How is daily driving in your dropped ride? Ride quality, ground clearance, etc. Any response I'll appreciate. Thanks.

I live in Minnesota where we can get quite a bit if snow. Is anyone in a similar enviroment and have their car lowered? Have you had problems with damaging your front bumber, etc.? I have a 99 civic si. I recently bought some neuspeed sport springs along with some bilstein struts (haven't got my camber kit yet). The drop is suppose to be 1.75" (front) and 1.5" (rear). I can also raise the spring perches a maximum of 6mm (~.25"). Also what about steep driveways, speed bumps, roadkill, stuff in the road, cows, etc.?

~M
:bloated:

It really depends on the spring rates, your shocks, and the tire sidewall height. Some people say slammed is comfortable and others who are dropped 1" say it's rough. It's all relative.

Very true, but I know one thing, you want to do it right to preserve ride quality. I've got 4 blown stock shocks and the ride sucks on coilovers.

Originally posted by MattyO217
How is daily driving in your dropped ride? Ride quality, ground clearance, etc. Any response I'll appreciate. Thanks.


It all depends on your set up and what you like. I've never used bilstein struts or neuspeed springs, but these aren't racing units so they should be ok.

Originally posted by MattyO217

I live in Minnesota where we can get quite a bit if snow. Is anyone in a similar enviroment and have their car lowered? Have you had problems with damaging your front bumber, etc.?


I live in Washington state. It snows alittle bit here, but nothing like in minnesota. I've noticed its a little bit harder to drive in bad conditions with a stiffer suspension, but the tires make a bigger difference.

Originally posted by MattyO217

Also what about steep driveways, speed bumps, roadkill, stuff in the road, cows, etc.?

~M
:bloated:

Drive over them slow or avoid them.

I have a 96 Accord thats dropped 4 inches in the front and 3.5 in back and I live in New York. This will be the first winter i've had the car lowered, i might raise it back up. I Scrape on a lot of stuff now cause the roads in NY are horrible cause of the winters. Train tracks i have to stop and go real slow in 1st. any kinda bump in the road i have to go slow. I can go over some smaller speed bumps if i go real slow, But i have felt the whole frame of my car scrape on some speedbumps. Also the flange on the exhuast pipes right by the rear axle scrapes on a lot of stuff. The front bumper is all scraped underneath from driveways. I even broke the lexan casing on my front underbody neon tube one day. The ride is bumpy with the stock shocks and struts but im used to it now and its not that bad. Just watch out for any change in the road and take it slow until u know where all the bumps and pot holes are. The car looks hot slammed and i recomend doing it to your car, but be sure to keep ur stock tires for the winter and buy adjustable coilovers so u can raise it up for the winter.

Being too low is not always the best. People get this thought if low is good lower is better, which is not always true.

It would be like saying if two Tylenol for a headache is good, than 10 is better.

When you are too low you run out of shock travel and then your shocks don't to what they are to do - dampen your springs to keep you from bouncing.

Originally posted by CXHatchback
Very true, but I know one thing, you want to do it right to preserve ride quality. I've got 4 blown stock shocks and the ride sucks on coilovers.
Could be worse...you could have 4 blown shocks on stock springs...haha, I saw a car with that on the freeway and if I was in that shit I would get seasick in 2 minutes.

Can anyone tell me more about their experience with ground clearance? How is it with steep inclines (like driveways), speed bumps, potholes, stuff in the road, etc? Also, I live in Minnesota where we can get a lot of snow. I do have good snow tires (Bridgestone Blizzacks -- spelling?), but am concerned about becoming a snowplow with the 1.75/1.5" drop on my 99 Si. Can it do damage like to the front bumper or to anything else?

Thanks for any more input,
~M
:bandit:

My car is dropped somewhere around 2.5" front and rear and I have no problems what so ever when I'm on the road (and their are a lot of speed bumps over here). I ony scrape when I try to get into my garage (which is under our house). My car is dropped with Spax lowering springs on Koni Yellows and the handling is very good. Turns that I used to take at 50kmh, I can now take at 75kmh:D

If I put my front lip on my car, I can barely put my shoe under the front:D

You learn to navigate around speed bumps and inclines. For inclines you want to go at it at an angle so one wheel gets on the hill then the other.

For speed bumps you do the same thing depending on how high they are. I usually just find another way around them :)

Originally posted by CivicSiRacer
You learn to navigate around speed bumps and inclines. For inclines you want to go at it at an angle so one wheel gets on the hill then the other.

For speed bumps you do the same thing depending on how high they are. I usually just find another way around them :)

That's about all there is to it. But becarful, lately I've been having a problem of even angling down driveway ramps, the bottom of my car (resonator to my exhaust to be specific) has scrapped the top part of the ramp, as it gets closer to the car as you go down the ramp, till your back wheels go over it. It just happened to me yesterday when my car almost highsided (where the car is sitting with the drive wheels off the ground, stuck) going down a driveway ramp that meets the street, as soon as I heard it start to scrape, and knew I was at least a foot from the actual street surface still, I reversed and had to find another exit. It sucks sometimes, but it can be worked around. Just don't drop your car too much, and you should be fine. My car sits lower than most I know that are slammed on "17's, because since I have "15 rims, I can actually lower more to the wheels than if I had "17's. And I STILL have about 1/8 inch of wheel gap, and I still sit lower than a buddy of mine who has her car slammed to the fenders on "17's.

took awhile to get used to. (parks far from side walks now)

rides not as luxurious but its alot more comfortable. handles a little better.
dinged the crap out of my bumper but its a factory bumper so fuck it.

but its a hell of alot better then 5 inches of space between your wheel and fenders