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Hi everyone....I drive a 01' civic ex coupe slammed on Nuespeed Race springs with stock struts/shocks....i was driving home tonight from a friends house when all of a sudden i hear a LOUD snap and then a bang....i lose steering control and barely make it into a gas station lot. I get out and look at the damage and it looks like my left front tie rod may have snapped and my wheel and tire assembly smashed against the bottom of my fender.
I'm pretty sure this happend because of the stress put on my steering arms from the car being so low with stock shocks which pushes the steering arms UP at sort of a "gullwing" angle when looking at the suspension....to put it short dont drop your car unless you get aftermarket shocks/struts which neutralize steering arm placement as back to factory placement...


Any inputs or suggestions appreciated... Pictures will be up tommorrow night.

 
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How would shocks help your geometry? .......you buy after market shocks be cause lowering your car increases your spring rate and puts more strain on your shocks......so you buy konis or whatever you decide on to stop your shocks from blowing....your still going to have the same angle on your tie rod

 
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...what i'm talking about is where the steering arms meet the strut body. with a lowered ride height the steering arm comes up at an angle instead of straight out. If i would have had an aftermarket strut which would have had that arm on the strut body laying straight out instead of up at angle the steering arm would not have been stressed causing it to break.

If you guys can suggest some shocks which do have that "arm" that i'm talking about I'd appreciate it. Thank you again

 
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dunno what your talkin about man, i dropped my 01 ex on koni yellows and sportlines, it rides like a dream, Had someone recently done work on the tie rod ends?? like maybe some jackess impact wrenching them on and screwing them up? or was it just a freak break? ive never seen one snap before.
Post up some pics of the broken part, i know you saved it.

 
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This is basically the reason for don't drop your car too low cuz it damages the steering box. Its a known problem with the rack.

 
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listen to that man, boilermaker1 knows what the EFF hes talkin about

 
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thanks for the input guys. i've been trying to post a picture so you guys can better understand what i'm talking about, but its not letting me. anyone wanna post the pic for me?

 
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i havent had a problem with my tie rod ends when i lowered my civic with the gold lines...

but then again i replaced my tie rod ends cuz one broke when we were tryin to put em back to together...

i havent had a problem with mine and i do still have stock struts in there... i just lowered mine 1.5 inches on all 4 corners...

i have the gull wing thing your talking about and my steering is fine but it does make a slight whine at full crank in one direction... plus i deliver pizza in my 01 ex coupe and i drive it alot ... in less than 6months ive managed to rack up about 15k miles... i bought my vic in june and its november and ive racked up 15k miles on it and its been lowered 10k of those miles...

 
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hm.. that's like the total opposite of me, i'm on H&R's with stock shocks, and they've been on my car since i think may or june, ( the springs) and i think i only put like... 1.5k or 2k at most, i've had my car since march 04 and i think i barely have 8700 miles on the car total hahaha

 
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no one seemed to realize he lowered himself on stock dampers.....were they made to supprot a lowered ride? no......and yeah that sucks...don't half-*** it next time...


anyways...I saw a snapped tierod on a pacifica with 12k on it; gave symptoms similar to separated belt...

 
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^^^how the hell can you say no one noticed that? every post said that..

I love good stories

 
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on stock shocks for 3 years ^ never had any problems

 
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Your cars suspension is different in the front. There fore you wont have that problem he had

 
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this will be fun ok looking for the words or relating to saying stock dampers are bad to mix with aftermarket:

----NOPE

---NOPE

---NOPE

1 of 2 !!!!

----1 to 1.5" fine on stock NOT SLAMMED

---NOPE now this one we have to wait and see whats gonna happen if anything...

TIME AND TIME AGAIN it's been proven that if you drop your better off changing both dampers and springs....saves ya headaches and not to metion paying for extra parts...

not flaming ya or anything btw just don't like people sticking their feet in my mouth....

NOW back to the original topic please.....

I do feel your pain man on the rod breakage if I didn't convey that earlier...it is a bad thing, but its better that you made it out unscathed physically

 
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ya i've been lowered on stock shocks for a year and i don't think anything bad will happen. sounds more like someone messed up your install.

