should i listen to them?

[SiRacer]

hi. not really a newbie. i wanna lower my 00 si. i went to a pro and he said... dont do it... too many people come in with problems. (not from him) id buy some coilovers if i went thru with it. but what else should i buy to not have problems? what problems would occur if i did this? i dont wanna drop the car much... no more then 1.5? just enough for like a finger or two with 16s 205/40/16. im not autox'ing or anything.. just a daily driver who wants better ride quality and looks.
thanks alot

[Greenblurr93]

if all you want is a lower ride and a little better handling, i would recommend a good set of lowering springs and Koni shocks. couple that with a camber kit to be on the safe side and you'll be golden after the alignment.

[94hondaacc]

Yeah I agree, get some nice lowered springs, the ride quality is better than coilovers, unless they are true coilvers, which cost like 800.I think a lot of the problems with suspension are those which go the cheap route, buying some 100 dollar coilovers on ebay then putting them on factory shocks. the thing with lowering is the chamber, lower too much and you get that uneven tire wear, so dont forget to get your car aligned after you lower your car. good luck.;

[eckoman_pdx]

Anyone who says "don't lower a car" becuase many car they see lowered have issues is both inncorrect and correct. True, many lowered cares DO have issues. The reason? People don't lower it correctly and have no clue what they are doing. Generally, it's easy to fix things that just cost more money. Nothing super hard.

Commen lowering problems...

A)people lower ther car on stock shocks....this causes their shocks to blow out VERY qucikly as the stock shocks can't handle the stiffer spring rates.

Solution: Get good aftermarket shocks. Koni yellows are great shocks, and are some of the only shocks that can handle extreme drops (drops over 1.75") Want to drop in 2.25"? The yellows can handle it. Tokico shocks can't handle a drop more than 1.75", though it does vary from car to car. Typically, Tokcio's are good up to a 1.75" drop on civics. KYB AGX's really can't handle much more than 1.5" either. Seeing as you want only a 1.5" drop, they should all work, but I'm still partical to koni.

B)People lower a car and have aglinment issues. They either don't algin the car after they have lowered it, which causes alginment issues with toe, etc..and will wear your tires VERY quick. Also, they may have too much negetive camber, it may be out of spec, agian causing tire wear.

Solution:Get the car algined after you lower it. It's not more than $70 normally and will save you major tire issues down the road. Also, if you have camber issues, install a camber correction kit for the front and rear (or whichever is in need of it if only one needs it). This will allow the alginment tech to aglin your Camber, which he couldn't do otheriwse. The camber can now be brought back into spec, and the car can be properly algined.

C)People either a), don't reuse the bumpstops and just re-install the shocks/springs/coilovers with no bumpstops or b)they don't cut the bumpstops in half. They leave them whole and just re-install the bumpstops as is.

Solution:Cut the bumpstops in half and use/re-install the top half. If you don't cut them in half you will be riding around on bumpstops all day long. A very bumpy, stiff ride unamoung other things, not a good idea. Worse still is using NONE. Bumpstops prevent the suspension from bottoming out. With none, your shocks and suspension will bottom out constantly and you will have suspension problems and blow shocks prematurly. The use solution, as said above...is to cut the bumpstops in half and re-use/re-install the top half. Simple...easy.

D)People install the front springs in the rear and the rear springs int he front.

Solution:Install the front springs in the FRONT and the rear springs in the REAR. They are marked generally, in some fashion or another. Some manufacturers mark them F and R or front and rear on the spring, others mark them with the spring rates (usaully the last number listed on the spring). If thats the case, the stiffer springs go in front

E)People just chop their springs to "lower" the car

Solution:JUST NEVER DO IT!!! This is a BAD BAD IDEA. It creates a very bouncy, unsafe ride that is unpredictable. You can loose control going around a corner easy, it screws up the spring rates. A better idea is buying new aftermarket springs and shocks, as mentioned above.

These are all some commen "lowering problems." Try and follow these and you'll be a lot closer to a properly lowered car without the "problems" he spoke of. If he told you not to lower it becuase too many people come in with problems, then chances are he can see the problems but NOT always the cause and solution. If he was really good with suspensions, he would have told you commen lowering problems he sees and the solutions to these issues. He would have told you how to lower it correctly. I'm guessing he didn't do this because he didn't know.

If you want to lower your car, just make sure you do it right. If you do it right and make sure to aviod the commen problems, you should be fine.