First of all, I have a 98 Civic EX coupe with BF Goodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S (205/45-16) low profile tires. I'm also planning on getting an Apexi WS2 exhaust and SiR front lip. I have a stereo system in the trunk of my car that weighs down the rear slightly compared to the front... maybe 1/2" or so. Right now, my car has a 2.5" gap in the front and maybe a 1.5 to 2" gap in the rear.

At first I considered going with a coilover setup; either the GC/Koni or PIC Apex. Since this will be a daily driver vehicle only and no adjustments after it has been done initially, should I just go for a spring/shock combo? All I want to do is lower my car to eliminate the wheel well and for appearance reasons while keeping the car handle perfectly.

I also want the car to drive close to stock as possible without bottoming out. I prefer to have the car lowered up to 2" and with my tires costing $100 each, I think I better go with a F/R camber kit. Any good suggestions on springs to go with Koni Yellows (other recommended shocks) or should I stick with a coilover setup? Also, I plan to get Skunk2 LCAs and possibly an ASR subframe + swaybar combo.

 

camber kit is not necessary, toe is what causes most wear.

i would suggest maybe some eibach sportlines if you're more into comfort. with the yellows you can adjust the height a little bit.

 

Thank you for actually researching and typing correctly. Your plan sounds good. I would say go with the Koni/GC setup. The shocks can basically be kept forever as they are revalvable. GC springs are made by Eibach and are available in custom rates. This is a great setup that you can play with to get the desired performance. If you bought only lowering springs you would need shocks anyway so why not spend a little more and get a great setup you wont have to redo.

As for the LCAs you could probably skip that unless your bushings are bad. The ASR brace and swaybar is one of the best upgrades to do. Im pretty sure the EX has holes in the LCA for endlinks. A good bar to use is a 22mm CTR/ITR bar.

Camber kits are unecessary unless you really want to have adjustable camber. As long as the toe setting is 0 tire wear shouldnt be a problem.

Also in the future youll probably want to look at summer tires. If you need something for snow, put snow tires on the steelies and maybe find another set of wheels for summer.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I will more than likely go with the GC/Koni setup (minus tophats) for coilovers and the ASR subframe and CTR swaybar as alphalanos suggested. My car only has 51k miles on it so I assume the LCAs are still in good shape, but haven't personally looked to see.

Do I need to purchase endlinks for my car and if so which kind? I read the Function7 produces noise and are a little cheaper than ASR. Then I also read OEMs are the best to use, but will they work with the ASR subframe + CTR swaybar?

For tires, I live in Charlotte where we only get snow 1-2x a year and its not that much; maybe 2-4" max. Therefore, I rather keep my year round tires and not swap every 6 months.

Checklist:
* GC/Koni without top hats since I won't be lowering the car more than 2"
* ASR Subframe
* CTR or ITR 22mm Swaybar
* even though some coilover vendors recommended a camber kit, I should leave this off

anything else I need to add for suspension for a DD?