jena_blondie

1993 Del Sol Si (Everything is stock)
Only 70K original miles

I am really thinking about modding this car...

Can someone please tell me, based on your personal experience, how many inches I can drop (maximum) without installing camber kits. I don't want to see any uneven tire wears and deal with tire rotation hassles.
Also, please let me know which springs to use for this drop. Please be specific on this.

More questions....
1) How much should I pay for these springs and installation?
2) Do I need to replace my struts..shocks with this drop?
3) How is the ride quality from 1 to 10. 1 is really sh**ty.
4) Will it damage any part on my car in long run with this drop?
5) Other things to consider or watch out for?

Sorry for asking too many questions. This will be my first time lowering a car. I want to make sure that I do it right and don't f**k up my car.

THANKs!!!

slimjimming6688

i think the best way to go is get adjustable coilovers, if u lower a car on stock shocks, you will blow them out, the ride quality is dependent on who you go for. But if you lower your car you want it to be stiffer because you dont want to smack in to the floor. you wont dammage any part when its lowered but you will increase the ware on some parts. you will aalso change the suspensions geometry, braking preformance. i would just lower it about 1.5-2 inches and get some wheels and tire combo to make it loook even lower

jena_blondie

So are you saying I can't just install the lowering spring only? I didn't think about changing other stuff for this minimal drop.
To tell you the truth, I don't even know what shocks and struts are. Does my stock Del Sol have them installed already? I looked up behind my wheels and I didn't see any shocks. It rides pretty smoothly right now...

So if I drop below 2 inches, just getting an alignment will correct the uneven tire wears, or will I still see some uneven wear?
What is the name of the springs that I can use for this drop?

alphalanos

Yes, almost every car has some type of damper (shock/strut) and spring setup. The damper(shock) controls the oscillation of the spring. Both work together to give the car a smoother ride, and in performance cars, a stiffer ride to reduce roll.

You have two options when looking for new dampers. You can either get shocks and lowering springs separately or you can get full coilovers which are threaded shock bodies with adjustable height springs, and depending on the level adjustable rebound damping, etc. Many people including me use Koni Yellow shocks with some type of spring whether its an adjustable sleeve such as Ground Control or lowering springs like H&R Sport, Eibach Pro Kit etc. A shock and spring setup is cheaper than a full coilover. But you get what you pay for. Personally I dont think you can get a good quality coil over, new, for less than $800. The Koni Yellows and springs cost about $500 and are fully rebuidable, rebound adjustable, meaning you can set the firmness, and wont blow out with a lowered car. They also have different spring perch heights allowing you to lower the car about 1 inch when installing the shocks.

Here are the Koni Yellows, you might be able to get them cheaper elsewhere, but Tire Rack is great. Remember, do it once, do it right! http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/S...lar=&brand=all


You dont need camber kits when lowering the car. You do have to get it aligned after you get the suspension put in because the toe angle will change. Toe is the angle at which the wheels differ from pointing straight ahead. when you lower a car, the toe angle becomes more negative. (pointing outwards) This is bad because as you drive straight your wheels are pulling away from each other cassing the tires to scrub on the ground. This eats up the inside tread very fast. when getting the car aligned the toe angle should be set very closte to 0 degrees. Camber is the angle at which the wheels are in relation to the ground. 0 camber meaning the wheel is exactly perpendicular to the ground. If youre lowering a car camber becomes more negative, the wheel tilts inwards at the top. Negative camber is very helpful when cornering because it counter acts the wheels tendency to become positive. Basically it keeps more tire contact with the road. I run -2 degrees camber in front and 0 toe and my tire wear is perfect.

Alignment article http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=4

sde780

I wouldn't drop 2 inches on stock struts. Get some Tein S-techs, they drop around 1.5" or so

lsvtecturbosol

You can use tein springs if you just want a minimal drop with pretty good almost stock ride quality. Your shocks on honda's are in the middle of the springs. YES you have them or your car would ride like a bucking bull down the street hah. You will still no matter how low you go if you lower it at all you will have a very slight inner tire wear just because there is no adjustment on honda's for camber. I have my car lowered on teins and you can't really tell too much that the inner part of the tire is any more worn than the outer so you should be good.

As for your specific ?s
1 Springs are all dependent on which brand and what quality you want. THey can go from 50bucks on ebay for some coilovers (VERY SHITTY RIDE) to over a couple grand (BEST RIDE EVER) I would look to spend in the 150-300 range and to install I don't know because I always do my own work.

2 I would recommend that you do get some new struts. Even if you go with somehting cheaper like tokico or something it is always better than stock. You WILL blow your stock struts.

3 Already cover this in question 1. Its all dependant on how much you spend

4 It will not DAMAGE anything and can always be undone and you would never tell. However with a lower car you will go through axles a little bit quicker. Once again its minimal with the kind of drop you are talking about.

5 Consider getting a camber kit anyway. You are already going to spend some money why not spend the extra 100bucks for a decent front camber kit. You don't have to worry all that much about the rear. There is a trick that you can do to fix the rear camber for a couple bucks but I don't think any shop will do it and I am not positive it passes inspection.