The real cost of lowering

[SteveDX89]

Well, since a lot of threads pop up about how much it costs to lower your car. I'll break it down for ya.



Here sits $1,022.48 worth of stuff. I was lucky enough to get Koni's up front so I saved $150 dollars on revalving. Revalved Bilstein's out back. Sprint springs, outer tie rod ends, front lower ball joints, front upper control arm bushing kits, rear upper control arms, misc. self locking nuts, dust covers, washers to fix my camber. A good bit of stuff was found on eBay and some is not OEM. Using all OEM parts and buying everything retail will be much more. This stuff is going on Sunday so I'll take pics then.

[mattalica]

Dude where did u get the koni's?Let me know how the job goes and how easy or hard it was.Thanks,Matt

[SteveDX89]

I got the Koni's from Tirerack. It was one of the last pairs. I bought them about 3-4 months ago.

[nswst8]

I have the Koni's up front also let me know how it goes.
LOL
Phil

[nanaimo_honda_accord]

to lower your vehicle properly it does cost a few coins!! at work today a guy came in with a 88 prelude that must of been lowered at least 2 inches. well the 2 front tires on the inner side were worn down and cords were sticking out!! so its costing him just over $750 CDN for the camber kit and labor plus alignment just so he doesnt get more irregualr ware. so $750 plus whatever it took to lower the car and i would imagine you have it around the $1400 area. not cheap but if done right you save on tires and better handling!

[AZmike]

It's nice to see someone doing things correctly for once. Let me kow if you have any questions about your alignment. It does make a noticeable difference in how your car handles.

[Nuffice]

Well, since a lot of threads pop up about how much it costs to lower your car. I'll break it down for ya.



Here sits $1,022.48 worth of stuff. I was lucky enough to get Koni's up front so I saved $150 dollars on revalving. Revalved Bilstein's out back. Sprint springs, outer tie rod ends, front lower ball joints, front upper control arm bushing kits, rear upper control arms, misc. self locking nuts, dust covers, washers to fix my camber. A good bit of stuff was found on eBay and some is not OEM. Using all OEM parts and buying everything retail will be much more. This stuff is going on Sunday so I'll take pics then.

Excellent!! When is this stuff going in? Are you planing on getting some new wheels? or maybe mod the A20a1?

[NXRacer]

to lower your vehicle properly it does cost a few coins!! at work today a guy came in with a 88 prelude that must of been lowered at least 2 inches. well the 2 front tires on the inner side were worn down and cords were sticking out!! so its costing him just over $750 CDN for the camber kit and labor plus alignment just so he doesnt get more irregualr ware. so $750 plus whatever it took to lower the car and i would imagine you have it around the $1400 area. not cheap but if done right you save on tires and better handling!

$750 for alignment and camber kit? what a RIPOFF!!!!

[RobT5580]

Yeah its not cheap when you do it correct. The one thing i didnt do was camber kits which im going to do when i get the ground control coilovers. I actually dont need them at the moment but my suspension was around $1000 but i was very pleased with it other than the front of the car could be a little lower. But thats part of the reason for me getting the GC's.

[SteveDX89]

Excellent!! When is this stuff going in? Are you planing on getting some new wheels? or maybe mod the A20a1?

This stuff is going on the car Sunday. I'm getting the alignment Thursday at Honda. They said as long as they can get it on the rack, they'll do it. I'm gonna take some 2 x 4's along just in case. Engine work comes next. That should be in the middle to end of April. Not saying what I'm doing. It's hush hush. Then will be wheels. Hopefully, I can get the wheels and put them on before winter hits again.

[86LXItooFAST4me]

hope you dont have to replace all your joints cuz it sounds like you used the cheapies, if you didnt my bad but you should always get the best joints and ends you can get. but good luck man!

[SteveDX89]

I've never had any problems with replacement parts. OEM stuff is way expensive. Plus these replacements have a lifetime warranty on them. I'm gonna be real careful when putting stuff on. Make sure everything is torqued down to the right specs and stuff.

[nanaimo_honda_accord]

well i just lowered my car tonight! put in eibach's pro-kit. only lowered it an inch and that all i wanted, my left front spring was cracked anyways!! i werk at a tire shop so i got the parts for cost. only payed $270 CDN for the springs and paid our mechanic a case of beer!! looks good in the rear but still abit of a gap in the front only cuz the front wheel well is bigger. for under 300 and a case of beer i cant complain. plus it looks like i have to but a camber kit in the left rear. the front came out great with no adjustments!!

[Vinny]

Well since you said i had a worse weekend than you did I'm gonna ask. So how'd it go? You get the stuff on Sunday like you had planned?

[HostileJava]

From what he told me things didn't go so well and I'd say other than almost getting stuck somewhere he had just as bad a time as u did.

