I'm sure atleast a few of you have read my suspension woes thread https://honda-tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes-54/bilstein-coilovers-using-non-coilover-springs-3003190/ <----here and for my daily driven eg I've decided to spring for progress technologies cs2 coil over strut package (350/250 weights) and their 22mm rear swaybar- non adjustable. Here is my personal installation guide/review. I'm going to try and write this so anyone can do it...but keep in mind that I may overlook small details that you should be able to figure out.

-ORDERING was quite easy. Just followed the link on their HT classified page to their website and ordered everything on there. Used paypal, it was painless. I had talked via pm's about my needs and they were very helpful and knowledgable. I even got a phone call from them after ordering to confirm my order and make sure they had all the right specs

-SHIPPING took about 5 days and I ordered on a friday. Right off the bat the packaging is awsome. Sturdy boxes stapled together everything is individually wrapped and the finish shows that they care. Sway bar and springs are powdercoated in some lovely neutral shade of grey. Struts appear painted like normal cartirdges, coil over tubes and all hardware is electrically plated for a long rust free life.

-INSTALL I'm sure this would take alot longer for most amateurs working at home but I finished it up at a leisurely pace in about 5 hours including alignment and picture taking.
First is removing the old struts
-Remove strut mount bolts front and rear


Raise the vehicle and remove atleast the front wheels. easier with all 4 off
-Rear: remove the LCA chassis bolt and lower strut bolt. Loosen knuckle bolt for ease of LCA motion


The strut should now easily slide out of the vehicle- REPEAT for pass side
FRONT- Remove upper ball joint cotter pin and lock nut

hit the side of the knuckle with a hammer to release tension and break the joint free


Remove the strut fork clamp bolt

I just loosened the strut fork to LCA bolt and left the fork in the car but you can remove it if you wanna paint it or somthing.

Remove brake hose support bolts

With some wiggling and maybe some love taps the strut should come out of the fork and easily be removed
repeat for pass side

OK you've got all the factory struts out, now you must remove the strut mounts "hats" to reuse them on the new struts. I chose to disassemble the old and reassemble the new, production line style and do them all at the same time.
Install your favorite coil spring compressor tight enough to relieve tension from the spring

Remove the strut bolt with a 14mm wrench and allen to hold the shaft

One this bolt is removed the stock strut can be removed from the spring and you can get whatcha came for!
behold the stock strut mounts in all their glory. Make sure to remove the old bushings and noise isolator
They provide new poly insulators!
Progress has a good breakdown on how to assemble the new struts so I'll save the time. I added and extra step and covered the new poly spring isolators in non petroleum based grease to prevent any squeaks

Install the coilover sleeves on the struts, springs, followed by various bushings and washers

tighten the new nuts down snugly..superhuman torque not needed for this instance.
viola! They're all assembled! Make sure the crank the struts up atleast 10 clamp rotations to preload the struts. Theyre looking good as well!
For reassembly just follow the dis assembly steps in reverse.
Changes you makes are:
Rear has new hardware since you do away with the nut welded onto the strut

Front has new brake line brackets


Now the bracket set I recieved only holds the rear hose clamp and leaves the front one loose. Which is most likely OK and would be fine...but I went an extra step and threw a hose clamps on to secure the line further

MAKE SURE that you only tighten LCA and rear strut bolts (any bolts that clamp a rubber bushing) snugly until you can put the weight of the car on them (I jounced the suspention a bunch then tightening them up on the ground so not to stress the bushings)
SWAYBAR INSTALLATION
-Skip this if your just installing the struts. I knocked em both out at the same time
Looks great- fantastic quality
-Remove the lower strut bolt nuts (remove the bolt and flip the shock if your using factory struts) and place the end link mounts. Slide the small hole over the shock bolt and tighten it snugly
In this picture they're installed upside down (I corrected it later)
Remove the LCA chassis bolt and insert the swaybar bushing mounts

My car already had threaded holes here for a bar, but if your car is missing them progress provides threaded insert and instructions on how to install them. I just ran a bolt in an out a few times to clean up the thread
Snake the bar into position and let it hang while you get the poly bushings ready

Make sure to apply the supplied lube to the bushings to provide quiet, bind free movement of the swaybar

Center the bar bushings on the mount and tighten the bushings to the mount with supplied hardware

Assemble the endlinks via their diagram and torque them down (or until the bushings start to squish out)


Bam your done!!

FINISHING the struts/adjustment
This part varies from install to install based on the amount of drop you want and vehicle. I just went up and down on the lift moving the coil adjuster in either direction until I got an even ride height I was happy with.


Used a measuring tape from the center of the wheel to the fender to make sure both sides were even. I also found it was possible to easy adjust the fronts by lifting it up, and turning the wheel. The rear was doable with the wheel on, but a PITA! much easier to remove it eash time. I set the rear about 1mm higher then the front, made sure both sides were even and let it go!
At this time I did a final tightening of the coil adjusters, and after the vehicle was on the ground and jounced a few times I tightened all the rubber bushing bolts. (struts, LCAs, ect)
I also sprayed everything down with a rust preventive (corro-ban)

The last and perhaps most important step was the alignment

I was able to aquire about a -1.5* camber all around with all stock parts. The LR I had to shim the camber bar out with some alignment shims. LR toe I got in spec via the factory adjustments, but will require an adjustable toe link for the RR (vehicle might have been hit)
Aligned the front toe and went for a drive!