 
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guys not to mention i was dropped 2.25 inches in front and also went from factory 15'' wheels to 14'' wheels to make the car sit even lower...i know it wasnt the smartest move....again pictures will be up soon hopefully but the cars still sitting on the side of the road messed up as i type...and no it wasnt due to improper installation as i put the springs on myself...i guess i should have flipped the tie rods upside down to bring the arms back down atleast alittle bit more of where they should have been.....

 
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have you compared where the rack is on the hatch vs. the 7thgen? the rack is really high because of that stupid steering arm that is attached to the shock. The lower you go the higher the tie rod comes out of the rack, consequently putting stress on the car. The hatch has a lower sterring rack and a normal tie rod arm rather than the high arm on the 7thgen.

Yes, if you do go too low and drive a lot, you can put out your tie rods.

 
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Sorry cant go along with ANYTHING that you have said because stock (OEM honda struts) and Aftermarket struts (kyb, tokico.....and as far as i know ALL others ) have the EXZACT same dimensial points as stock struts where the tie rod attaches. This being said changing your struts to aftermarket will have ZERO effect on the angle that the tie rod is in.

 
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you need a different spring setup. im sure the race springs are about 500 up front LBS and you drove into some big holes. It happens man. Let me know, im happy to help supply the parts to fix the car.

Eddie

 
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yeppers. However, if you invert your tie rod, it can help even out the bad angle

 
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so when people who put on lowering springs that drop @ 2" or greater and use they're original dampers are fine? they won't have any problems with dampers going bad prematurely (which is what I've been saying)
cuz i could have sworn aftermarket are better rated to handle drops...

 
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Shocks and struts will fail prematurely on ANY lowered car, stock or aftermarket struts. because it puts the piston in a position it was never intendned to run in. They can fail sooner possible on a higher milage car that has been lowered on stock sturts /shocks. But as far as altering the tie rod angle with after market struts im unaware of any manufacture that makes a strut with an altered steeering arm height.

 
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Only if you pay to have the steeering arm taper reversed But than anything is possible if you have enough cash

 
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Just dremel the bish out! hahaha

About the argument about shocks. There are a few things both of you are missing which is why this argument keeps persisting.

Any aftermarket shock, when lowered on, is put under stress. However, different shocks can handle more stress than others and it completely depends on their stroke and the type of valving they have. For instance, konis can be shortened to have a smaller stroke for lowered cars. Ideally, you want full stroke. Even if not lowered on, aftermarket shocks can blow from abuse.

 
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One for you!



Tie rod end probably just wore out or had a flaw!
( Goldline w/stock struts for 10K now!)

 
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Good work on still being the master of not making a point....I quoted you saying "no one seamed to realize he's on stock dampers".....when it was clear that everyone that posted before you was all over that fact......

 
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UPDATE!!!!

...**** was i wrong...take everything i said before and throw it out the window, i was only going on opinions from my tech school instructor...my dad came down with a trailer today and we towed it to a friends shop...turns out my left front lower control arm just snapped and broke....i know hard to believe...i cant wait till i get pics because i couldn't believe it myself....and no i didnt hit a pothole at the time of it breaking....i was driving slow pulling off from a stoplight....

 
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i also have an 01 civic with a 2 in drop....you should go back and check your tie rods because i've noticed when we're lowered, there's an obstruction between the rod and frame on some of the 01 civics. the metal edge around the "struts" frame rubs with the tie rod approx. 3 to 4in away from the link to the strut. to fix this problem honda has cut away more space on newer models, and they also added a strut bar in the same location. the stut bar doesn't do anything but add rigidity, but back to the rubbing...check your other tie rod....look for signs of denting or scratches where i mentioned. i had this problem for quite some time and got rid of it by cutting away the metal and adding pvc tubing around the tie rod to cushion harder impacts. overtime when you hit bumps the impacts will deform the tie rods and they'll eventually fail. getting stiffer shocks will help too...

 
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Jesus. After reading everyone's bickering at each other and everyone trying to prove a point I FINALLY got to the last post and come to find out it was his damn control arm that broke and not the tie-rod! haha This was a very needed laugh thank you (finestimage12)

 
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ya same here. i have a 01 civic ex slammed on neuspeed race springs. been driving with it for 4 years now and about 80k miles on it and its fine. no problems what so ever. hopefully it stays that way. i just maintain my car das all.