Erf_Em2

This was the first time I was planning on lowering my 05 Coupe, or any car for that matter, so I decided to save up for coil overs, and I can tell you that it was worth it! Many people who are new to the Civic forums always ask, should I get lowering springs, or should I get shocks/springs, or a full set of coilovers? Well, for me, I wanted adjustability, and I also wanted a good deal. I originally wanted to purchase a set of Progress Coilovers for our EM2s (which I have read good reviews about), but saw these on the K-Series website, and did some further research. Apparently, some 8th gen owners have them, and Subaru/Hyundai/Mitsubishi/BimmerForums posters have them as well. I decided to purchase these, and give them a review.

Price
$955 free shipping from THMotorsports

It took about 2 months to arrive because they make them per order, and yes, they are made in Taiwan by a company called ISC Suspensions. Their website claims they do R&D and participate in Formula Drift and they have been active for several years, so I could not lose.

Company Background
http://www.iscsuspension.com/ This is their dealer’s website for people who want to sell their products
http://iscsuspension-na.com/ This is their North America website and here is a description about them pulled from their front page.


“ISC Suspension North America offers aftermarket suspension, and wheel accessories and more for BMW, Infiniti, Subaru, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, and all other Japanese and European vehicles. Our products are designed and supported right here in our New Hampshire Facility. Our products are produced with pride and with some of the best quality materials and production methods available in modern day manufacturing. We are happy to offer our customers with quality, functional and economical components for their vehicle no matter what driving demands they may have.”

Spring Rates
Front Spring 180mm / 10kg
Rear Spring 135mm / 10kg
Part #: H006-S

Notes: N1 Coilovers
Street Sport Series
**There are three spring combos** Street Comfort, Street Sport, and Track

Installation

**Make sure if you have these, to set the pre-load by compressing the spring 5mm** There is a YouTube video by ISC showing you how to do that. This is very important, as if you don’t have correct preload, you will hear noises.

On the fronts, where the steering knuckle 16mm bolts go, the coil overs have one circular hole, and one oval on top. They were too small, just by like 2mm, so I had to enlarge these. It is easy.
Customer support was awesome, as this is what I was told to do. They have a support customer office here in North America, so I was pleased with that.

I had these finished being installed by a reputable shop because I messed up my outer tie rod end. (Family owned)

Dampening: I set those to 16 clicks (mid-way) Read that is a good point to start.

Before even installing the coil overs, I anti-seized the collars, because of the salty roads here in the winter and for ease of adjust ability need be in the future.

Ride Quality
This IS my first set of coil overs and the first time I have lowered a car. BUT, I have ridden in a car that only had Ebay springs on them, , these coil overs are much better. Here is how I will describe them based on how forum posters often review the ride quality.

A little bumpier than stock, but VERY close feel to stock ride quality
No bounce
I had some noise coming from the rear shock, but that was due to incorrect pre-load.
Improved cornering
Improved look of the car

Disadvantages and things to look out for
• Scraping
• Bumpy
• Voids vehicle warranty
• Insurance problems might occur
• DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK
How much I lowered?
I’m running 1 finger gap in the rear, and 2 finger gap in the front. Why didn’t I slam it? I drive this daily, and I don’t do stance. I just wanted a moderate drop that I could feel safe driving in without worrying much about scraping and clearance.

It was too low when first had it lowered and I couldn't get on the alignment machine ramp, I risked bumper damage. I daily this car, so I could not risk that at all.

Am I happy with how low it sits? Yes.

I had my 2.5" exhaust pipe that comes out from the cat Cut and welded in a higher form, so it cleared a few inches for me. I always enter slopes at an angle, and have no clearance issues getting into my drive way which is slanted by a good amount. When lowered, you should drive carefully and avoid speed bumps. I do still hit my exhaust pipe if I go over certain places.


Did I get a camber kit?
No. I do not want to camber the wheels in the negative direction. Doing research, you do not need one.
Alignment
Did get it aligned? Yes, as anyone should after lowering their suspension.

Overall
These are a great entry level suspension setup, and the coil overs are very popular in the WRX/ Nissan forums. I would recommend these to anyone interested in coil overs at a good price, who cares about safety and reliability. I had these installed on 12/18/14, and they have given me ZERO issues since.


