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yeah i'm a little new to all this so hopefully you all could give me a little help on this.
come spring, i'll be purchasing a set of summer rims, then comes the drop. living in canada with the snbow, i don't want to use straight up lowering springs because i don't want a low car all year round. so i was thinking coilovers.
heres the question. would it be possible/smart to use coilovers? so that come summer time i can lower my car and give it a nicer stance, but raise it come winter to help with the snow?

 
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Full coilovers would b ur best bet.. I suggest tein ss

 
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First, IMO, it is stupid to raise/lower your car 2x a year. You have to take the time to do it. You have to make sure it looks good and is level. You also have to go get an alignment 2x a year if not more.

Second, you want something that can withstand snow/salt. Tein's products are good for that as well as KWs.

I have driven lowered in the snow with no more problems than driving not lowered. Our cars are pretty low already, so lowering 1.5" doesn't make that much difference.

 
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ok so its alot more work then i first thought of. i guess just leave it dropped during winter.
and you suggested, those two kits because they with stand the winter conditions better then other models?

 
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How bad are your winters?

Canadian winters are terrible. Like a really bad winter, we're talking like 8-10 inches of snow. I got stuck when my car was super stock and my street wasn't plowed during a regular snow-stormed day, lol.

I'm gonna try my Megan's for this winter, and leave it low... I hope my car doesn't get stuck within the first snow storm. =(

 
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Yeah, its cool to be able to change the height of your car, but being an owner of coilovers, I havent really decided to go higher or lower since I first installed them (a few weeks later adjusted them all for all around uniform height). If your worried about snow being in the way, maybe you could add a snow plow type lip to the front of your car, lol... sounds stupid, but it would probably be your best bet for those days when you have to drive and the roads arent plowed.

 
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Raising it and lowering it twice a year isn't that difficult or time consuming.

 
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KW probably makes the best winter coilovers because of the INOX steel.

It isn't difficult, but can take a few days to get level and will cost a few hundred dollars in alignments. I personally don't have disposable income like many people now a days.

 
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Heh, good luck with that. Do you already forget last winter? I sure don't. I was lowered 2 inches, and I didn't even think twice about keeping my car lowered for the winter. I put my OEM springs back in last week. Not to mention that because of the cold weather, your struts will give you a much rougher ride. I don't know about your car, but mine rode hella stiff. If I ran over a penny it sent a jolt up my spine. Driving with coilovers in the winter definitely makes more sense because you are able to raise them. But would you really want to subject your $1,300 suspension to that much salt for a few months? I dunno about that.

 
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Just coat them in white lithium grease and rinse often, they'll stay looking brand new.

 
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I agree. Coilovers are great for canadian winter. I have tein flex and they are great. It takes about 2 hours to clean the suspension, adjust and swap wheels before winter. Its no big deal. Also the alignment thing. I get my car aligned once a year. In the spring. Cuz like honestly who cares if your winter tires are aligned a bit weird. Its mostly camber anyways. I do not get mine aligned when i change in winter and have never had a problem. Keep in mind im only 18 and have only been driving like 2 years. if i can handle the slightest bit out of alignment i think anyone can. BUT i still have not noticed any difference in the alignment for winter. I highly reccomend you pick some up for performance and ease of use. Just my opinion tho.

 
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Well, mine is stiff, but if anything, a stiff suspension setting, despite the seasons, will provide a sturdier, safer ride, simply because your car is planted firmly on the ground at all times. But I do agree, last winter was a bitch. The salt thing is definitely another thing, I don't know about completely coating them with lithium grease, lol. That stuff is just gonna be real hard to take off when adjusting them. The worst thing to happen to them, if I clean them every so often, is rust, which is obviously inevitable. If I am to raise it, I don't think I'd bring it back to stock height, but to around 1.5-2 finger gap.

Damn, now you've made me paranoid, lol. But with good reason, of course. I might adjust them again once my exams are done. Hopefully that's not too late.

