Need Advice on Lowering 98 Ex

[FoSho]

hey civ, ok so for your first question... i originally bought the rims and they came with 20/45/r16... and the ride on that was bumpy... so i just bought and replaced the old tires with 205/50/r16.... and what kind of issues will deal with if I'm only dropping 1.5" in the front? with the oem struts i have on atm... and the original mileage on the car is 160,000km... and they are fine atm.. like they don't have anything wrong with them....

for the second part i have decided that if i do lower it then it'll be the eibach pro kit cuz i don't want the car to settle later... as in drop more over a period of time....
and yes i know about the shocks.... hopefully if i can save up enough $$$ this year i will replace both shocks and springs, if not springs this year and shocks next... and if i do get enough $$$ saved up which would be decently priced but good quality shocks?

also I'm getting my crappy D16y7 motor swapped out for a B18b my first swap... i liv in a building and they don't allow to work on your car... or else i woulda done it on my own .... anyways... so yea those are my plans... what do u think??

and oh one more question... i know that with my oem shocks and springs atm... when i have 5 ppl in my car including me... mostly the rear suspension is under stress, like the front is too but not as much as the rear... so when i do upgrade my front springs to go down by 1.5" will the front wheels scrape the inside wheel well? or would i be ok... also i take my car for long journeys up to 5-6 hours of straight driving on highways and freeways... would everything be ok if the car has, say 4 passengers and a trunk full of stuff?....
cuz if n e thing i only want to drop the front, and not the back... cuz atm my car looks like a suv... higher from the front and lower in the back.. and more ppl sitting in the back don't help

 

[civexspeedy]

hey civ, ok so for your first question... i originally bought the rims and they came with 20/45/r16... and the ride on that was bumpy... so i just bought and replaced the old tires with 205/50/r16.... and what kind of issues will deal with if I'm only dropping 1.5" in the front? with the oem struts i have on atm... and the original mileage on the car is 160,000km... and they are fine atm.. like they don't have anything wrong with them....

for the second part i have decided that if i do lower it then it'll be the eibach pro kit cuz i don't want the car to settle later... as in drop more over a period of time....
and yes i know about the shocks.... hopefully if i can save up enough $$$ this year i will replace both shocks and springs, if not springs this year and shocks next... and if i do get enough $$$ saved up which would be decently priced but good quality shocks?

also I'm getting my crappy D16y7 motor swapped out for a B18b my first swap... i liv in a building and they don't allow to work on your car... or else i woulda done it on my own .... anyways... so yea those are my plans... what do u think??

and oh one more question... i know that with my oem shocks and springs atm... when i have 5 ppl in my car including me... mostly the rear suspension is under stress, like the front is too but not as much as the rear... so when i do upgrade my front springs to go down by 1.5" will the front wheels scrape the inside wheel well? or would i be ok... also i take my car for long journeys up to 5-6 hours of straight driving on highways and freeways... would everything be ok if the car has, say 4 passengers and a trunk full of stuff?....
cuz if n e thing i only want to drop the front, and not the back... cuz atm my car looks like a suv... higher from the front and lower in the back.. and more ppl sitting in the back don't help

Having an oversized tire like that will throw your speedometer off. At 60mph, with the correct 205/45R16 tire size, your speedometer will be faster by 0.5mph(60.5mph). Not a significant difference. With the 205/50R16 tire size you have, at 60mph your speedometer will read 58.4mph. A fairly significant difference. Not to mention your gas mileage will suffer. The tire size has only a slight impact on determining if you'll rub or not, esp when lowered. Your wheel offset is more or less the determining factor. Sounds like you may have the correct offset if you are not currently having rubbing issues.

Good quality springs should not settle very much or begin to sag of time. They should hold the weight of your car and not change over the years. The Eibach Pro Kit is a good choice. With those springs, I'd recommened the Koni STR.T shocks. Koni has a strong reputation for providing high quality, well performing suspension products. I believe a vendor here on ClubCivic is selling those currently for $250 shipped which is a VERY good deal.

Motor swap will have very little side affect with your suspension choice, ignore that. The weight difference is insignificant.

Like I said, issues with rubbing come about from incorrect wheel offset. But, with your overside tires and a full load in the car, you MAY run into a bit of rubbing issues in the rear. BUT, if you have not had any issues with rubbing with a full load on your current suspension and wheel/tires, you should be ok. With good springs like the Eibachs and good shocks like the Koni's, a long trip with a full load will be fine.

It's not a good idea just to lower the front, or vise versa. You will mess with the handling of your car and it would potentially be a bit dangerous.

 

[FoSho]

Having an oversized tire like that will throw your speedometer off. At 60mph, with the correct 205/45R16 tire size, your speedometer will be faster by 0.5mph(60.5mph). Not a significant difference. With the 205/50R16 tire size you have, at 60mph your speedometer will read 58.4mph. A fairly significant difference. Not to mention your gas mileage will suffer. The tire size has only a slight impact on determining if you'll rub or not, esp when lowered. Your wheel offset is more or less the determining factor. Sounds like you may have the correct offset if you are not currently having rubbing issues.

Good quality springs should not settle very much or begin to sag of time. They should hold the weight of your car and not change over the years. The Eibach Pro Kit is a good choice. With those springs, I'd recommened the Koni STR.T shocks. Koni has a strong reputation for providing high quality, well performing suspension products. I believe a vendor here on ClubCivic is selling those currently for $250 shipped which is a VERY good deal.

Motor swap will have very little side affect with your suspension choice, ignore that. The weight difference is insignificant.

Like I said, issues with rubbing come about from incorrect wheel offset. But, with your overside tires and a full load in the car, you MAY run into a bit of rubbing issues in the rear. BUT, if you have not had any issues with rubbing with a full load on your current suspension and wheel/tires, you should be ok. With good springs like the Eibachs and good shocks like the Koni's, a long trip with a full load will be fine.

It's not a good idea just to lower the front, or vise versa. You will mess with the handling of your car and it would potentially be a bit dangerous.

hey thanks civ that helps a lot! ... so far there has been no rubbing whatsoever! and yes i know about the oversize tires... but the 1.5 m/h difference is a lot at 60 m/h...so i will keep that in mind and change my oil a lil sooner than before.. so probably around 4500km instead of 5000km... thanks again... so far this forum has been a lil tricky in finding stuff... getting used to it.. do u mind throwing a link for the koni strut vendor here?
ok so if i do end up lowering it i'll do em all but 1.5" in front and 1" in the back.. and i think i should be good to go?