I have added some photos at the bottom. They ride awesome, and I can say I am happy with them so far.


**UPDATE**

Added better images

lowlife9

they look like BC,D2,K-sport clones to me for that much money i think you would have been better off with progress technology in the long run but you live you learn i guess. P.S i care very much about the safety and reliability of my suspension not just for me personally but also the people around me.

Erf_Em2

Haha well I hadn't read any posts with 7th gen em2s lowered on ISCs so I decided to guinea pig my ride. So far so good.

lowlife9

its the long term your going to have to worry about with those coils 1 year 2 years ???. technically your not a guinea pig since those are re-branded BC,D2,K-sport etc etc. the company that makes those in taiwan will paint and brand them whatever you want if you bulk order them. i believe the company is called Borr Chan or something like that.

onedr

you should take a flick to show low it can go x).

but imo, if you aren't gonna drop it by that much, you could've just settled for springs..especially if its just a daily. but to each their own

Erf_Em2

I've read some great reviews by Subaru forum posters. In the event that these go bad, I can easily throw on my stock suspension which I still have then contact customer support which was excellent when I called them. It has a 5 year warranty. You are right they might just be re-branded sh*t, for the price though, you can't beat them. The warranty is not requiring an ASE mechanic as well.

Yeah man, but it would have ended up costing me about the same price for a good strut and spring combo. I did not want to install the springs onto the struts myself either. I wanted coil overs since they came assembled and stuff.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

kudos for that

they just started another on the miata forums too - some more info on what they do:
http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=564689

ah, consider some rear adjustable camber arms too - car tends to get a lot of understeer with that rear camber amount

Erf_Em2

I found a pair made by Ingalls. I am thinking of buying those soon.

Erf_Em2

**Update**

Got the rear camber kit installed.

But Idk if I got the right size for the front camber bolts. i was sent front camber bolts 14mm. (SPC)

Isnt it supposed to be 16mm since 03-05 Civics run that size? Like the camber bolt wiggles around so I decided not to install it until I get a confirmation on if its right.

Ive also been reading camber bolts are smaller diameter than your OEM strut bolt.....not sure whether to stick with 14mm or exchange for 16mm.

Erf_Em2

6 Month Update

Coilovers are going great!

Went on TOTD last month. (Tail Of The Dragon). Had a blast

Got my new wheels on XXR 536 +20

Lowered her some more

-3 camber rear
-2 camber front did not even use camber bolts because I found out you can use camber plates.

SammySC

I will be installing these very soon on my EM2

SammySC

Dropped on Tein street advance coil overs

SammySC

OK this is how it looks after the drop. I have one finger gap all around. The coil overs ride very smoothly with no jumping at all. I have the damper set at 6 clicks counter clockwise. (Tein Street Advance coil overs with camber kits)

SammySC

Two trips to the Honda dealer to get the alignment right thanks to either an inexperienced or lazy technician. I noticed things were not right after the first alignment and took it back to my mechanic. The Honda tech tightened my rear camber kit wrong and left the steering wheel not centered and the car was pulling to the left. After driving it He seems to have gotten it right this time but I'm still gonna have it checked by my mechanic to make sure everything is tightened properly. This Honda tech kid looked like he's still in high school!

Erf_Em2

Looks nice, noticed any handling improvements? Any plans on wheels? I had to goto different Firestone to get the correct alignment, ended up meeting a younger mechanic in training at the Firestone I went to, who attends auto diesel school and owns modded Hondas so they told him to do my alignment and he is my goto alignment guy now. The hardest part for the alignment was the caster, he had trouble setting the camber with camber plates it took 3 hours to get aligned but he pulled it off.

Update on the coilovers: Still good. Re-aligned my camber settings a few months ago to -1 all around, brought the wheels in and made it handle better than the -2,-3 camber I had. Still not awesome handling like I had with 15x7 Enkeis.

SammySC

Thanks! That's great you found a good alignment guy, I hope I have the same luck! As for my car, I drove around a little bit during my lunch hour and handling is definitely better no more pulling to the left and steering wheel is centered. I took it back to my mechanic and everything seems ok. We noticed the camber was adjusted in the rear but nothing major. I am happy now. As for wheels I don't plan to get new ones for now. I'm gonna be working on a short air ram and a dc sports header hopefully soon! Thanks for your input!