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Hey Guys,
I have an 02 civic coupe that I have sort of been thinking of dropping. I am not wanting to spend much money on it and I've heard lowering springs are the best option if i'm not wanting to spend much? Could you explain what the difference is between the different options and how easy each one is to install? I'm not looking for a huge drop of anything, just something noticeable and sportier.

Thanks Nation!

 
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Read through the stickies on the top of the section.
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...questions.html

 
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It's safer to assume that you have no idea where to start with lowering your car, so I'm just gonna spout out information. If you already know some of this stuff, awesome. If not, great chance to learn.

I liked my first setup (technically second, since I just swapped in the struts after a short while), and it was a great setup for a slightly lower/sportier ride: tein s-tech springs and tokico hp struts (tokico blues, as they're also known). You can probably find the springs for $150-200, and the struts for maybe $600 or so, ballparking that figure.

if you decide to go with just springs on stock struts, you'll blow the struts fairly quickly, as they're not made to handle the drop.

springs and struts are probably the cheapest PnP option, but make sure you get struts that are rated to handle the drop you wish to put on. With the aforementioned setup, the tein s-tech's lower you 1.3"/1.4" F/R, and the tokico blues, I believe, can handle a drop of 1.5-2". Makes the ride a hair stiffer than stock, but not overbearingly so. If you wish for a more subtle drop, Tein also makes h-tech springs, which lower your car... .7"/.8" F/R, I think.

Another option would be adjustable coilovers. With this setup, it's an all-in-one sort of deal, where springs are mated to threaded struts, both of which are made for each other. The cool, yet pain in the ***, thing about these is that you can adjust the ride height. Now, why pain in the ***? Because 1) getting an even drop all around can be a hassle and 2) I've found that adjusting them isn't terribly easy, at least on mine. Some coilovers also have the ability to adjust the dampering. I have Tein Super Street full coilovers, and mine can adjust the dampering 16 ways. I've played around with it, and yes, it make a hell of a difference going from full soft to full hard on the suspension.


One more thing you're gonna wanna look into is a camber kit. Lowering your car causes negative camber in your wheels. Without fixing this, your tires will ride more towards the inner shoulder, thus wearing them down quite unevenly. Leads to buying tires more often, and more money out of your pocket. One kit that's been popular with the 2001-2005 civics has been the SPC kit, which consists of 2 adjustable camber bolts for the front and 2 adjustable upper arms for the back. I'm currently running the SPC rear camber kit, and my front camber is adjusted by the pillowball upper mounts/camber plates that came with my coilover kit.

I really only have personal experience with Tein (and tokico) as far as springs/struts goes, but they haven't failed me yet. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

 
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02 Ex coupe dropped on Tein Street Advance coil overs. I got camber kits front and rear. Also replaced ball joints for good measure. Advice, don't go cheap with a drop it could be dangerous. Better do it right so you don't have to do it twice. You need at least $1,000 to do this right. But the end product will be much nicer and safer.