[SteveDX89]

Yeah, this project was hell. It's definitely not for someone who's not mechanically inclined or someone without patience. I wanted to give up so many times. My first problem came about an hour into the project. I couldn't get the lower balljoints out of the front knuckle. It was a Sunday so naturally pretty much nothing is open so I had to take them to Pep Boys. Now we were doing this at my grandpa's house and he lives pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It takes 30 mins to get to Pep Boys. So we take the knuckles to get the new ball joints pressed in. They tell me it's going to cost 80 dollars for that and to get the upper control arms separated. We tried unsuccessfully to get the upper arm apart and the joints were still good so I didn't want to keep trying and rip the boots. Well, one of the boots was ripped so I had to buy another upper ball joint. BTW, Pep Boys was backed up and couldn't do it right away. We went back to my grandpa's and decided we can start taking the struts out. We get one out and try to get the spring compressed using the spring compressor from Autozone. There's no way in hell this is working because the spring compressor is supposed to go in the middle of the spring. So now I have to go 30 mins. back to Autozone to find how this works. I get to Autozone and the line is out the door. So I wait in line for 30 mins. and the guy doesn't know how to use the spring compressor so I ask for the other ones. They're too big so I leave empty handed. Now we drive to Pep Boys to get my knuckles. They're done and everything is dandy with them. So we go back to my grandpa's and call it a day because we have nothing to compress the springs.

[SteveDX89]

I forgot to mention stuck bolts from hell so that made things worse. So now it's Monday and I have to work. I managed to get my boss to let me leave at 11:00 to finish up. I have to go home, get money, go the credit union, buy spring compressors and drive to my grandpa's all in one hour. I managed to do that so we start working again. We get the new strut all put together and for some reason it won't go into the fork. We jamming it and turning it and doing whatever to get it in. So we get it so that the mount on top is in place and pound up on the lower arm to get it in the fork. We couldn't get the fork off by the way. The bolt wouldn't come out. So I get that and then I have to replace the bushings in my upper control arms. That was hell getting the old ones out. They were stuck. So now they come out and the rod that goes in the middle it too long and the washers I have won't fit inside the cover things. So I say fuck this and put it on and put one washer on the outside and tighten. The rod is being forced through the hole but it worked and it's pretty solid. I get that done and the front is almost together when I realize the brake hose is on the wrong side. The caliper won't fit behind the strut so I have to zip tie it to the strut. The pass. side was much easier and this is all the front.

[SteveDX89]

The rear was much easier. It only took 3 hours. That was pretty much take apart and put back together. So I loosen the bolt at the knuckle and when it comes through, the suspension moved and pinched the bolt so I couldn't get it out. I had to pry it out with the ball joint separator. So I get the strut assembly out and get the new one together. I'm replaced the upper control arms and get that off. I put the ball joint in first and tried to get the bolts into the body afterwards and that was a mistake. The mount didn't line up right so I was basically putting the bolts in at an angle. The holes were rethreaded on that side. So that's all together and I go to other side which again was much much easier. The car is slammed now. I didn't get to take pics yesterday because it was dark by the time we finished and I forgot my camera at home today but I will get them as soon as I can.

[HostileJava]

Pictures Pictures Pictures. Another hot car for my wedding !

[Vinny]

well congrats on getting it done Steve. I know what ya mean by wanting to just give up, its frustrating. I don't know the history behind your car but mines obviously been quite mistreated and abused by previous owners. Hence the ghetto rigging and added difficutly in fixing almost ANYTHING on it. I can't wait to get my struts and springs back on. Shouldn't be too har(crossing fingers) especially since we just took the rears off last weekend to do the se-i brakes and the fronts came out when I did the tranny

[SteveDX89]

I don't think mine was mistreated. The interior is in pretty good shape and there was no rust when I bought it. The maintenance however may be different story. Of course, I don't know but I record everything I do. This was tough and my arms are sore this morning. Mainly in my triceps from turning the ratchet but all in all it was a great learning experience and it looks and handles awesome so far.

[RobT5580]

Damn Steve sorry to hear you had a bad experience. The first time i did the suspension on my other coupe i had the frozen bolt through the lower ball joint on both sides. Other than that it was ok. I kicked myself in the ass when i did my suspension on my nice coupe for not just buying new covers for the front top of the struts with new bushings etc. I spent a lot of time messing with spring compressors and had to rent a set cause one of mine broke in the process all just for the upper parts to the front struts. If i was smart i would have just bought new stuff and pulled the old complete strut setup out and in with the entire new.

But you learn from your mistakes and least now its done and you can say you did it on top of saving money.

[wprocomp]

hey steve...I was exactly in your position when I did all my suspesion work man...and I too changed out my struts for tokicos and the damn spring compressior wouldnt fit so heres what I did...take the spring and strut and place it in a vice and clamp that bastard down(not too hard but tight)and take a rag and place it around the spring and strut...slowly take off the top bolt...and the strut mount will pop off but the strut shouldnt go anywhere,I did it 8 times because of trial and error with the strut bushings and not once did it fly off and damage anything or kill somebody...I would try that instead of buying those expensive ass compressiors...hey man if you have any more ? about the stuff let me know I will be more than willing to help and get you pics!