There was a discussion regarding changes in the 04 suspension, with many people feeling that the car sits lower than the 02/03 MYs.

I took some pics today of an 04 on a local dealer's lot, and while it certainly appears to sit lower at first glance, measurements and a comparison to my 03 show it is not lower; if anything, it sits a little higher.

Unfortunatley, the 04 is black, so the pics of wheelwell gap do not really show up. I can tell you that the car appears to have much less gap than my 03. But, when I did some measurements, I found the following:


Center of wheel to fender Ground to fender
New 04 14.5" 26"
My 03 14.5" 25.75"


Now, the other thing I found is that the 04 tires measure more than than an inch taller than the 03s. If you do the math, you'll find that they should only be about 3/4" larger, but they are closer to 1.25". Many specs show vast differences in diameter and width between same size tires, and these 04 tires are clearly larger than what they are *supposed* to measure.

Someone in the old thread had said that they installed an 04 suspension on their 02, and that it dropped the car around an inch. I e-mailed him to try and get some pics of his install, and he e-mailed me back last Friday that he would send me them, but I haven't got them yet. If I do, I'll post them in this thread.

Conclusion: If I put tires that are 1.2" taller on my car, my overall height should go up about .6", but the 04 is not much taller than my car, suggesting that the 04 suspension is lower. However, if I were to lower my car, the distance between the fender and the center of the wheel should be smaller, and that is not the case, which suggests the 04 suspension is not lower.

So I really have no idea:).....