lowering a civic

[hemitud]

So my son has this 99 Civic that he has been wanting to lower...myself and mom both said no. So he comes home to his mom's house Sunday and the car is lowered..anyway..he cut the springs and kept the stock shocks.
I believe this is too dangerous to drive and want it parked until he gets lowering springs and drop shocks...also, will he need camber plates?

I need all the info I can get.

[tac911t]

Camber plates may be required if he drops the car low. Installing lowering springs that drop the car 1/2 inch or so, probably does not need camber plates. Although, having adjustable camber is alway a good thing. Lowered/chopped springs on old/worn stock shocks will probably shorten what little life they had left. I have cut springs on a number of cars, but have always installed new shocks, except for the time when we pumped all the old oil out of the stock shocks and pumped in heavier weight oil.
That worked fine in the winter, but when the warmer weather hit, the shocks got soft.

Is this a grounding incident or a financial learning experience (son has to pay for the springs and shocks)?

[DLingenfelter]

Pretty rebellious! Sounds like a good opportunity to get him on the “If you’re gonna do it than at least do it right!”-method. Compare the price of lowering springs to a set of Ground Control Coilovers with either of which paired with Tokico, KYB or Koni shocks. Civic’s are ridiculously common and cheap so in theory the prices should be lower than Miata coilovers/shocks. If those are too high look into Raceland coilovers. My brother Justin is running them on his Miata in STS and they work great for being so cheap. The ones for your Civic would be $369.00 which includes the threaded coilover shocks, springs, poly bump-stops and wrench. The only downside is that the dampening is nonadjustable but my brother’s commanding win over me at the last Verona event proved that not to matter much.

He’s obviously into cars and he’s going to modify them with or without you. So it’s best for you to embrace his want to tinker with cars and make sure he does it safely…which brings me to my second point.

Register him for the soonest autocross. Give him a good SAFE outlet for all that car tinkering that will keep him from trying out those parts on the street.

Above all this is a SERIOUS opportunity for some father son bonding.

[EcoRacerD17]

Pretty rebellious! Sounds like a good opportunity to get him on the “If you’re gonna do it than at least do it right!”-method. Compare the price of lowering springs to a set of Ground Control Coilovers with either of which paired with Tokico, KYB or Koni shocks. Civic’s are ridiculously common and cheap so in theory the prices should be lower than Miata coilovers/shocks. If those are too high look into Raceland coilovers. My brother Justin is running them on his Miata in STS and they work great for being so cheap. The ones for your Civic would be $369.00 which includes the threaded coilover shocks, springs, poly bump-stops and wrench. The only downside is that the dampening is nonadjustable but my brother’s commanding win over me at the last Verona event proved that not to matter much.

He’s obviously into cars and he’s going to modify them with or without you. So it’s best for you to embrace his want to tinker with cars and make sure he does it safely…which brings me to my second point.

Register him for the soonest autocross. Give him a good SAFE outlet for all that car tinkering that will keep him from trying out those parts on the street.

Above all this is a SERIOUS opportunity for some father son bonding.

^Great info David!

One thing that's nice about having a '99 Civic is that it's one of the super-popular tuning generations, so prices/selection are much better than they are for mine. If your son is just looking to lower the car for looks, and not really focused on a competition setup, I would suggest just getting a good match of lowering springs n' shocks. Eibach Sportlines with less-expensive shocks like KYB GR-2 or something like that would be good, it'd be something like a 1.5'' drop on mine, so it would probably be somewhere around that for his... my brother's Impreza is on Eibach Pro-kit springs with ??? shocks, I'm guessing stock... but it rides pretty well!
I'm gonna go look at those Raceland coilovers too, anywhere close to $369 for coilovers is much better than $1200! That's quite a bit less than the Koni Suspension kit I've been eyeing too...
On camber plates, I'm not particularly sure, from what I've read though, it's not required, but it is recommended...

[hemitud]

Is this a grounding incident or a financial learning experience (son has to pay for the springs and shocks)?

Due to the danger of driving the car..it is parked until the proper parts are installed. He is paying the most he can afford and I am covering the rest.

Register him for the soonest autocross. Give him a good SAFE outlet for all that car tinkering that will keep him from trying out those parts on the street.

He was coming to the rookie school, but that got cancelled.

Above all this is a SERIOUS opportunity for some father son bonding.

