Hi, I just had a general question about lowering your car. Do you need just lowering springs or are the struts and shocks very necessary. I heard if all you do is put springs on the car it will be real bouncy when you go over bumps. So if I wanted to lower my car and not have it all bouncy what parts would I have to get.

 

It depends largely on what lowering springs you use. A lot of members have first-hand experience using a quite a few of the popular lowering springs out there, so if you have a specific one in mind, throw it out there and see what sort of opinions you get.

 

There are a number of factors that lead to your ride and the degradation there of.

Most lowering springs are of a higher rate than the stockers are. Your stock weight (or lightened) car on higher weight springs will ride harsher than the stocks. It takes more weight to compress those "performance" springs, weight you don't have, so you don't get as much compression.....and your ride suffers.

However, Honda is a little tricky with thier suspension designs. The bumpstop hidden behind the dust shield on the strut is part of the suspension. Untold hundreds of people have merely swapped springs on their cars, never touching the bumpstops, and complain about thier ride. Well, or course, their ride went south, they are not riding on thier springs anymore, they are mostly riding on a chunk of low-compression BASF foam. they ride that way for a few hundred miles, and eventually the foam disentegrates, and falls out, and viola......the ride comes back.

The other thing to consider is the shock/strut in your car. A heavy weight spring wants heavy weight dampening. Your stock shocks are designed for your stock springs. The stock shock (especially after a hundred thousand miles) is no match for a high strength spring. Assuming you do get enough instant weight to compress that heavy spring, it's going to bouce back hard, and the stock shock will not keep up with it.

If you want to keep your stockish ride, you will have to find a stockish spring rate, and a stockish strut. You can stiffen the ride with a heavier spring, a heavier strut, or both, but be aware that a little adds up quickly.


Other things to watch when lowering your car. At your ride height, what hits what? In most Hondas the upper control arm runs out of inner fender before anything else (after the bumpstop, of course). After that your axle hits the lower frame rail, typically. You might also be on the lookout for the limits of the ball joints.

In almost every case i've run into over the past 15 years, a jarring bad ride was attributable to something hitting something else. The upper ball joint into the inner fender, the axle into the frame, strut bottoming out, the tire into the upper frame rail, the car into the ground.....something other than the spring.

Just a harsh ride was nearly always TOO MUCH SPRING for ther weight of the car. Sure, the roadracers use 700 lb springs on thier cars, but they also run on smooth tracks, and they do not want weight transfer bodyroll. 700 lb springs on the street is just assinine.

 

Seriously, don't buy the cheap **** just save up and buy something good the first time, believe me i had gay **** and my car was bouncing all over the place, my head was hitting the ceiling my drinks were everywhere, freeways and rainydays were nightmares. Just remember your suspension plays a major role in your safety and on top of that if you go for the cheap **** and ur car starts bouncing ur tire threads will wear out un evenly. Just buy something appropriate for what your going to do with your car but go for the stuff thats worth its money