lower it!

I think i wanna lower my 2000 civic ex but i dont wanna spend the $$$ for all new suspension. My friend told me he had his probe lowered for 120 bucks. I know he didnt get all new suspension for 120 bucks so what can i do to cheaply lower my car?

[Racing Rice]

Well check out http://www.groupbuycenter.com sometimes you can find springs really cheap. If you dont lower it to far you can get away with not buying new shocks for a while.

one way to cheaply lower your car is to heat or cut the springs... but i would definately not do that.
one of my friends did that... he's an idiot.
that may be what your friend did.

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

Originally posted by Maxvla
one way to cheaply lower your car is to heat or cut the springs... but i would definately not do that.
one of my friends did that... he's an idiot.
that may be what your friend did.

That would be free then

For $120 he probably bought a very cheap set of springs and used the stock struts. Not a great idea.

using aftermarket springs and stock shocks, u may be able to get away with it for a few months, but then your ride is gonna be bouncy and rough as hell. it's easier to do it all at once.

I have a friend that lowered his 2000 Vic with coilovers and stock struts and his rides fine(and its very low). I am putting coilovers on my car this week(hopefully) and I will tell you how it is. They will run you about $150. I would not worry about the struts till a little later and wait just to see what you want to do with it. Thats what I am planning to do---cross my fingers

[4jacks]

I new a kid that cut his springs on a Probe...
I hope I dont have to bother to tell you it looked like junk and drove worse. for a $120 I can tell you he bought Intrax spring and nothing else. Probably not the best thing to do for any length of time.

[slowEJ6]

i bought RS*R springs and have been riding on stock struts for almost 2yrs.....no problems with the ride quality

[Racing Rice]

Originally posted by hybrid3do0rcx
i bought RS*R springs and have been riding on stock struts for almost 2yrs.....no problems with the ride quality

Yeah... If you dont go to low, you can probably get away with it. Something like an Eibach Prokit, you should be fine with stock shocks. It will probably have almost a stock feeling ride to it as well.

I can't seem to find the difference between coilovers and a strut and spring combo. Are coilovers combined of the strut and spring? Sorry for my ignorance. Rice is a ***!!

[Racing Rice]

A true coilover will have a treaded shock body that will allow you to thread the perch up and down. These are really nice because the shock is usually [on the good kits anyway] valved to match the spring rates of the coil spring. This will allow for a much better ride. One benefit of coilovers are the fact that they allow you to corner balance your car to help with handling.


Coilover sleeves slide over the stock or aftermarket shock, but you can run into problems with these such as incompatibilites with the valving of the shock and the spring rate giving you a really rough, bumpy, and even sometimes uncontrolable ride. Some of these kits squeak because of the way they mount over the shocks.. I had these and switched back to Eibachs and Konis.


Regular springs and shocks are a great combo. Not usually as agressive as a coilover yet still provide great performance. The spring just rest on the shock perch that is usually not height adjustable. [Konis will allow you to move the perches up and down a little but its not threaded it just rests on a C ring.]

i was looking at coil over's and then some ppl on here said not to do it, it will just cause problems later! so is it ok to get the coil over's or not?? i mean i don't have a thousand dollors to spend on good coil over's and i want my ride at the stock height during the winter!

[Racing Rice]

Originally posted by alpine3069
i was looking at coil over's and then some ppl on here said not to do it, it will just cause problems later! so is it ok to get the coil over's or not?? i mean i don't have a thousand dollors to spend on good coil over's and i want my ride at the stock height during the winter!

It really boils down to what you want from your suspension setup. If you think about it if you do like I did and bought something like the skunk2 coilovers for about 300$ then buy shocks [I bought Konis] for another $500+ thats $800 you can get the true Apexi coilovers and some other ones for about 50 dollars more. Now granted they dont compare to the Tiens or some of the others in Performance, they are more street oriented then race. But most people just want something to raise it up if they have to anyway and dont really care about performance. My suggestion is if you want the cheaper sleeves get them. But remember, you could be compromising your suspension, and it could actually handle worse then it did stock.

You may want to do some homework before purchase coilover sleeves first. Find out things like how they mount to the shock. Skunk2s had a really nice design where a rubber o ring slid over the shock body. Where as the some other sleeves have use little allen bolts to hold it on. This way is awful!! They are loud, they can vibrate loose, they are just plain annoying. Check the spring rates and compare them to stock spring rates. If you can stay close youll probably have a better, smooter ride.

Just like anything else. Its always good to know what your getting into before you do it. And research will always pay off. Ground Control makes a really nice kit, but still pricey compared to most. Just remember you get what you pay for.