Yes, the camber gets affected, but the toe is the one that gets most affected. Don't forget that when you raise your car back up, not only does the camber start moving outward, but the tie bars start creating some positive toe as well, which is bad for tire wear. I can understand that handling with a negligibly messed up alignment is possible, but imagine if you were in a situation where your car was losing control... you wouldn't be able to control your car as good as you could've with a proper alignment.

 
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I ran through last winter around Toronto, and the GTA. I was lowered, about 2 inches. I got through the winter fine. Yeah, I had to drive slow, and yes I was a snow plow. However, I never got stuck once. I even had to work the weekend of the worst snow storm last year. As long as you have some decent tires on your ride, you'll be fine.

I have coilovers now, and I'm a bit lower than I was last year. Still not worried about the snow. Oh, and I didn't raise my car, nor am I going to. Unless you live in the arctic, or somewhere there is like 1000 people in your town, I think you'll be fine.

As for the salt comment. I get my car rust proofed every year, and so should everyone else who drives a honda through winter. They are known to rust over time, if not treated. Also, if I'm willing to drive my $24,000 (cdn price, what I paid new) civic through the winter, I'm not worried about $1300 dollars suspension. If you are that worried about salt on your vehicle, and its parts. You should just buy another car for the winter.

 
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Whew, now you've given me hope again, lol. I knew that places more up north from Toronto/GTA would obviously get way more snow than we do. I know for a fact that somewhere around the outskirts of the GTA, they've already seen some terrible snow, and we didn't even get a single flake.

Looks like my ride stays, lol.

With the rust proofing, I was planning on getting it once I give my car a nice paint job. You think rust proofing the coilovers is a good idea as well?

 
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i am pretty slammed. no finger gap between the wheel and fenders.

during snow season, i raise it about 2 inches to fit my snow chains.

and at the end of season, its lowered back again to being slammed.

 
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ya - snow season in cali... mad snow yo

 
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This is a surprising thread.

I've had Tein basics for several years now. Even though I've never driven them in the snow, I am absolutely positively 100% sure that I am glad that I got the adjustable coilovers versus anything else. I have raised and lowered my car many times for many reasons. You do not need an alignment every time you raise and lower your car.

Edit: I would like to see proof from whomever has it, that you need to align your car every time you raise or lower it. NOT including camber.

I've ridden at all different heights and have never had any abnormal tire wear with the exception of camber ONLY. And last but not least, in my book if you don't have 30 minutes to dedicate to raising and lowering your car then either you have a full schedule all day every day, or you're lazy. If you know what your doing, you can get it the correct height every time with out monkeying around. And to top it all off, you get better performance (in my opinion) with coils versus struts and springs.

 
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hey actually id like to vouch for alignment after adjusting coilover height. i got an alignment with print out 2 months earlier, then i wasnt happy with the stance of the car, then i adjusted it, and went in again and my steering was off and toe and caster. camber not so much since i only adjusted like half an inch.

 
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Yeah, Eyger, you can't just go changing the height and not have wear. If only the camber changed, it wouldn't matter, but because the tie rods are the same length, when you go lower, you get toe in; higher, you get toe out. If you're getting "camber wear" it's because your toe is off.

For an example, I drive with about a 2-2.25" drop on my Integra with 0 Toe front and back, and about 2 degrees of camber in the front, and 1.5 in the back. I have had no unusual tire wear over 20,000 miles as long as I get alignments every time I change height. The one time I didn't get an alignment I saw increased wear on the inside edge.

Camber kits are a joke unless you're looking for a stock feeling steering...the camber itself is not primarily responsible for what has become known as camber wear. If your toe is off, it's dragging your tires on an angle, and naturally the side of the tire with the most pressure on it when lowered would be the inside...which makes it look like wear caused by camber.

 
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Suspension geometry changes = alignment needed

End of story.

 
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Good post bakertime...

camber kits are good for fine tuning camber rather than getting it back into to "stock" settings.

 
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i bought used megan coilovers that were used 2 years includin winter and the front adjustments are siezed

 
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where is cananida? jk. there's a shop around here that does an alignment job for 40 bucks... niiiice.