help ??????!!!??!??!?!?!

[tonytouch]

i want to lower my car 1" or 2" it doesnt really matter ive done a lot of research on what to get and im still not sure. i want to lower my car but i dont want to buy a camber kit either is there any set up that i could use so i dont have to do that.. thanks

[86ACRDLX]

ive talked to a lot of people, and they all said if you gonna go less than 2 inches you can just cut the springs and it will still be cool, or im not sure what it is called but they heat up the springs or something like that, cuz thats what i want 1 or 1 1/2 all around.

[86ACRDLX]

but you should get your rims on it first if your gonna get rims, if you already got em, then its cool...thats why im waiting i havent put my 16's on yet

[tonytouch]

i dont have my rims yet i also want 16 or 17 but the money is not there until i get my tax return i want to lower the car so bad it look like shit when its stock ground height

[86ACRDLX]

i know, the space between the tires and the wheelwell reminds me of a little toyota truck. lol i got my 16's for 50 bucks from my neighbor, i just gotta get tires, then my friend said he will lower my car for 20 bucks and 6 pack.

[tonytouch]

im pretty much asking someone to let me knoe exactly what they used to lower there car and if its just bolt on

[Oyvind Ryeng]

If you cut the springs you can forget about having passengers in the car, no system in the back; even forget about driving it if you are over 180 pounds; because it would be as soft as a matress and scrape like a layman before the King.

The Sprint lowering springs are like $4, and it doesen't take more than 4 hours to change all 4 springs.

EDIT: I am as happy as hell with my B+G springs - the car is stiff as a gocart.

EDIT2: Sometime I will change to GroundControl or Dropzone coilovers with stiff-as-a-rod-struts, because of the option to raise the car when going on holidays etc.

[AZmike]

The more you lower the car the more you'll need camber correction. Less than an inch you probably don't need to worry about it at all. From about 1-1.5 inches there is a small differnce in tire wear due to camber. Beyond about 1.5 inches I'd recommmend camber correction. The lower profile/stiffer sidewallls your tires have the more it will matter. Since you're planning to get 16 or 17 inch wheels a little money now to correct your camber will likely pay for itself in increased life for the costly low-profile tires you'll have.

Cutting the springs isn't unreasonable if you only want to lose an inch or so. Do not heat the spring, cut it from the end that isn't ground flat. The cut springs will be slightly stiffer than the full length stock springs. Depending on how much you cut your car will be a little less settled, a little more bouncy, however you want to describe it, unless you upgrade the dampers (shocks) at the same time. Stock dampers, especailly old ones, are not up to the task of controlling springs that are much stiffer than stock.

You may want to look at the Tokico springs. They advertise them as 1" drop and are on sale until the end of the month for $50 last I heard. They are stiff enough even Tokico dampers may not be able to control the bounce in the front. It's not cheap to lower a car right.

[markmdz89hatch]

I agree with Mike and Oyvind on this one. You can't properly lower a car without spending a fair dime. Cutting the springs should only be a temporary solution. All they'll do is allow the car to bottom out more often then before. Obviously it'll also lower the car a little too. Lowering springs or coil-overs are really the only good option. These springs are made stiffer/harder for a reason. By lowering the car, you reduce the amount of travel your suspension has. Now in order to keep your car from bottoming out more often due to the shorter travel, you have to stiffen the spring so it will not compress as easily. But when you do that, you'll also need to compliment the springs with a set of dampers that can handle the stiffer springs.

PS: to Oyvind. I've got the B&G's on my car too (you and I are the only one's here I think). The B&G's with my Koni Reds on all 4's make the car handle like a friggin go-cart. Love it. But, the springs sagged quite a bit, so now I'm down about 3.5" as opposed to the 1.6 that it's supposed to be. As a result my Koni's are kinda pissed off, so now I need to send them out to get shortened, and revalved to handle an even higher spring rate.

[Mike's89AccordLX]

I think Tokico Blues and either Tokico 1" drop springs or H&R Springs 1.5" drop would be the cheapest and best route.


And 86ACRDLX I don't know who you have been talking to but it couldn't have been someone that was on this site. B/c that is not a smart thing to do. B/c it will hurt your suspension in the longer run.

[NXRacer]

cutting your springs on stock struts will do the EXACT same thing that lowering springs or coilovers will do. It will kill your shocks after a while. But its a cheap fix until you can get good springs/coilovers etc.

Negative camber doesnt really eat your tires that bad. It DOES help cornering. When you lower your car, have an alignment shop check and (if necessary) fix your toe. Thats what eats tires the worst and it usually is out when you lower a car.

DO NOT heat shrink your springs. You kill the sping in the metal when you do that and it decreases the space between the coils which is a very bad thing. When i bought my coupe some jackass had heat-shrunk the springs and if you hit a big enough bump they'll collapse on eachother and that does not feel good.

[Oyvind Ryeng]

"Word" goes to:
NXRacer, Mike's89AccordLX and markmdz89hatch.

AZmike: How can a cut spring be stiffer than an uncut one?

I agree with the importance of the struts in lowered cars, the stiffer (and shorter) the spring, the better the strut have to be to handle it.

markmdz89hatch: Honestly I don't know what struts are on my car as the previous owner has done the lowering, and I diden't ask him what struts are on the car. My car has also lowered itself because the B+G-spring has "settled", now it's low as Hell, in my opinion it's the right height for the 3G. I can't believe how disguestingly high the 3G is stock - what the hell was Honda thinking!? You can almost fit your HEAD between the top of the tire and the edge of the fender.

[AZmike]

[QUOTE=Oyvind Ryeng
AZmike: How can a cut spring be stiffer than an uncut one?[/QUOTE]

Think about it this way. Lets say you have a spring with 10 coils When you apply 1000 pounds of force it deflects 1 inch. The rate for this spring is 1000 lb/in. So each coil deflects 0.1 inches with a 1000 lb load. Now if two coils are removed and 1000 pounds are applied, each coil will still deflect 0.1 inches; however, the spring, now with only 8 coils deflects 0.8 inches. The cut spring has a rate of 1000 lb/.8 inches = 1250 lb/in. The same spring with coils removed will have a higher rate.

[Oyvind Ryeng]

I would think that the cut spring would see 125 pounds over over each coil, and it would compress 1.25 inches?

[AZmike]

I would think that the cut spring would see 125 pounds over over each coil, and it would compress 1.25 inches?

The coils are stacked. If the coils were all next to each other the force would be divided between them. If the top of the spring sees 1000 pounds pushing down the bottom sees 1000 pounds pushing up. Each coil sees the same forces as the complete spring.