i wanna drop my car

[smilez2291]

i have a 95 civic coupe...

not sure how to go about doin it...ebay coilovers??

please sumone help me

[Scotsman]

it depends on your budget , ebay is for a quick cheap drop , ground controls are for a good ,nice ridin drop , but will cost ya a good bit more, IMO

[wanggsticky]

^ teh truff! if you dont plan on bouncing like a ball get the better coilovers. if you dont plan on going too low, get springs[ they're much smoother ]

dont be cheap on suspension, its not fun riding bumpy

[smilez2291]

^ teh truff! if you dont plan on bouncing like a ball get the better coilovers. if you dont plan on going too low, get springs[ they're much smoother ]

dont be cheap on suspension, its not fun riding bumpy

i want a like a 3 inch drop...what do u suggest

[Homer Simpson]

only nuespeed will give you that kinda drop.

try to match it with a set of good shocks. cause you 15 year old shocks ain't gonna cut it no more.

[DVSRX-7]

WARNING:

DO NOT CUT SPRINGS.

[DVSRX-7]

WARNING:

DO NOT CUT SPRINGS.

[smilez2291]

WARNING:

DO NOT CUT SPRINGS.

lol wasnt plannin on it...my cousin did his like that n when he finaly put a real suspension all 4 were a diffrent size..haha

[quickdodge®]

WARNING:

DO NOT CUT SPRINGS.

Exactly. Heat them up. Much better ride quality if you do it right.

Ask me how I know! Later, QD.

[Elbow]

Cutting > Heating.

As for eBay coilovers, they aren't bad, if you want performance go with them and buy springs for them. Saves tons of money.

If you just want to look cool and ride smooth buy some nice lowering springs.

[quickdodge®]

Cutting > Heating.

I made my post with the hopes of us resuming this debate, lolol.

If you just want to look cool and ride smooth buy some nice lowering springs.

I'll be honest, Simon. For the ride height you get with buying lowering springs, you can lower your car via cutting or heating the same amount of drop for so much less and still retain a factory quality ride. Most after market springs will drop you only about 2-3" yes? You can torch two full coils or cut off two full coils and get that same drop and NOT sacrifice ride quality for about $100-300 less. Heating is much easier than cutting because you don't have to remove anything or jack up the car or anything. And a torch costs $10. If you're trying to retain some sort of ride quality and go lower (than 2-3"), then buying after market springs would be your best bet.

I can take you for a ride in heated CVCC and if you didn't know anything about lowering, you'd never know I have torched coils. Later, QD.

[csmith90]

my and my fiance and his dad just lowerd a crystler 300 by cutting the springs.....you just have to make sure that they are all the same size....and you wont have a "bumby" ride. it looks clean as fu** too.

[MINI]

I'm sorry but I will never cut/heat/or anything to stock springs to alter height. I would much rather spend the extra dough to buy a set.

But thats just me

[JITB]

the problem with cutting like my car.. is that when the struts blow...which they WILL! Depending on the strut design it wont hold and alignment over time, because the strut doesnt hold its position and spins forward or backward.... but it gets the job done!


But ive learned that your gonna need struts also.. doesnt matter if they are cheap struts or some tokico. if you can afford buy them as well. Get some ebay coils, and some new struts from Az or wherever. But if you can afford some aftermarket ones go for it! But seeing that your car is a 95, im sure the struts arent in the best condition!

[Mantooth]

I'm sorry but I will never cut/heat/or anything to stock springs to alter height. I would much rather spend the extra dough to buy a set.

But thats just me

Same here. Fortunately for me, I can lower my car by diagnostics. $2000 for a lowering module is a bit ridiculous.

To the OP, do it right the first time. If you cheap out, you'll just be wasting money and will never be happy.

[ghostrida3]

i dont know of any shocks that can take a 3" drop.

[quickdodge®]

the problem with cutting like my car.. is that when the struts blow...which they WILL! Depending on the strut design it wont hold and alignment over time, because the strut doesnt hold its position and spins forward or backward.... but it gets the job done!


But ive learned that your gonna need struts also.. doesnt matter if they are cheap struts or some tokico. if you can afford buy them as well. Get some ebay coils, and some new struts from Az or wherever. But if you can afford some aftermarket ones go for it! But seeing that your car is a 95, im sure the struts arent in the best condition!

Speaking from lack of experience.

Same here. Fortunately for me, I can lower my car by diagnostics. $2000 for a lowering module is a bit ridiculous.

To the OP, do it right the first time. If you cheap out, you'll just be wasting money and will never be happy.

Speaking from lack of experience Part II.

i dont know of any shocks that can take a 3" drop.

Speaking from lack of experience Part III.

Lolol. Later, QD.

[Elbow]

I made my post with the hopes of us resuming this debate, lolol.




I'll be honest, Simon. For the ride height you get with buying lowering springs, you can lower your car via cutting or heating the same amount of drop for so much less and still retain a factory quality ride. Most after market springs will drop you only about 2-3" yes? You can torch two full coils or cut off two full coils and get that same drop and NOT sacrifice ride quality for about $100-300 less. Heating is much easier than cutting because you don't have to remove anything or jack up the car or anything. And a torch costs $10. If you're trying to retain some sort of ride quality and go lower (than 2-3"), then buying after market springs would be your best bet.

