For those wondering about the fitment of springs and coilovers on the 2003 civics, I just finished installing ground controls on a 2003 EX. the suspension is exactly the same as the 2002 model year. The front perch uses a metal bearing ring, while the 2001 model year uses a plastic ring with grease on it. Coilovers made for the 2001 model year will not fit correctly on a 2002 or 2003 year civic unless you recieve a new upper perch, which can be obtained by calling the manufacturer directly. This is because the bearing rings are shaped differently. please note that springs will fit any 2001-2003 civic just fine.
i remember when i was called the suspension God .. dont post much here anymore tho. but you guys have people like mex and robb anyways so big ups to them
Any coilovers will "fit" either way, but they'll slide around and make knocking noises. The thing is that most manufacturer's of coilovers don't know about the differences in the 2002 and 2003 suspensions. just get the 2001's little plastic rings and you should be all set. I discovered this a while back when installing a set of Tein SS coilovers on noname's (7thgencivic.com peep) car.
if you wanna get the 2001 bearing ring, you'll neet to get the entire upper mount as well since that's different too. i'm sure if you contact the manufacturer they'd send you a new upper mount piece free of charge.
well, it all depends on how the tein spring cap is designed. i captioned a couple pics below to help explain (taken from b+g coilovers)
that is how mine are currently set up because i haven't gotten around to calling b+g about a replacement part. the only thing that worries me is the fact that all the weight is being put on the very center of the bearing ring rather than being spread out over all the contact area available.
hey mex
i have 01 GC coil-over in back(rear) it fit but it making those knocking noise everytime i start moving the car. Let says if i get the 03 GC Coil-over for back(rear) would it be the same or it will fit prefectly.
the 01 GC rears fit fine on an 03.. they did on my install. the only part ground control had to send us was the front spring perch, and I think new sleeves for the front.
I was just talking to Grey about this...but for people with Tein SSs...if you have the 2002 model you'll need to buy the plastic ring for the 01 suspensions...Tein supplies you with a Gold Ring that goes ontop of the springs...u put the plastic ring inside the gold piece, then put the gold piece onto the springs...make sense? it will when you go to do the install.
Buy it from the dealer on Friday . I'll find the part number later. If you want to try to find it yourself, search on Majestic Honda on this page...they sell parts online and have a full breakout. I'll do that later if you dont have time...but I have to run now.
Worse case scenario...If you cant get the piece by this weekend, do the install anyways...then next weekend add this piece. Its just a light popping noise when you crank the wheel. It doesn't do any harm to the car.
Re: Changes regarding the 2001~2003 suspension 
.. dont post much here anymore tho. but you guys have people like mex and robb anyways so 
big ups to them
i'm sure if you contact the manufacturer they'd send you a new upper mount piece free of charge.
