I have a 91 DX Hatch. Going to be putting on a set of H&R sports springs. I plan on sticking with the recently replaced stock shocks, although I will be modifying the top hats (up about 1.5"). For those that don't know the springs should drop me down 1.9" up front and 1.8" in the rear.

Do you guys think I will need a camber kit?

 

id be more worried on running extended top hats on just lowering springs. you have to worry about spring preload then. know what i mean?

 

I don't think a 1.9" drop warrants extended top hats. Don't worry about the camber kit, get it aligned and forget about it

 

There's no need for camber kits whatsoever, All thats needed is to get an alignment. Have the toe fixed (after lowering your toe will be out of spec and will point towards the center of your car, sorta like this ») tell them not to do anything to the camber.

negative camber does nothing bad in the way of tire wear, but incorrect toe will shred your tires quite easilyand quickly.

Oh and that sucks that you just replaced your shocks, but you should really upgrade your shocks, or you might be doing the "honda hop", and I dont think the extended top hats will help much.

is this for the sake of comfort or handling or a little bit of each?

 

I know it's not slammed or anything. Just don't want to blow out the shocks the previous owner just replaced, and keep a smooth ride. Maybe the math is a little more complicated then this but I thought if you lower 1.9" and put the shock back up 1.5" that still leaves the shock .4" lower.

I suppose I don't know what you mean about preload. I thought that would just be bringing the shock back into it's normal working range, and help reduce overall stiffness.

 

Well I'm running 195/60/15 tires because the tires were free and I had some 15s. The damn thing looks like a baja off road vehicle, if you will. I'm not super worried about the handling (I've got all that on my other hatch), although a little better is cool. I'm just tired of people asking what off roading event I'm headed to. I want to try and stick as close to stock stiffness as possible, hence the top hats.

 

Running the shock in its intended range does help with its function and longevity.

The issue with lowering springs is that they are stiffer than stock springs, in addition to being lower, and the increased spring rate leaves the stock shocks underdamped, which reduces their ride quality and longevity.

You may find yourself blowing them out prematurely anyway. You might also never have issues with them at all.

And I doubt that the preload will be an issue here. Verify that the spring isn't overly preloaded, and unless they limit the droop too excessively, you should be fine.

 

Yea I definitely get what your saying Tuner. You neglected to mention how you felt on the camber issue. I guess the general consensus is to just drop it and leave the camber alone. I'm also asking about the camber because both my front upper ball joints are blown out which means either replacing the arms completely, or SPC adjustable upper ball joints. In the end the SPCs are cheaper even with a shop discount on the arms(I don't trust the crappy ebay ones).

 

I have dented shock towers, thanks to running an SPC "camber kit". I really feel that the negatives far outweigh the positives on a street car.

So yeah, drop it and ignore the camber is my advice as well.

If you're worried about tire wear, I ran -4* of front camber for 2 years, and never saw uneven or accelerated wear on my street tires. That same alignment did allow uneven wear on my track tires, but those are subjected to conditions that should never be seen on the street (peeling out the inside front on corner exit, partial lockup under braking, etc...).

I firmly believe that as long as you don't drive like a fool, keep pressures correct, and keep the toe set correctly, you won't see "camber wear", with even massive camber settings.

 

Thxs