Slight drop on my civic
 

So I just fitted my civic with some 205x40x16 low pros and I'd like to lower it slightly. I'm on a tight budget and I don't want to spend a lot on my daily driver. I've seen from other threads that you can use lowering springs with stock shocks. This is the setup I'd like to go with.

With that said, will I be able to see less space between the tire and car with new springs that give me a 1" drop? ( I don't want to be too low in the winter when I install my stock all seasons...)

Or

Or is it more noticeable to drop it within the range of 1.5" to 2"? Again, I only want lowering springs?

Also, where can I buy dependable lowering springs? & how much am I looking at all together with installation?

thanks!

Go for the 1.5 drop. That's what I roughly have on mine, and I'm running a similar tire size, the car sits perfect. I would go with eibach or tein for springs. How many miles on your current shocks? You are able to lower a car with the factory shocks, but if they are worn, lowering the car will kill them that much faster. As for driving the car lowered in the winter, don't worry about it, just remember to take your front lip off if you have one.

Your stock shocks can handle up to a 1.75 drop anything more and your pushing it a 1" drop is useless there will be less wheel gap but really it's pointless and I know a guy with a 2" drop and he drove around in winter and yes you MUST remove your lip kit in winter with a lowered car

Neuspeed springs are good they're about 80-120 for a pair I think now if your really concerned about money and don't care about ride quality cut/shave your springs but its
Not recomended

Also depending on your car year you'll need lower control arms they'll run u about 170 for a blox pair ( u need them because your stock ones will probably be seized)

Install should run u 160 and I recommend igarage cuz they do good sh1t

Sorry lol that might be a bit confusing lol when typing on an iPhone you forget commas and periods:p

bengali, So the costs would be:

springs for about $250
control arms for $200
& install for $160

Thats about $600?

Ya that's about right but wheni got my car lowered I got used shocks for 50 used springs for 70 haggled the option jdm guy for 160 than got Ivan to install it 160


Lowering a car properly is alot I didn't know that lol now I do

mikie at abstrakt motion will install them for like 100 bucks.

**** igarage.

One thing that should never be in the same sentence as suspension is "cheap"
I don't no why people are always asking I want to drop my car but I want it done cheap!
The most important thing on your car is the suspension, if you don't do it right don't do it at all. Jmop.

people drop their car for the looks thats why. they wanna look good for cheap.

But if you go to cheap, the ride quality will be horrible, and no matter how good the car looks, it won't make up for the shitty ride.

Exactly

Like do u honestly think that the guys in those integras with bubbly tint, chrome rims and 20 subs care about drag downforce and cornering ability :p

Lol I remember talking to a guy after my drop and he's like WHY DID U GET 1.8 IN THE FRONT AND 1.5 IN THE BACK!!!

He said I was stupid for doing it and called it ugly/ weird looking....... His tint was bubbled:p

ughh i knoe what u mean. the 19 inch chrome rims on their DA integras slammed to the floor with 20 subs that make the car sound likes its going to disintegrate if played any louder.

Ok, let's clear up a few things here...

(when I say dampers I mean shocks or shock absorbers)

#1. The stock dampers will only handle the vehicle being lowered a certain amount.

This is not true. The dampers have nothing to do with ride height and the ride height has nothing to do with the dampers. The dampers are only there to manage the effect of the spring.

Dampers operate to the same effect at any point throughout their range of motion. Whether your car is low and it's near the bottom of the dampers stroke, or your car is at stock height and the damper is at it's mid range of stroke.

The true issue with dampers when lowering your car lies in the spring rates. You can get some lowering springs, eibach sportlines etc... that will lower your car, have a bit higher spring rate for better performance, but are not so stiff that they can't be comtrolled by the stock dampers to some extent, which were matched and valved from the factory to be used with the stock spring rates.

Those are the type of springs you are looking for OP.

#2. If you drop your car, your ride quality will go to crap.

This is only true to a degree. If you drop your car so low that you're hitting the bump stops and bottoming out all the time, then yeah, it's gonna be rough.

Otherwise, the ride quality will be dictated by how well the dampers are matched to the spring rates. So if you use lowering springs with rates not too much higher than the stock spring rates, your ride quality shouldn't be bad. My 00 SiR has some kind of eibach lowering springs (about 2"-2.5" drop, and I'm not 100% sure which ones they are because I bought the car with them already installed), they are stiffer than stock, but not so stiff that the stock dampers can't handle them, and the ride quality is actually pretty good. With more people/weight in the car and the springs riding down where they are more compressed and thus, stiffer, the car does bounce a bit. This is because my particular setup is slightly underdamped. Meaning the stock dampers can handle these springs rates, but only to an extent.

Some guys will drop their car and throw in much stiffer springs but leave in the stock dampers, which were setup to work with springs with half the rate and guess what?...they bounce like crazy and the ride quality is crap.

So buy some lowering springs with rates which are not too much higher than stock and you should be fine with the stock dampers.


To sum up: The dampers are not effected by the ride height but by the spring rates and need to be properly matched to the spring rates for proper ride quality.


Hope that clears things up.



Cheers.:biggrin1:

amazing information

I might also add that it is better to use the dampers in their proper range of motion (as apposed to using them near the extreme one end of it's range of motion), meaning dropping your car so much it's near the end of it's stoke limit and bottoms out occasionally.

But if you're only dropping 1-2" or so, it should be fine.

my car has roughly a 1.5" drop and sits on 205/40/16 tires.... there is a pick below so you get an idea of the stance... the skirt makes it look lower and i definitely remove them in the winter time...

http://img483.imageshack.us/img483/5582/imgp4523gq1.jpg

This winter I was on 195/60r15s with 1.8/1.9" drop and even though I didn't have my lip, I'm almoust positive it would have been fine.
Install is not that complicated, could do it yourself or call some friends over who know a tad more, buy a 24 of beer and wrench away. Just that more exciting when you do it yourself. MPR provided some amazing info, do some research on springs. I think around 1.5" drop would be good enough but once you start lowering you just want to keep going lol. Don't cheap out on springs though, that will determine how safe your car will be and you don't want to loose traction on turns from bouncing around.

Thanks for the information MPR! This is really useful. I'll look for lowering springs with spring rates close to my stock ones. So I'm looking at a range of 500 to 600 for new springs and install? what brand shocks should I get & where can I get em?

scid3r - the civic looks proper with those enkeis i got from you
jdmman - nice pic, nice car

also which one's better - skunk2 springs or tokiko blues?

I would get ones that are made for specific model. Don't get the ones made for 88-00 civics. This will ensure that the spring rates are right for your car. I personally like eibach's. My friend's was lowered on them for almost 4 years on the factory shocks before he switched them out.