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Ok so first things first..I just recently bought a '99 Civic EX 5 speed. My first Honda ever. The previous owner had started modding it out and seemed to know what he was doing under the hood, but not so much with suspension.

It's currently sitting on 17" Enekis. Which is cool by me except every time I go over a speed bump, hit a pothole, or corner hard the tires scrape the inside of the wheel well. I am guessing that this is because it's sitting on OEM (crappy) shocks but oversized rims. Am I correct?

I'm thinking I need to get some aftermarket suspension going to stiffen things up. Everybody seems enamored with Ground Control coilovers, and that is great, but I'm on a budget here.

At this point it's just a daily driver and not trying to do any racing or anything. Will lowering springs fit my purposes? I don't really need adjustability at this point. Or do I need to get coilovers? Any other options I'm not taking into consideration? I'm trying to keep to >$200 if possible. I just want to at least keep the tires from scraping my wheel wells every time I hit a bump I'd appreciate any suggestions.

 
Rep Power: 285

Lowering the car will make your problems worse, not better.

What is the tire size on the 17''s?

 
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Don't know size off the top of my head, but they're thin walls. I'll try to upload a picture. BTW the back tires do not rub, seems to mainly be a front-end problem.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...399510843.jpg/

 
Rep Power: 285

The picture is enough, the wheel and tire combination is simply to large for your car and that's why they're rubbing. The best option would be selling the wheels and downsizing to 15'' or 16'' wheels, if that's not an option have the fenders rolled/possibly pulled to increase the clearance.

Also, if you get the urge to lower your car at some point in the future, be prepared to spend a minimum of $500.

 
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Ok. I'm going to try to mess with the fenders and see what I can do..if not then I'll just have to go down to 16's. I'd like to try to stay away from having to swap rims if possible because I got the car for less than BBV, basically the guy I bought it from threw in the rims with the car for free--which means I'll be losing $$ if I have to sell these rims and buy new ones.

Thanks for the advice, I don't know what the previous owner was thinking

 
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Would it be acceptable to put 16" rims on the front end and leave the 17's on the back? Or do you have to keep sizes even?

 
Rep Power: 285

You could put 16''s on the front or possibly down size to a smaller tire to eliminate the rubbing issue, yes.

Messing with the fenders, bad idea. If your going to roll them have it done professionally, it's not that expensive and it's much more difficult that it looks, especially on an older car since you don't want the paint to crack.

You won't be losing cash if you sell your 17''s and buy a set of 16''s for the same price, it's basically a trade.

 
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Ok I think I will try to just trade for some 16's. Sounds like that would be the least amount of hassle and I think the 17s are probably overkill anyway and are just cutting my gas mileage. I don't believe that the traction gained by running 17's on a D16Y8 is even worth mentioning. LOL

 
Rep Power: 367

you don't get any traction from using 17", period. tire width and sidewall stiffness does if done correctly, and grippy tires does most of the grip.

 
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check the width and offset of the wheels thats on the car. offset and width info should be listed somewhere behind the spokes or inner wheel. If the offset is too low, it is causing the tires/wheels to sit too close to your strut which is causing them to rub when suspension is compressed. Tires can be an issue too as from seeing the pix. The profile of those tires seem too tall.