the problem , as i see it is that lowering an air suspension vehicle is done by lowering the air pressure in the suspension bags, much like lowering the air pressure in your tyres, the handling becomes woeful

if you have an air suspension vehicle and want to lower it you would be better of reverting back to springs all round as has been previously posted

my personal opinion is that the Op gave a balanced and detailed description of his experience and as such added value to this site, doing stuff, experiencing the pitfalls and thereby saving the rest of us the time and money .

as for style im also of the opinion that slightly lowered with 20,s is about perfect.

i also agree that the x5 is NOT and off road vehicle, and is more a high performance ALL road vehicle

thats why i keep my old XJ Cherokee with 4 inch lift and big tyres for my OFF road adventures

ok i,m done

What are the settings?

Wow, where'd this thread come from? Someone's been doing some serious back-reading, eh?

I reset my normal ride height ('02 w/4wheel self-level) maybe about an inch lower for a little while maybe 6 or 8 months ago, but I didn't feel it was as well "sorted" as the normal height. That is, of course, a subjective thing, but I was interested in how the lower stance and COG would feel in regular driving; I didn't do it for appearance. My daily driving doesn't involve potholes or terrain that would otherwise cause concern, but after a month or 2 I set it back. In the non-scientific "I'm the driver, and I like this better" set of criteria, I preferred the feel and response at stock height.

fyi at the lower ride height, even driving on surface streets with no adverse impacts to the suspension, I didn't think it necessarily rode any better.

Anyone from Tampa Fl that can lower my X5?