I agree...but easier said than done. We started a project together, the S-10 that he blew up the 2.8 in. This was our v8 project and started out father/son, but he was 16 and wanting a job, got a girlfriend, and a job, and high school football. So needless to say his free time diminished and the project become all mine. So his mom and I decided he needed transportation to and from work, so his mom got this Civic...and he was bitten by the Honda bug. I had no previous experience with Honda anything as I am from Muscle car background...but I must say the Honda is by far one of the easiest and cheapest cars I have ever worked on. So, technically it is mom's car and therefore restrictions were laid down as to what could be done to the car.
But being 16, now 17..he is heavily influenced by the other High School Honda Tuners and so the modifications begin. I love that he is interested in cars and such, but you have to understand this new group of High School age tuners have no where to go to show off their cars so they hang out in various kids garages and tinker. This in itself is great, but there seems to be this thing called YOU TUBE that leads them to believe they can build 400 HP Honda motors with some fishing line and a coffee can..you get my point. So this generation reads or watches something and they all get together and what comes out of a night in the garage is a bunch of cars with cut springs.

Now don't get me wrong, I worry about what might happen to the other kids and their cars, but my son is NOT going to be the cause or the result of an accident because of a poor, heavily influenced, decision made when a group of them get together and decide to do something to their cars. I hear, well so and so did it and he don't have any problems...I was there once and understand his logic, but being a father now allows me to see things differently. So we talked and he somewhat sees my point...and the car is being modified the correct way. We are installing Skunk2 racing lowering springs, KYB shocks, camber plates and all the other necessary parts to do it correctly. He will be safe and I will be less worried.

One other point...he is a great kid, no serious trouble, but has no idea what he wants to do. I really couldn't ask for a better son. I wish we could spend more time together, but coming from a divorced house hold....it is tough. He goes to school, works in the evenings, has to manage girlfriend time, and then fit everything else in. I have practically lived in a garage outside of my regular job and love every minute of it.
I see the kids he hangs around with, and most are great..but the influence comes from some that have lots of money and can spend $1000 on a suspension and this triggers everyone else to say hey I want my car lowered, so they cut springs. What bothers me most is that some of their parents "appear" to not be concerned. I for one believe do it right, or wait until you can do it right..I DO NOT take shortcuts with fabrication or design. It WILL bite you in the butt and his safety is more important to me than any amount of money in the world! However he needs to learn a financial lesson and understand that he made the wrong decision and there are consequences. Good thing is we will spend most of the weekend fixing it correctly.

He actually cut the springs to a 4" drop and the tires are tucked...and rub horribly. Looks great sitting still but no way it is drive-able. The Skunk2 will give it a 2.5" drop. I told him to be prepared to meet Johnny Law. As the saying goes "If you play, be prepared to pay".

[slowblackwagon]

Tim bring him up with you and we can throw him in the Booger. .

Seriously though, I'd recommend since hes on a budget to go on ebay and purchase a set of Lotek shocks(made by gabriel) and a set of megan springs. It won't put him super duper m4d tyt3 jDm low(about 2.5"),but its a safe and cheap option. Shocks are around 200 springs are 120~. Alignment shouldn't change too much with,just measure toe and make sure its not out too much. If you guys need any parts I got a heater core(famous for going out) and blower fan,along with a vtec head if he's on a SOHC engine.

[SCCA MX5]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-01-ACURA-INT ... 68&vxp=mtr


$45 and he can go low if he wants- are the Koni's with Ground Controls? No.

But still a much better option that cutting stock springs...

I would go with something a bit better, but that would be a cheap alternative that would work to lower it a bit...

[DLingenfelter]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-01-ACURA-INT ... 68&vxp=mtr


$45 and he can go low if he wants- are the Koni's with Ground Controls? No.

But still a much better option that cutting stock springs...

I would go with something a bit better, but that would be a cheap alternative that would work to lower it a bit...

True, I've been rocking the Ebay no-brand coilovers on the Miata for a few years and daily driving it with no problems. Racing Concepts or some brand like that. They sit on top of my Koni's (the more epensive part of the equation at $140 each).

It really all depends on whether you and your son want adjustable dampening or not. If not then the raceland coilovers do give the total package with shocks and coilovers for less than $400. If you want dampening but can deal with cheap coilovers pair up the ones Brock linked with an adjustable shock.

Either way in my opinion lowering springs are a waste of time and money. With either coilovers or lowering springs you'll need better shocks to handle the reduced travel and higher spring rates. With lowering springs you're stuck with whatever height they are untill you swap them out...for the same price in most instances a set of coilovers allows you to raise or lower the car as you want. It works great for me because I can raise the car for winter's occasional snowstorms and lower it in the spring for autocross season. You can also play with spring rates with coilovers with a call to Eibach and often not have to use a spring compressor to get the things off.

[hemitud]

At this time it is gonna be skunk2 lowering springs and kyb shocks. At least this gets him back on the road safely. Thanks for all the input....I too love the ebay deals..it for the most part has treated me well over time.