I can take you for a ride in heated CVCC and if you didn't know anything about lowering, you'd never know I have torched coils. Later, QD.

Both my E30's had cut springs for a while because it was free and upped the rates a little bit. They rode stock, you would never know it had altered springs on them if they weren't low. Heating can do the same yes but from my experience it ruins the spring. It weakens it and takes the spring out of the spring.

As you know I've always only cared about making a car better versus looks or anything so I've always gone in that direction, cutting isn't how to make a car handle well obviously but it's better then stock when done right and in my opinion fine for a little while if you're saving for something better. Cutting ups the rates and retains a real spring. I've known some really fast road race cars even on cut springs, not to mention I know people including one shop who has played with cutting coilover springs to mess with different rates and such.

So we're basically on the same page that you can have a decent ride and looks with this "ghetto" way of lowering a car, it's just which ones yields better performance results and safety. My red E30 was SLAMMED and it rode like stock, literally I rented a Scion xB for a week and it was bumpy as HELL compared to my E30.

the problem with cutting like my car.. is that when the struts blow...which they WILL! Depending on the strut design it wont hold and alignment over time, because the strut doesnt hold its position and spins forward or backward.... but it gets the job done!


But ive learned that your gonna need struts also.. doesnt matter if they are cheap struts or some tokico. if you can afford buy them as well. Get some ebay coils, and some new struts from Az or wherever. But if you can afford some aftermarket ones go for it! But seeing that your car is a 95, im sure the struts arent in the best condition!

What do you mean? I mean any car can blow struts especially when lowered cut springs or not. It won't blow differently with cut springs then it would with H&Rs though, not sure what you mean though.

That's one thing I've always done though is use new struts/shocks as well as bushings when I put springs on a car, even cut. KYB AGX's are cheap and adjustable, hell even GR2's are dirt cheap and at least better then OEM older struts.

Same here. Fortunately for me, I can lower my car by diagnostics. $2000 for a lowering module is a bit ridiculous.

To the OP, do it right the first time. If you cheap out, you'll just be wasting money and will never be happy.

Depends how you cheap out. eBay coilovers isn't that bad of an idea because you can buy Eibach springs to go on them and you just saved yourself a few hundred bucks.

To me suspension is in three groups.

You have really shitty cars with eBay coilovers and stock everything else, it rides like SHIT, it handles like death, it's truly scary. Then you have the cheap but handles well suspension of some DIY and mis matched items that make up a very nice setup, basic Tein coilovers and all that fit in with this group, then you have the true baller stuff like Ohlins and what not

[ghostrida3]

what are you talkin about QD? find a shock that the manufacture recomends you drop below 1.4"s. you can drop it to any height that you want just dont expect the shocks to last is all i am sayin. i am not arguin about cutting or torching springs. i wouldnt do it but not to say that it doenst work. all i am sayin is if you want to drop 3"s dont worry about the shocks cause anything you get will be toast anyway.

[Elbow]

what are you talkin about QD? find a shock that the manufacture recomends you drop below 1.4"s. you can drop it to any height that you want just dont expect the shocks to last is all i am sayin. i am not arguin about cutting or torching springs. i wouldnt do it but not to say that it doenst work. all i am sayin is if you want to drop 3"s dont worry about the shocks cause anything you get will be toast anyway.

There are shocks that can easily hold that...

[quickdodge®]

So we're basically on the same page that you can have a decent ride and looks with this "ghetto" way of lowering a car, it's just which ones yields better performance results and safety.

I don't think either one is better or worse than the other in that department. I had success auto-crossing my neon on it's heated springs. Either way, if you do it right, I don't see a problem. But yeah, we're on the same page.

What do you mean? I mean any car can blow struts especially when lowered cut springs or not.

I agree. I've been riding on heated springs for 25 years and have NEVER blown a shock or strut. Literally never. My Civic is 30 years old and has spent the last 4 years on heated springs and I have no problems with it's ride quality or struts. Most people only go by what they've heard or think. Me? I know by experience. If I didn't know, I wouldn't say anything. That's why you don't see me in other technical areas. I don't know shit about engines so I don't go speculating on things associated with them. Later, QD.

[ghostrida3]

^ ok simon list a shock that the manufacture recomends that you drop below 1.4.

[Elbow]

^ ok simon list a shock that the manufacture recomends that you drop below 1.4.

That recommends? Have you ever looked at race shocks? I mean I don't know about street stuff I don't do street stuff.

[quickdodge®]

what are you talkin about QD? find a shock that the manufacture recomends you drop below 1.4"s. you can drop it to any height that you want just dont expect the shocks to last is all i am sayin. i am not arguin about cutting or torching springs. i wouldnt do it but not to say that it doenst work. all i am sayin is if you want to drop 3"s dont worry about the shocks cause anything you get will be toast anyway.

