to build my rails that I'm going to bolt on the frame rails. The plan is that they'll hang a couple mm's lower than my sideskirts, so I don't have worry about fucking up my kit when going over dips/obstacles...

I've used subframe connectors in the same manner.
 
All I can say on this topic is the more you build for your purpose the better your experience will be.

[QUOTE=OG;432969]
All I can say on this topic is the more you build for your purpose the better your experience will be.[/QUOTE]

best answer to this thread imo.

^ I agree it makes complete sense but IMO that answer is so vague it probably does not help the OP that much.

Hey Turboedsupe, welcome to the forums. If you are looking for a setup that will allow normal camber specs at a higher ride height, and still provide somewhat comfortable ride, a quality bag kit from a reputable brand with something like e-level (or similar) should work great. You would set a higher ride height for daily driving, get a proper alignment at the higher ride height, drive the car at the higher ride height, and extreme tire wear from excessive camber will not be a major issue. Then when you park the car, and lower the air setup, the wheels will naturally camber in, and give it that cambered look when you park. In the VIP scene this is called rolling 4x4 and parking hard. Some people view this setup as being "weak" but I wouldn't pay much attention. Build the car to do what you want it to do, forget about haters (thats my motto)

The controversy here, and why there are so many differing opinions, is when you want to ride low. That's when it really becomes an issue of how extreme you want to go, and what you're willing to sacrafice. If this is you, then its a completely different story, and I would recommend spending some time on the forums here to learn more about different setup's so that you can determine which one is best for you. Good luck!!

it was a vauge statement on purpose. too many people would take it personallly otherwise. a purpose built street car will err on the side of caution, a purpose built show car will throw caution to the wind. i have encountered more than a couple cars where the owner has persuid a show build, but when the reality of daily driving hits they are unhappy and either lose interest or rebuild. everyone is so quick to steer people in the direction they want them to go that they don't take the time to listen to/consider the owner's needs. i spend a lot of time on the phone with people from accross the country that have been completely sold on something, only to find out it's the furthest thing from what they need.
 
my rules for street cars:
 
function = form. it's dumb to make a daily car undrivable. you need to find a balance. putting in work on the functional side will often give you a little more leeway on the form side. alternatively, focusing on the form aspect will often leave you coming up short on the functional side. foundation is key, yet frequently overlooked.
 
durability/dependability are the names of the game. that urethane bumper will probably be ok on the streets, that fiberglass kit that sits 3" lower than stock probably won't. that air system will fail in some catastrophic way (tolerances vary, but generally) eventually, those coilovers probably won't. that 235 on a 10 will probably be aight, that 235 on a 12... just a matter of time.
 
prepare for the worst. don't take anyone's word for it, everything is subject to a freak accident at any given time. ask yourself "what's going to happen if this fails?". are you prepared to deal with a blown bag, ruptured line, unseated tire, etc on the side of the road. short of having a shop's worth of inventory and tools on hand at all times the answer is no.
 
have a plan b. it sucks to get stuck. i.e packing a small tool kit to go accross town, a large tool kit and spare parts to go out of town, aaa or some kind of roadside assistance, immediate access to enough cash to get you home, etc. don't assume eveything will be ok.
 
so to answer the original question, it depends on your definition of "vip" as well as your definition of "daily". no, you will not be able to reliably drive a show level build; and no, a car doesn't have to be undrivable to be vip. hope that helps... lol.

[QUOTE=OG;433024]great post[/QUOTE]

agreed on all counts -- my Q could be lower, but i also like having the flexibility of taking the car to vegas if i want to (which i just did last weekend, during which it performed admirably).

OP, you have to find your own balance of vip-style and practicality, but you won't know where that is until you start working on the car, methinks.

OG can say the word "I" and it will be taken personal lol

[QUOTE=OG;433024]it was a vauge statement on purpose. too many people would take it personallly otherwise. a purpose built street car will err on the side of caution, a purpose built show car will throw caution to the wind. i have encountered more than a couple cars where the owner has persuid a show build, but when the reality of daily driving hits they are unhappy and either lose interest or rebuild. everyone is so quick to steer people in the direction they want them to go that they don't take the time to listen to/consider the owner's needs. i spend a lot of time on the phone with people from accross the country that have been completely sold on something, only to find out it's the furthest thing from what they need.
 
my rules for street cars:
 
function = form. it's dumb to make a daily car undrivable. you need to find a balance. putting in work on the functional side will often give you a little more leeway on the form side. alternatively, focusing on the form aspect will often leave you coming up short on the functional side. foundation is key, yet frequently overlooked.
 
durability/dependability are the names of the game. that urethane bumper will probably be ok on the streets, that fiberglass kit that sits 3" lower than stock probably won't. that air system will fail in some catastrophic way (tolerances vary, but generally) eventually, those coilovers probably won't. that 235 on a 10 will probably be aight, that 235 on a 12... just a matter of time.
 
prepare for the worst. don't take anyone's word for it, everything is subject to a freak accident at any given time. ask yourself "what's going to happen if this fails?". are you prepared to deal with a blown bag, ruptured line, unseated tire, etc on the side of the road. short of having a shop's worth of inventory and tools on hand at all times the answer is no.
 
have a plan b. it sucks to get stuck. i.e packing a small tool kit to go accross town, a large tool kit and spare parts to go out of town, aaa or some kind of roadside assistance, immediate access to enough cash to get you home, etc. don't assume eveything will be ok.
 
so to answer the original question, it depends on your definition of "vip" as well as your definition of "daily". no, you will not be able to reliably drive a show level build; and no, a car doesn't have to be undrivable to be vip. hope that helps... lol.[/QUOTE]

This is the best definition yet.. I never thought about some of these issues..

yeah, its the I over plan the balance to the point of never finishing

My questions have been answered. I know modding the car will take away from some reliability. Basically I was looking for confirmation that you could align it at a higher height then have the wheels naturally camber in when laid out. Now time to find me a clean ls 430.

I daily'd my once upon a time "Vip" styled "show" car for 2 years (12K miles per year average)... I agree with OG... Build it with your expectations in mind and always have a plan for the worst... 
 
I never had a blown tire... but everything else has happened... Blown air line - fixed on the shoulder of the CrossBronxExpy during rush hour with spare fittings and line I kept stashed in the car. Blown Air bag - Just kept it moving for 30 miles until I got home (pays to have legit body work done to account for that possibility.) Etc etc... if you can think of it it happened to me. If you have the foresight to imagine the worst and plan for it, then nothing will be unbearable... 
 
I personally had Dakota Digital auto leveling system which I set my alignment on drive height and set it and forgot it... 
 
Good luck OP... just build as you wish and have fun.

I wish I had gotten the auto level.  I will add that with my setup soon.  It definitely helps once aligned, hit your preset and your good to cruise

if you can't drive it, it's not a car......................aka POSERS.

Go to a flea market and buy some cheap tires. I know the price for these tire sizes can run high, but I'm sure you could find some cheap ones, but they might not be the best.

[QUOTE=Ren335;434536]Go to a flea market and buy some cheap tires. I know the price for these tire sizes can run high, but I'm sure you could find some cheap ones, but they might not be the best.[/QUOTE]
Yo dawg that shit ain't baller, gotta be at least 2k a round every quarter  :smiley-rofl:

lots of great postes, yes u can to a point. if your wanting -10 camber, mm of the ground no u wont be able to. tires will cost you lots every year and youll prob break a few things driving so low(unless u on air). i use mine everyday, no redic camber, on air so i can drive low when i want to. granted i just had to get my exhaust redone n raised up as i hit it more than enough times, and bad alighment killed me tires a few times