Any mechanics?

Easy question,

If installing ebay coilover springs on stock struts(that are currently in there), do ya need to pop out the lower ball joint? Is it much work? Will I break my jaw when the spring decompresses?? lol... Ive been searching and see people have done it in a few hours as first timers. Ive never worked on suspension before but cars come easy to me.

and ill be taking it to a shop for an allignment afterwards. thanks

Dan

super easy man....i would sugest that you make your bottom control arms free back and front and wont have to get a spring compressor never once used one of like 50 cars I have lowered for friends...welfare pretty much speaks about your ebay springs...lmao...need more info pm me

um no need to take off or losen the control arms.

For the front all you have to do it losen the top strut bolts, then losen the pitch bolt on the bottom of the strut, unbolt the wishbone from the control arm and take it off the strut, then pull the strut off.

For the rear just losen the strut at the top, then the bottom and it will come right out.

And I've never compressed a honda spring when taking them off the strut, they never seem to have any force behind them. But dont think thats how it is for all cars, ive seen springs shoot across garage's before.

Its really only a 2 hour job if you know what you are doing. I can do it in even less.

oh and dont forget about the brake lines up front.

The tools you need for the job are, deep 14mm socket (for the top strut bolts and wishbone pinch bolt), 1/2 ratchet and 3 inch extention. 17mm socket(for the wishbone and rear lower mount on the lca) and 17mm wrench(for the same, just as a holder). 12mm socket (for the brake lines). 10mm wrench(for taking off the upper strut bushings) and a allen key, im not sure on the size, to hold the piston from spinning. And knife or anything else to cut the bumpstops in half, make sure you do this or you'll be bottoming out a lot.

Id also sudjest getting upgraded struts too since when you lower on your stock ones its gonna blow them out quickly. I think I covered everything...if not im sorry lol.

you will blow the struts even faster with ebay coilovers. maybe you should wait till you get enough money for struts or else your gonna have to do it all over again. dont get the cheap ones too because youll blow those too. kyb adjustables

thanks for the info and the tools that should help a lot, no walking back and forth getting the correct sizes lol. doesnt seem too difficult, i should be all good... no special tools....

as for spending money on good suspension, if i had money to spend i wouldnt drive a 15 yearold economy car and be doing the work myself. but if i did, i would get quality parts. i know my ride will suffer. but for $65 why not? the car burns oil anyways lol

thanks very much for the tips hybrid and rider.

Dan

no prob, bro.

Hey man, just remember not to lower your car more than 1.5" and you'll be good. I've had my car lowered further on crappy struts and it messed with my camber and I bottomed out. I got tired of it so I raised the car back up and have worn my tires back to safe even tread somehow, don't bottom out ever and isn't bouncy or anything. GL

interestingly enough, the springs came today... $25 import fee, so $90 total for these... i work at 4pm so maybe tomorrow is the day. ill let yall k now. thanks again
Dan

what is the best way to ensure that the car will ride level? and easiest.

Dan

what is the best way to ensure that the car will ride level? and easiest.

Dan

People will say this is ghetto but w/e....

What I do is count the threads precisely from the same spot on each sleeve. Then go get an alignment just to be sure.

When I first had my coilovers installed instead of me doing it I kept tying to get an alignment and the car kept pulling to the right. Since I had no camber adjustment the toe was just corrected. Ended up the idiots who put my coilovers on the first time had them all at different heights... real professional :screwy: Anyway, the counting sleeve threads has worked ever since and my car rides straight as an arrow...

thanks turtlecrxsi, that was my plan....

k this is the last reply on this thread i promise... what do i do with all these rubber washers..... im assuming they are there if anything is loose when it all goes together.. true?



Dan

rubber washers? can you get pics of them? maybe they are what the coil sleve sits on?

well im really tired.. lol and i didnt even get the back coil sleves on... and ill never forget how stuck axle nuts can get. broke a 1/2 inch breaker bar over it.. then drove to canadian tire (with only 1 sleve on, and 3 stock springs, lol) had them use the gun on the nut, finally came off. drove back home, did the other front side. also replaced both cv axles, which is nice.

for some reason the car doesnt look level in the front. but i havnt driven yet so we will see... i measured 2 inches from the bottom of the coil sleve for both of the front sides. so they should ride the same unless the springs are different.

car looks fuckin hillarious with the back raised like it is....

either way i got pics of some of it so ill post those, plus a before and after.

ohhh and the rubber washers slide down over the strut and are used to keep the coil sleves in place, as well as some allen screws.

thanks again for all the help,
Dan

what is the right way to lower your car equal height???...i thought you had to use a tape measure and measure each side till they read the same???...i like to know the right way and wats a shop charge to do it just curious

well ive driven a bit and the passenger side is still a bit higher...

so anyone that knows, is it OK to raise one side to match the other (springs would be different lenghts)???
i know for a fact that the stock springs are the same lenght so it just doesnt add up...

better yet, is there a more professional way to level your car like YZ125rider21 asks...

why in the world did you have to remove your axle nuts to install coilovers?

what i did to make my car ride even is just use a tape measure and also helps to count threads like turtle said. im sure theres a "perfect" way of doing it, but it worked fine for me.

cuz i did the axles too....

i got some OBX-R adjustable coilovers on mine, i think they maybe came with struts? the adjustable thing is in the middle where the strut used to be so iono haha

what is the right way to lower your car equal height???...i thought you had to use a tape measure and measure each side till they read the same???...i like to know the right way and wats a shop charge to do it just curious

1. Use quality suspension parts
2. Pull the car on corner weighting scales
3. Check tire pressures
4. Add driver or drivers weight to drivers side
5. Bounce car a few times at each corner
6. Check height with a tape measure(level floor to same fender well spot)
7. Adjust as needed

We do this all on an alignment rack, once height & weight is set we do the alignment. I've never had the request of just setting height. It's always corner weighting/height, or weight, height, align. We would charge $69 for w/h and $129 for all 3.

As far as cheap sleeves on stock struts, I wouldn't do it. Park the car on a level surface with NO E BRAKE, and do all the same as above without the scales. Having the rear slightly higher than the front(.25"-.50") will help in handling. My opinion on adjustable height is if your not going to use it for what it's designed for, why have it?

if u dont want stock springs any more, do what i did, zip cut wheel to the springs so theres zero tension, unbolt everything on the top, pull the top strut mount off, slide pieces of old springs off, slide coilovers on, top hat back on, bolt it all up and ur good to go

we did my buddys hatch in 30 - 45 mins this way, very very simple,