I had a Geo Prizm that I lowered by completely removing all four coils. I had a Datsun 210 that I did the same thing to. Dodge Neon, too. I drove each of those cars (daily as hail) for well over 5 years each and never fucked up a strut. This doesn't include the well over 15 other cars I've had that had damn near every coil collapsed in order to achieve the lowest I could. Later, QD.

[Elbow]

^ ok simon list a shock that the manufacture recomends that you drop below 1.4.

I know Koni has some street shocks that will go below that, they say 1.5" but I mean...

I can assure you though nothing will blow that fast where it makes it a bad buy. If it does it was shit to begin with.

[ghostrida3]

wow. i lowered my 7th gen celica gts 2.0 inches blew the struts in 1mth, lowered my 91 mr2 turbo 1.6 inches the strut literally exploded w/n the week. i went to get the tires changed and there was oil poring out of them. so i guess our experiences are just different.

[Elbow]

wow. i lowered my 7th gen celica gts 2.0 inches blew the struts in 1mth, lowered my 91 mr2 turbo 1.6 inches the strut literally exploded w/n the week. i went to get the tires changed and there was oil poring out of them. so i guess our experiences are just different.

Or you screwed something up, I've NEVER seen a strut blow except for ONE once and it was because he hit a huge hole. I've had so many cars and track so many cars and have never had a single issue even on stock struts.

[ghostrida3]

I know Koni has some street shocks that will go below that, they say 1.5" but I mean...

I can assure you though nothing will blow that fast where it makes it a bad buy. If it does it was shit to begin with.

i think the max i could find was like 1.6. i would just hate to drop 7-800$ on some shocks and have them blow in 3 mths. i cant see anyshock lasting on a 3 in drop especially drivin around town. how long do you consider worth your money simon?

[ghostrida3]

Or you screwed something up, I've NEVER seen a strut blow except for ONE once and it was because he hit a huge hole. I've had so many cars and track so many cars and have never had a single issue even on stock struts.

man you type fast lol. nah i didnt mess up anything during install or anything, the mr2 it was the rears which i could see since the majority of the weight is over the rear tires but...i think that driving around town is actually harsher than the track. pot holes etc..

[quickdodge®]

i cant see anyshock lasting on a 3 in drop especially drivin around town.

Well it happens. Later, QD.

[Elbow]

i think the max i could find was like 1.6. i would just hate to drop 7-800$ on some shocks and have them blow in 3 mths. i cant see anyshock lasting on a 3 in drop especially drivin around town. how long do you consider worth your money simon?

That red BMW I posted was dropped over 3 inches and I had it for almost a year and never replaced the shocks daily driven even down dirt roads, it saw tons of abuse.

As with all my other cars that were daily driven lowered at least an inch and a half and never an issues.

I say a year is good for the money but for shocks and all I've never had an issue.

[Mantooth]

I'm just saying don't buy something to save a few hundred dollars when it's not what you want. I bought Tein Flex coilovers and regret not spending an extra couple hundred on some KW V3s.

[quickdodge®]

^^^ You also said, "If you cheap out, you'll just be wasting money and will never be happy." That's not necessarily true. I've went the "cheap out" route with every car I've owned and have never been upset or regretted it. Word of mouth is a bitch. I learn by experience, man. Not by what I hear. If I did that, I would never had heated or cut my first coil. Later, QD.

[speedminded]

Heating the springs changes the temper of the metal, for some cases that's fine and others it's not. There is nothing wrong with cutting coils as long as the shocks can provide adequate dampening & rebound for the increased spring rate. I've seen countless race teams do it then slip on a helper spring to keep it all tight.

[quickdodge®]

Heating the springs changes the temper of the metal, for some cases that's fine and others it's not.

Disagreed. Later, QD.

[StreetHazard]

I am running tokico blues w/ skunk 2 coilovers on mah prelude, I had this to look forward to.

[MR.EM1]

roll it off a cliff

[speedminded]

Disagreed. Later, QD.

A helical compression coil spring is tempered after it's made so heating technically shouldn't be an issue. Re-tempering to fix sagging springs is possible. If I were to heat a spring to lower a car I would make some sort of insulated cover to wrap it in immediately after heating...the slower the coil cools down the better it will be in the long run.

The same applies to welding, many people just dunk a fresh weld in water to cool instantly but if it's stuck in a bucket of sand for a bit and slowly cooled it's less brittle and a more forgiving weld.

As for heated springs working for you, yes it's possible the method meets or exceeds your expectations in every situation, even for performance driving. That's not a question, the question is how much better will something else be. Going from lowering springs and basic shocks to matched coil-overs it was black and white. Going from my $1600 coil-overs to driving a car with custom made coil-overs costing $1400 each corner was practically the same black and white difference. It's not about the cost as much as the R&D that goes into each setup...but if you can win with a $50 setup then there's no reason to go to a $5,000 one.

Fresh shocks and heated springs will work for MOST people on the street.

[alpine_aw11]

You want to save money, Megan springs+KYB struts. Well worth the 250 you'll spend on the whole setup.

[hadouken]

any pic of how much the drop would be?^