Just a few things to keep in mind. Goodluck on your decisions.

I have been doing some research on various websites and I am going to get the Skunk2 coilovers. I saw them on groupbuycenter. I called and they said they are $250 no shipping cost. I am also going to go with the KYB AGX shocks. I saw them for $340.

I am not sure if the other guys have mentioned this but I would like to point out that you would need camber kits. Becuase if you don't then you are going to go through tires like theirs no tomorrow.

[Racing Rice]

Originally posted by JunoMech
I am not sure if the other guys have mentioned this but I would like to point out that you would need camber kits. Becuase if you don't then you are going to go through tires like theirs no tomorrow.

Honestly they are a great idea, but not must have.. They will help with traction but aslong as your toe and caster are all right your tires wont get eaten up really bad.. Atleast mine havent.. I ran on skunks with a pretty agressive drop for a while, and never had any problems with tire wear. I do want to get them one of these days for adjustability sake, but its probably not going to break you if you dont have them.

For the record... Camber will hurt traction the less you have the better. [Depending on the style of driving of course]

thanks for the help

Thanks Rice. Once again you prove you are the man! I will try and get some coilovers for this spring.

[Racing Rice]

I like your avatar

Yo man I run with tha low riders at school sometimes and dropped cars rule. We scrape the speed bump's when their are more than 2 of us in tha car though lol. How much would it cost to have a car professionaly lowered? And how low can u lower a civic? Cuz I've seen them pretty low, my friends bro has an SI he lowered 4 in tha back and 3.5 in tha front and it rubs tha ground when we u-turn in tha street.

4 inches is pretty low... most people just do 2-3 inches. thats enough to get the look.

[Racing Rice]

Originally posted by skylinegtr34dood
Yo man I run with tha low riders at school sometimes and dropped cars rule. We scrape the speed bump's when their are more than 2 of us in tha car though lol. How much would it cost to have a car professionaly lowered? And how low can u lower a civic? Cuz I've seen them pretty low, my friends bro has an SI he lowered 4 in tha back and 3.5 in tha front and it rubs tha ground when we u-turn in tha street.

I dont know how much a car cost to have professionally lowered, I always installed everything myself, The price for the right stuff can vary from part to part.

Its not wise to go more then 2 inches on a drop. Its very hard on your suspension and can cause some serious damage to CV, and other suspension parts over time.

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

Originally posted by skylinegtr34dood
How much would it cost to have a car professionaly lowered?

I talked to the people at a shop up here, and they said they'd install springs/struts or coilovers for about $115. After that, you'll need an alignment for around $50, and possibly a camber kit if you go low enough.

Hey, so ok quick question, which is preferable for all around reliability for my 97 honda civic dx. coilovers or strut and spring? Are coilovers easy to install or do they need professional help?

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

Originally posted by jeq214
Hey, so ok quick question, which is preferable for all around reliability for my 97 honda civic dx. coilovers or strut and spring? Are coilovers easy to install or do they need professional help?

They are basically the same as installing springs/struts, so if don't know what you're doing, have it done. If you have the tools and maybe a friend to help, it shouldn't be too hard though.

If you're looking for reliability, either get a strut spring combo or true coilovers, not sleeves.

I have the lowering springs already and I dont have a klew what to do to change them so to have my car lowered & a wheel alignment these guys wanna charge me $325! And since I've got some heavy miles on the civ new struts & shocks would cost me another $400. Is that nonsense?

[slowEJ6]

Originally posted by FeelMyRide
I have the lowering springs already and I dont have a klew what to do to change them so to have my car lowered & a wheel alignment these guys wanna charge me $325! And since I've got some heavy miles on the civ new struts & shocks would cost me another $400. Is that nonsense?

a front wheel alignment is about $40. so they are charging you over $200 to install springs.....hahaha thats bullshit.
but yeah struts+shocks would be in the area of $400 for GOOD new ones.

if you want to actually do it yourself....ill hook you up with a picture step by step. up to you.

I went to this shop Speed Image to got my car dropped...i bought the Sprint Springs from them for $160 installed. And I saw they have some adjustable coilver for $190 installed. So, I got mine for kinda cheap considering the springs itself about $100+ on Ebay. I lowered mine 2.5 front and 2.25 back

[slowEJ6]

yeah $160 installed isnt that bad at all.....but $325 is horrendous. you should be getting platinum plated undercarriage and 20" wheels for that price.

i got a price now of 575 for labor, new shocks and an alignment.

[slowEJ6]

what kind of shocks?

I'm almost 100% sure the shocks are Tokico's