There's a lot of things to take into consideration here.

First and formost, to obtain "Stance" you're looking at a harmonious combination of the Right amount of low, combined with the proper fitment of decent wheels.

Things to consider:

How low are you willing to drive?
Coilovers are the easiest thing to adjust aside from airbags.
What's the bolt pattern, width, height, and offset of the wheels you'd like to run
Depending on these factors; you'll determine if you'd like the "poked stretched" look, or the Tucked look, etc. Bolt pattern may require an adapter or at least wobble bolts to run it proper, many "decent" wheels run 5x114.3 which will fit with a hub ring and wobble bolts.
Are you willing to run Camber?
Some people max it out, but tire life is arguably less. It helps a bit in the rear to reduce rubbing.
What kind of tires are you planning on running?
Running a skinny tire on a fat rim is stretching. Certain levels are appropriate for certain looks.


Here's my setup:

2008 Rabbit
FK Coilovers, Height was Dialed in by Dr. Dorbritz
Corvette Sawblades (17"x8.5" Front, 17"x9.5" Rear)
with a normal offset of et56, lug pattern of 5x120.7 (GM) with MOTORSPORT-TECH.COM adapters, 20mm Thick, making my final offset around the car at et36
Falken 512 Tires (Stretched. I believe 205's on the front, 215's on the rear, don't remember sidewall height though.)
3 degrees camber (Cranked as far as it can go on stock parts) and it looks like this:

With the above setup, I DO NOT tear up fenders and i'm not even notched up front. I intend on bagging the car eventually aswell, however, it's in my taste that extremely low cars look better on an 18" wheel, which will probably lead me to buy a different set of wheels / tires.

 

thanks for your quick reply! It helps alot. I was thinking of sticking with my stock 16 inch rims and the drop form the setup im looking at is about 1.5 inches. sO I was teasing the idea of 5-7 mm in the from ant 10 mm in the back.

 

Your stock wheels are most likely +51.

I'd run 15 or 16mm in the rear.

Front... eh. I don't like front wheel spacers.

 

PSU,

Do you know where I can find an accurate picture of that kind of application?

 

I can almost guarantee you won't be happy on 16" wheels and a 1.5" drop. You've got the idea right, Drop always before wheels, but what goals do you have for the car? You'd be spending money for no reason if you buy spacers for your stock wheels, because in the future, your "baller" wheels will probably not need them or may need a different size.

I say, Drop the car, pick your wheels, and go from there. Don't get impatient, Don't cheap out. If you can't afford "good ****" right now, just wait and save up for it. You'll regret wasting money on other needless crap later down the way.

You may additionally want to consider coilovers. Even FK's give you the adjustability that in the future you may/will want, they can go as low or close to stock as you wish, and are affordable, so much so that paying for a "Cup kit" or piecing one together winds up less cost effective, and offer less options.

Even if you don't want the Stanced look, and simply want a nice, Drivable, Flush-with-meaty-tires but lower than stock "motorsport" or "Track" look, you've got the ability to Dial it in just right. With just springs, you're out of luck if you want to raise or lower it.

 

Ok, I see your point, but another question comes up. Do coilovers deliver the same handling increase or are they more for the aesthetic appeal?

 

Handling and comfort are two different things to discuss.

My FK's are not uncomfortable, but they are a bit stiffer than stock, and the H&R Cup kit that i originally put on the car.

Handling and comfort are affected by a multitude of things.

Tire Sidewall: More meat usually means a bit more forgiving, plush of a ride.
Tire Width: more "hookup", better cornering without skidding, more "rubber on the road" to stick with.
Tire brand and shape: each brand trys to bring their idea of "ideal" to the table. Some have stiffer side walls, some have squarer sidewall/patch for tighter cornering, some have tread designs that are suited best for comfort, some sacrifice comfort and road noise for contact patch and utility.
Suspension height: Typically, it's believed that handling on MacPherson Style suspension becomes worse as it's lowered.
Shock Bound / Rebound rate: how fast the suspension acts to "correct" itself can determine how stiff or sloppy it rides.
Spring rate: Another factor determining stiff/sloppy ride quality.
Sway bars: fighting against newton's laws and trying to stop body roll, for a flatter turn, allowing more weight distributed on the tires properly, helping prevent under/oversteer depending on the application.


It's a fine mixture of what you want, that will determine the right suspension for you.

Ever see some jacka$$ in a riced out civic that looks like it's bouncing down the road? Most likely, it's running shortened springs on stock struts that are blown. they no longer retain the ability to correct the vehicle from bouncing everywhere.

Ever see a car going down the road, and when they go over a bump, the car seems to move very little compaired to yours? That's probably someone on a really stiff setup.

At any rate, It's up to your needs. What are you wanting, Vs. What are you willing to sacrifice.


FK's were designed to go fk'n low. they do just fine at near stock heights, but when you lower something substantially, the shock bound/rebound is also reduced, giving the suspension system less room to react. That coupled with improper control arm geometry (out of spec due to lowness) can make a car handle not as well. This however, to most daily drivable cars, is rather negligible, or you learn to live with it. It probably won't send you careening off a cliff because your car refuses to turn-

Now if you're concerned with taking the car to autocross, SCCA, or race it in any way, you'll want to tune the car properly. In this, a fully featured coil over with dampening adjustability would be best. You'd want to cornerweight the car so everything is distributed evenly weight wise, and properly setup sway bars to do the right thing.

What is most important to you?