hondarider17

Hi fellow civic owners!
I found a local ad that has tein lowering springs on stock struts for a 04 civic.
he says it drops the car 1.5"
First will i notice the drop?
Second Will i have to do anything other than install the struts with the sprinsg?
thanks guys! really appreciated

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

Yes, you will notice it. I happen to like that setup when I ran it. Aftermarket struts, like tokico HP, would be highly recommended, as would a camber kit.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

Yes it will be noticeable lower.

But... If they are stock struts, they are going to blow sooner or later cuz the stock struts parent designed to be lowered like that

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

here's what my car looked like dropped with tein s-tech's


and compare that to a stock civic

hondarider17

i can get em for $110 with the stock struts. I dont really have money for new shocks right now. will it be toed in a lot where its gunna wear my tires?
thanks alot for the help!

MindBomber

If you get an allignment it won't be toed in. Unless your prepared to spend $400 on a decent set of struts relatively soon don't go for it, stock struts aren't equiped to handle lowering springs and they'll blow out quickly.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I'm gonna go ahead and say this: I ran with tein s-techs on stock struts for a while: 1-way road trip from vegas to charleston, SC, 6 months as a DD in SC, 1-way road trip from SC to upstate NY, and a month or 2 of DDing in an upstate NY winter. Even then, when I swapped for tokico blues, my stock struts weren't blown.

You can do it for a while, but I'd highly advise you save up for the tokico blues as the next thing you're gonna do on your car. Don't forget to have a proper alignment done everytime you mess with your setup.

hondarider17

Im not planning on doing anything else to my car. Its a civic and i dont plan on keeping it for too long anyways, and when i go to sell it i want it to be stock.
the thing is if i do blow the stock struts, ill have backup with my orignial springs already.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

erm... no...

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

I think what he meant is the deal he found is tein s-techs already on stock struts. If those blow, he'd just swap in his old suspension

That said, if you're just gonna do that, don't bother.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

ah, ok, too much work, alignment and potentially will need to do again in a short time. inspect the shocks at the least to see if they not leaking already.
not saying they will blow too fast, some have been luck, but nwill not last like a normal strut

MindBomber

Keep in mind, he has no idea how long the previous owner has been on the stock strut s-tech combo or how old the struts are for that matter. Your em2 was relatively new when you dropped it on stock struts, josh, so that affects things a lot..

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

yea, that's true. I think my car had something like 36k on it when I slapped the springs on stock struts, and then proceeded to put another 36k on the struts with lowering springs.

But nevertheless, if you decide to go with the lowering springs/stock struts combo, I'd make it a point to replace the struts next. Otherwise, don't bother. It's just wasted money if you're not gonna do it right. Sure, the lowering springs/stock struts you're looking at is only $110, and if you install it yourself, you save yourself a bit of money. Then, you have to factor in the cost of an alignment. Some places won't do alignments on lowered cars. I know when I was stationed in upstate NY, Sears would align my car no problem, but here in vegas, only a specialty shop will touch it. I think it's safe to say the average cost of an alignment would be $100. Then, later on down the road, say you blow those stock struts, and say "screw it, the original setup is going in." Well, there's another $100 to spend on an alignment. In the end, you've spent $330 to keep a stock suspension.

edit: not to mention, if you don't bother getting a camber kit or tires meant to withstand negative camber. Then you'd be out another $500-600 bucks replacing tires. Sure, the 1.3/1.4" drop the s-techs gives you isn't much, and I've seen a LOT of people run with no camber kit, but what's a $155 camber kit as opposed to $600 worth of tires?

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

Yup! Question is: can I be the lucky one? Will I be able to live through if I am not the lucky one? I had to ask meself the same qustions - sometimes it was luck, sometimes not, but car is still with me (one at the least, the othe will be under clutch surgery soon...)Not vic, though

Black_EM2

Don't drop it on S-Tech's they suck, invest in a good set of coilovers. S Techs tend to sag over time (most springs do) but with coils you can actually set your ride height

Lopes101

I take offense to that. Honda civics are fantastic vehicles, and extremely reliable.

xRiCeBoYx

iTrader: (22)

S-techs actually don't suck, especially considering you asid they tend to sag, THEN specify that most springs do. It's really an inexpensive way to properly lower a vehicle, especially if the person is really only going for a lowered look.

And why would the dude save for coilovers if, in the case he blows the other shocks, he'd just swap his stock suspension back?

7genmarathon

iTrader: (1)

You couldn't pay me to drop my civic. These cars are city slickers. I'm sure you've figured out not all city roads are..friendly.

Lopes101

really? I couldn't PAY you to drop your car a bit?? I am dropping 1.4 front and rear and I live in the country, is my car a "city slicker" car? Never lived in the city before so I wouldn't Know I guess.