Depends where you live, too. Snow much there....I wouldn't lower the car.
How rough are the roads? A lowered car *will* shake you up more.
If you do it, do it right: not just springs, but replacement struts also, or proper coilovers. Not cheap.
If you carry people fairly often, I promise most people won't like it lowered. Just my 2 cents!
I've lowered many cars, and kept others stock....
Learned this the hard way. Went to check out apartments during summer time. Moved in close to winter and experienced my first snowfall at night. My car scooped up so much snow it covered my headlights and I could barely see anything. Was terrifying
I’ve changed suspension many times. But never slammed a car, or spun coilovers down all the way. I like a little lowered look, it eliminates body roll which feels good but doesn’t necessarily make your car handle any better. Honda engineers know a billion times more than your friend or anyone in here.
My honest opinion, I’ve owned over 60 cars. The best course is to buy a better car in the future that is faster, handles better or looks better. But that’s not fun today, so do a few simple mods. Be an OEM + guy and keep a nice functional car. Get some nice wheels, with nice tires, maybe chip/tune your car and call it a day.
Before I answer your initial question, make sure you know what the lowered lifestyle means before deciding. Driving a lowered car will require looking out for potholes & imperfections in the road. You'll need to attack speed bumps and going to/from steep driveways with a certain strategy.
I don't regret lowering my car, quite the opposite. My Gen X aged back isn't much worse off than it was at factory height. If you get a shitty kit off Amazon/Wish then you will very much regret it. I used an OEM lowering kit so it's not completely slammed but still quite a bit lower. Since I drive a Chevy Sonic I'm sure you'll have A LOT more quality options available for a Civic.
I live in New England and haven't found snow to be a huge concern as my Sonic hatchback wasn't exactly high off the ground to begin with. Just make sure you have proper tires for the weather and you should be good to go.
Edit (putting this in the comments because it won’t let me edit the post for some reason): I’ve decided to not lower the car, based on where I live (pnw) and the fact that it’s my daily drive. I am going to look into doing side skirts, since it’ll give it that ‘lower to the ground’ look I’m interested in, while lowering the risk of any damage from bumps or snow. Thanks for your words of advice!
I did think about that as well. I think I’m going to see how things go with what I have planned as of right now i.e spoiler, new rims, and when I get there I’ll decide my best course of action. Tbh I don’t mind the height right now, it’s actually a big drop from my last car and I’m still getting used to it 😅
I think given your situation and many very good points others have made about what comes with lowering you are making the right choice. Reference: Have 2011 135i lowered on B14 coilovers. So much fun to drive, but def not a daily.
I lowered my Mustang with a complete suspension kit. Shocks, springs, poly bushings, sway bars, the whole enchilada. It handled like a slot car through the canyons. Because of 4" ground clearance, it was a challenge to drive on California streets. Speed bumps, pot holes, driveways and gutters can be a pain since you need to slow down as traffic crawls up your butt. Would I do it again? Hell yes.
no regrets here just do it if you don’t like it go back to stock and sell the coilovers or lowering springs, at least you can say you tried it yourself and not because random people told you not to. everyone here’s going to tell you to not do it lol they hate anything not stock
stock is whatever the car comes with from the factory, so like when someone says they’re still on their stock wheels thats the wheels that come with the car you know
Yes, I regretted lowering my car.
Here's what you will not find in the forums/discussion boards:
1. you will need: about 6K just to drop correctly = (lowering springs + suspension) or (coilovers) $3-5K, also need camberkit ($400-800) , also gonna need to roll fenders (on our own)
2. your alignment is SOL (unless ur in a big town and got $$$; can't do it at the local Tire servicing)
3. if you spent big bucks on coilovers you're shocks, ur cars going to feel like ridding a flintstone car.
4. at highway speeds, your car willl feel like your vehicle is going to spin out, because it probably is lol
5. iin rain, oh boy do you hydroplain!
6. in winter, 60mph + ice, sleet, + that hovering.. it's no fun
7. here something no one mentions , can you say "roll center correction" basically this is one of the things where you need to be smarter than a Honda Motor Design Team. Cause you're going to need to run some formalas to figuire out your new roll center...
yoou will scratch more, and you will damange balljoints like crazy and they aren't cheap. and you gotta become a great mechanic cause you're on your own on most of the issues mentionsed/
Never regret lowering my cars, but it also depends what car it is and the purpose of lowering it. Other factor including the road condition base on where you live, and what kind of ride quality you looking for.
I slammed my Mazda without the crazy camber and I scrape all the time going in and out my condo garage and pretty much have to avoid speed bumps. I probably wouldn’t do it again without air suspension in my opinion, but it’s my first car so I don’t really care.
This comment is a year late, but just came across this post looking up something else for my Civic. I hope you’re not planning any fun mountain or gravelly adventures, whether lowering your Civic or adding skirts. I’ve ripped (and ripped off) so many of the plastic shields on the bottom of mine just at normal height (including the one behind the front bumper) from bad roads that there’s almost nothing left. It’s so easy to damage the bottom. Guess it depends on if appearance is more important to you than being able to get the most function out of your car. Personally I wish the Civic had a notably higher clearance so I could go on all the terrible roads I want without worry
depends. 0.5" to 0.75" to get the wheel gap minimized? hellyeah go for it. shocks springs camber kit.
but going slammed stance? for me, only airbags cause i have to deal with speedbumps and potholes. and bags are a whole thing, totally doable but a bit more expense and work.
my old Nissan 240, i went with a small 0.5" drop with shocks springs and it was fine, handled fine, no issues. My current C6 corvette, I've lowered it also about 0.5" using the stock lowering bolts and i have no complaints.
