Wheel question

[Jos4DCivic]

im wanting to lower my civic bout 1.9 front 1.7 back. i got about 2.5 inch gap at the moment with 17's. my question is if i lower it when i have peaple in back will it scrape? or does is depend on stiffness of shocks?

[SilverY2KCivic]

Originally Posted by Jos4DCivic

im wanting to lower my civic bout 1.9 front 1.7 back. i got about 2.5 inch gap at the moment with 17's. my question is if i lower it when i have peaple in back will it scrape? or does is depend on stiffness of shocks?

Pretty much answered that yourself. But if you go so stiff that it DOESN't scrape, then your ride will be bumpy enough to cause you back problems, no kidding!

[Green Dragon]

Hi i'm new to all this, how do u know how much to lower your car by? and do u lower the front differently to the back? Whats actually involved in lowering a car?

[SilverY2KCivic]

Originally Posted by Green Dragon

Hi i'm new to all this, how do u know how much to lower your car by? and do u lower the front differently to the back? Whats actually involved in lowering a car?

It all depends on the look you are going for. If you want a nice look to your car, but want the ride comfort to remain pretty soft, then I wouldn't go much lower than a "1.5 drop. If you do any sort of handling performance driving, then you might want to go "2 to "2.25 drop as it will firther lower the car's center of gravity, and allow for increased handling ability.

As for how to lower... Generally you'll want the rear to be about "0.25 HIGHER than the front. This is because for one, the front springs are stiffer than the rears to accomidate for the weight of the engine. Also you want room for suspension compresson for when you may have passnegers or cargo in the back of your car. If you even out the height all around, then you're car will sag in the rear and potentially ride the fenders ON the tires, rubbing them together as you drive.

What's involved... Again this depends on how extensive you want to get with your syspension. When you lower, it's always advised that you get heavier duty shocks to handle the increased springs rates of lowering springs, since they WILL ride stiffer than stock suspension. When you just lower, you essentially just take out the old springs, and put in the new ones. Usually you'll have to remove the struts/shocks to do this. When you do a full upgrade, you'd be replacing the shocks as well as the springs.

[EK nick]

"If you do any sort of handling performance driving"

- then you'll get coilovers...