Also picked up a bennen front strut brace that I installed at this time

My car has the mounting holes for the 3pt on the fire wall, but not holes on the strut towers. I lined it up, drilled holes, and installed bolts/washers to hold it secure.

RESULTS





-Overall in the maybe 20 miles I've put on this thing the difference is amazing. Its a bit stiffer than stock. Certainly not a luxury ride, but definently better than the bilstein coilovers with race weight springs, or tokico blue/eibach sportline kits I've had before. Struts are quiet, absorb the bumps very well and overall the car just feels very solid and capable. The handling is fantastic with very good traction overall in the corning, and good predictability. Understeer has been noticeably reduced and the want to "push" through a corner is almost non existent! I'm going to wait a few weeks while I obtain the toe bars and reset the ride height/alignment after the suspention has had a chance to settle...but thats mostly me being silly about it
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE REVIEW!! feel free to ask any questions.

 

Good write up. One thing I can add is there is no need at all to remove the upper control arm from the ball joint. Just tap the lower fork off the shock body and you can pull it right out.

 

Nice writeup, thanks I've got some install notes (not nearly as detailed as your writeup) and a review in the last page of my build thread in my sig.

BTW these are shocks and not struts

 

Nice!


However, you should never need to remove the UCA for this.


Un bolt the fork from the LCA, and the shock, wiggle the fork off, and remove the shock.

 

ok, I suppose I left the fork on where you guys left the UCA on! and I always refer to anything I have to use a spring compressor on as a strut heh. despite that its not a McPherson strut, unless you can unbolt/remove it without touching a spring its a strut to me! Put some more miles on it tonight. This thing handles fantastic. I can push it harder than ever. Need a brake upgrade now. After hitting many bumps around town you deffinently feel all of them. Not nearly as cushy as stock..once again not nearly as bad as the race springs either. A bearable medium I'd say! I think the shocks are actually smooth and quiet, but now I have to chase down some interior rattles/squeeks/knocks (also possible exhaust knocking into stuff on bumps) The tighter chassis seems to transfer the vibrations further in now. Might need to get some cheap sound deadened to hit the panels/floor/roof with

 

I put the same coil overs on my 98 coupe and love them. Although i did get the 350/350 set because i feel the 250 is to soft. I really wish they offered a 400 spring set for the front.

The pics should help many people aside from not needing to seperating the UCA from the knuckle.

 

Thanks for the great review and photos! I'm going with this same kit just with an ITR rear bar instead. Only suggestion I would make would be to flip the sway bay endlink bolts so they dont stick down quite as far for ground clearance.

 

im going to be ordering the cs2 kit soon but was wondering your opinion on the asr subframe swaybar combo vs. the progress swaybar.

 

They don't have a 400 but you can get the 500. Considering ground control off the shelf rates are 450/350 shouldn't be that much different.

 

IMO OTS rates are like 380F 250R for most cars.

 

It's probably the most popular spring/coilover setup used these days when paired with Koni shocks for the people who are willing to pay for the quality. Yeah I think 380/280 is the actual OTS rate but I know most go 400/350.

 

It's some where in that area.


but, your right. 400/450F 350R is a good setup, depending on how low they want to be.

 

BUmps!! Nice write up. I cant wait to install mine have been sittin in the box for daaaaysss

 

How important is adding the brake line adapter? The previous owner installed eBay coilovers and I didn't see that he move the brake line to somewhere else. It wasn't hooked up to the side of the strut.(unless that is where it is suposed to be on my year car?)

I have a 96 civic hatchback.
Thanks!

 

Not important at all.

 

^ In MD where rust is an issue there is nothing wrong with undoing the upper balljoint instead of the lower front fork bolts. Because it is possible for the lower bolt through the front forks to be seized. Anyways... Nice write up!

 

It doesn't matter where you are, suspension bolts will seize.

 

Bingo... I live in a fairly mild climate, and I personaly cut 2 holes, and broke 3 welded nuts off my buddy's 99 SI. Spent it's whole life in western WA, had 95k on it.

You guys do have it worse though.

 

Zip tie them where the bracket would have been. 1 tie tightly around the shock body, and one looser around the first tie and the brake line.

 

unlike 92-95 civics, 96-00 civics have it mounted on the knuckle.

you can barley see the brake line at the lower right, and the bracket on the knuckle.

 

How are these holding up? I am leaning towards getting the whole setup as you did minus the rear sway bar. I've read great reviews from guys that autoX them but thats normally on flat paved road. I haven't seen too many reviews from people that daily drive them on not so favorable road conditions

 

I guess you must have missed MY thread. They are holding up like new.

 

Thats great I guess I'll go through your thread and see if I can answer my own questions. I saw Liberteriats thread recently and went through a few other threads, I'm looking for a slight drop from OEM maximum of ~2", which would actually be a significant raise for my current awkward half-slammed front-shot ride height. Not trying to thread jack so I'll see my way out

 

great write up! thanks

 

has anyone tried the 350 front and rear setup? how did it ride? im scared that the 250 rear will be too soft and my tires may rub with people sitting in my backseat