lowering a 01 civic

[red 02 spec v]

my girlfriend has a 01 civic and i want to do some stuff to it. who makes a good lowering kit that does about 1-1.5" or so. and does anyone have it on their can and know if you need to get an allignment done. i dont want to have to do one cause i want to raise it back up in the winter.
i lowered my spec v and havent alligned it yet and the tire wear is fine. if you could let me know that would be great. thnx

[H.tech]

hey man whats up ive lowered a 01 Civic Si Veloz this summer with gold line lower spring and i Think they were a 2 inch drop. FOr alignment you might want to buy a camber kit because the camber in the rear end goes way out of alignment but you can do it without getting a camber kit or an alignment ! Now the thing is with the 01 civics is that the top strut mount in the fron have bearings in them so that the strut could pretty much pivot with the suspension movement. This is the tricky part you need to make sure you make a mark on the strut mount were the stock spring ends so that you could align the coil properly if this is not done correctly you might have to buy your Girl a new set of struts becasue they will actually bend .. Also make sure that you do not loose any of the ball bearings when taking the strut mount off of the stock coils.. Aight man

[BullShifter]

The car will require an alignment EVERY time the ride height is changed. It's not just camber that is affected, toe is also. Poor toe will cause POOR handling & excessive tire wear, more so than negative camber.

[red 02 spec v]

i work at a shop and we lower cars once in a while. i have done one and the first time i did it i got one side wrong as far as that top section on the front struts. but i figured it out and did another one and it went just fine. i was just wondering about the allignment cause my car did not require one.

but thanx for the replies,looks like i will not do it.

[BullShifter]

What makes you think your car doesn't need an alignment after lowering? Your eyes can NOT tell the difference between .001's" & that can make all the difference. Only the alignment rack knows.

[red 02 spec v]

after i lowered it i didnt notice and pulling, no uneven tire wear and it drove just fine. havent had any problems

[BullShifter]

Originally Posted by red 02 spec v

after i lowered it i didnt notice and pulling, no uneven tire wear and it drove just fine. havent had any problems

I hate to break it to ya, but any time a car is lowered or ride height adjusted an alignment is needed. Just because you can't feel a pull, see visual tire/- camber doen't mean you don't need an alignment. But whatever works for you I guess.

[Miataracer]

si is right. and no, you probably wouldn't notice any pulling, because you lowered both sides the same amount. so now even though they are not set to factory allignment specs, they are off in opposite amounts so they counteract eachother.