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I am thinking about lowering my car with Tein Stechs want to give about 1.5 drop. I was wonder if anyone on this forum has Tein Stech lowering springs on without camber kits and how long did your stock shotcks/struts last. Also i am going to be lowered on 16s. Is it necessary to have camber kits? Keep in mind im new to the lowering springs and stuff, and i am having this guy that lives 20mins away from me do it for about $150 he is a dsmbuilder and does all kinds of cars, recently he just lowered my friend lancer.

Did anyone run into any trouble when trying to take Struts apart?

 
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I installed a camber kit right away, so I don't know about how long your tires would last. For an extra $150 or so bucks, I'd grab a camber kit so you don't spend an extra $600 on tires. As for running them on stock shocks, I ran them for a year on stock struts. As soon as I swapped for tokico blues, however, the ride quality got so much better. So, for the sake of not spending hella money up front, I'd say you could run them on stock struts for a little while, but at least tokico blues would be the next thing i'd save up for.

Only trouble I had taking struts apart was getting the damn tie rod end out of the front struts. When I went to adjust my current suspension (Tein SS-P coilovers) my tie rod ends were stuck in my struts, and I had to fashion a breaker bar to extend my tie rod end separator.

And a spring swap is so easy to do. It was the first mod that I did to my car. It was me as an inexperienced 17 year old with my equally inexperienced 15 year old friend working in my dad's driveway. Took us about 4 hours.

 
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oh ok, sweet ill do that then. Is there any recommendations on when the stock struts should be replaced?

Hmmmm...yea i dont know if this guy im having to install my springs will have any trouble with the tie rod off, he has many years of experience working on cars but mainly dsm. But one of my friend said he does all kinds of cars too so he could lower my car for about $150 maybe little more if i have him put camber kits on. Yea it took him about 3 to 4 hours putting lowering springs on my friends Lancer.

 
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if u have an impact gun then the tie rod isnt a pain but doing it by hand is. im running stech without a camber kit and my tires dont seem to be wearing unevenly yet. oh and the rear bolts like to break real easy so i would go out and get extra bolts just incase

 
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I didnt use a camber kit with my tien s techs and everything is still fine on my stock struts. I have had them on for bout 30k to and still have not blown. Going to go lower soon but I am going to get a camber kit.

 
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Ohhh, which rear bolt are you talking about that like to break real easy?

 
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Hmmm...cool cool, i will probably just get springs for now and get new struts later on.

 
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bottom one that connects to the control arm mine where seized and broke i heard its really common for that to happen

 
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ohh ok, where can I buy the bolts at and how many should I get?

 
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Interesting.. I've never had that problem. Sure, it was a bitch the first time I broke 'er loose, but after that first time, I slapped on a coat of anti-seize and haven't had a problem since. That and I try not to over-torque bolts

Then again, I did let some WD-40 penetrate for a long *** time.. lol

good info to know though, so I won't be surprised if it ever happens to me

 
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get them from a honda dealer. ya mine where really bad had to heat the bolts up and use a impact gun and about half way they just snapped. plus in canada the salt they put on the roads just makes everything a bitch to get off. everything seizes up

 
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it will not be long accordingly to some members if you use stock shocks with lowering springs. I did right and put some shocks that can handle stronger spriings, so can't tell you how your stock ones will last with different springs.

 
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depend on how long you left the bolts were they are. they could be frozen there.
tie-rods could be a pain also.

 
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If your worries are tire wear, and you do not do any type of racing (amateur, even, like autoX), you should get them for the long run.
If you do racing in any form (except street, which we do not condone), car could get monstruously understeering (i.e. if you need to read this you don't need to ask, you just don't go fast enough to race - the car will not turn, it will simply go straight). You should get a camber kit.
either way, you should get a REAR camber kit. Fronts are optional for racers.

 
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remember my little bit about having to fashion a breaker bar for my tie rod end separator? I Actually had to hammer the damn thing back into shape after it was all said and done; the separator fork-tip part, not the handle part.

 
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woops! true, sorry
these fork ones are one-time, i guess. mine went up in the first and there were 3 more to go! (ball joints )

 
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hhmm i dont know if the last owner had the car had the stock shocks replaced (got the car from dealer) but i think the bolts havent been touched for really long time.

 
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good lucky then!

 
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I'm not knocking you for repeating the tie-rod thing.. I'd adding more info. Your post made me realize I left that tidbit of info out so to you.. lol

 
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lol damn. I'd take it to a shop to do it but they charge $100 per spring thats the only shop that'll do it. Other shops here in town wont do it.

 
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id try it urself first then if u cant do it then take it to a shop as a last resort

 
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I'd say take a stab at doing it yourself. It's really easy, and there's a GREAT DIY guide for it
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...info-pics.html
It's almost fool-proof. That's the same exact DIY guide I followed as an inexperienced 17 year old in my dad's driveway with pretty much just a socket set, jack stands, and a hydraulic jack. It did help having a torque wrench on hand, too.

 
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I ordered struts and lowering springs tonight and I've been concerned about breaking bolts attempting to DIY this, so I crawled under the car this afternoon to check my bolts out. I cleaned all grime off the bolts with brake cleaner and a tooth brush; I then soaked all the bolts with PB blaster, almost a full can between the front and rear struts and let it sit for a bit. One by one I removed every bolt necessary with no issue.

I might have gotten lucky, but I live in Canada and they salt the roads here. My advice, just take your time and give the bolts lots of time to let the PB Blaster set in. I always lube my bolts up a couple times before I make any attempt at removing them! Good luck!

 
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sweet I'll do that before I give it a try lol, Its getting cold here so i dont know when ill be doing it. Thanks everyone for all your advice and answers!

 
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ya the amount of salt they put on the roads here is retarded

 
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Salted roads are better than black ice IMO.

 
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eeeew!

 
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i know but the amount they use is crazy. they should make it a law that u need snow tires in the winter like in quebec then they wouldnt have to use so much of it

 
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Maybe some people like it like that

 
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how much will the honda dealer charge for those bolts?