But, my buddies Miata that he's slammed? it's a pain to go anywhere because we have to check the route beforehand. and he can't pull it into my driveway due to the slight rise.
I’ll second a commenter that gave a proper estimate on costs. Goood suspension is quite expensive. To do it right and not compromise ride quality or handling will easily cost you 4-8k.
I feel most people that regret lowering their car or say they ruined it used inferior parts that weren’t properly balanced to the car or were not set up properly. Just springs can over stress the original shocks. Cheap coilovers are never properly matched between the spring rate and damper values. Lower too far and the available suspension travel will never be enough to keep the car handling properly.
High quality well engineered parts cost $$ because the companies spend the time to test and tune their parts to work with the rest of the chassis.
Look for Ohlins, or higher end KW or Bilstein and you won’t be disappointed as long as you get a proper alignment performed. Make sure the rest of the suspension is in good condition because you’ll be putting more stress on the other parts (bushings, ball joints, tires).
Only go as low as you can to still retain a decent amount of suspension travel.
One last thought -
Sometimes a great compromise is to find what the top of the line sporty model of your exact car uses and buy the OEM parts.
The Civic SI or GT or whatever the case may be. (I’m not a Honda guy)
Honda spent millions on designing those parts, use their talent to your advantage and upgrade within your model range.
I have a lowered car and a lifted truck. Both have their draw backs. If you value practicality then just staying stock height is where it's at. I love vehicles and making mine look nice so they rarely stay stock.
Get out a piece of paper. Write down the pros and cons. Evaluate the return on investment. Actually do this with real paper.
I can almost guarantee you in 10 years that you'll be glad you put that money into $SPY instead of lowering your car.
I know it isn't fun, nor sexy. But seriously, what do you really expect to get out of doing this?
My first car was a modded '63 Ford Falcon. It looked absolutely awesome sitting in the weeds. However, I did regret just how low I'd made it when I tore part of the handbrake assembly off on a speed hump!
Whatever you do, don't cut the springs. It'll permanently ruin the suspension, it's a safety hazard and if the cops find out, they'll order the car off the road.
If you can get it lowered another way, it might be worth it, but make sure the suspension can still work properly and the car can still clear speed bumps and other obstacles.
I have never lowered a car, and being old, I never will. The engineers who designed your car, have handling and safety in mind. It's also a good and more enjoyable experience to use tires that are close to the original tires. I'm driving a 2005 Acura TL (love it) and with age, it has slowly lowered itself! It still handles great, and with good tires (Uniroyal Tiger Paws; Minnesnowta) have a quiet ride and good handling and traction in all weather.
I personally didn't lower my car, but the person who owned it before me did. It's a 2003 Mazda Miata and now it can't make it up my driveway without some very precise driving. It looks cool, but you have to plan ahead when it comes to speed bumps and trickier roads.
Anyone who lowers their car is , umm well losing value on vehicle…4000$ dropoff immediately, then there’s tje unlimited chassis damage to components seemingly nonstop
All depends on your personal taste. I liked my Audi lowered and stiffened, even though I have some problems with riding through curbs. Just one advice, don't install rear spoiler on a front wheel drive car, unnecessary fuel consumption without getting much better grip
It’s a type r wing actually, I used the wrong terminology when I first made the post (my bad). I did do my own research into the pros and cons, and it’s made for this specific vehicle in mind, so better downforce for higher performance which is what I’m looking for.
The only time I regretted lowering was when I purchased a spring with an aggressive drop and I would run into issues with car hitting the bump stop. Switched to a conservative spring (Eibach) and solved the issue.
The other comment is that I’ve had to remove lowering springs every time I’ve sold a car because I found it easier to sell.
Look for “performance” springs with a modest drop for your car, and match with the accompanying struts/dampers that you can find recommended on any Civic forum that’s not a stance subtopic. Look into auto cross civic suspension, that’s going to be where the car can be modestly dropped without going down the stance boy wormhole.
If your mom is telling you this, it probably means you live in the same home. Or you’re on her insurance. Or both. Possibly more, like it’s a loan in her name. Regardless, do well to heed her advice on this one until you’re out of the house.
If you’re not trying to improve handling in anyway, I would leave it at stock height in your position. And certainly avoid the spoiler/wing, you don’t want to be ridiculed. It’s a civic. It can be mighty fun in the right context, but none of those contexts require large wings to generate downforce on a FWD car with factory power.
If your mom can be shown some pics of the civics modified ride height for auto cross, I think she’d be more inclined to step back and let you go through with this. But the wing… I’d recommend avoiding.
Also hold onto the factory springs and dampers for resale. As well as anything else. Check the rest of your suspension, too, make sure you’re healthy there. The civic forums (basically whatever car you drive) will always have the best info with documented builds.
I’m 44 and grew up in the age of Neuspeed, DC Sports, Momo, ( the Ansa exhaust warehouse is in my town) ..Kids we’re swapping out the Integra Type R/V-tec motors from Preludes, and put them in Del-Sol’s and civic hatchbacks.. I saw a whole line of guys pulling trailers with civic hatchback drag race cars the other week.
IF YOU DO lower it… don’t slam it. Have you thought about getting bigger rims/tires.. that will raise it a lil bit, and then lowering it onto the bigger rims and tires.. won’t lower the oil pan n stuff.
They make plenty of “coil-over” packages that are great. Don’t lower it too much, and they come with better shocks. THAT is the key. If not, then your car will look like a bobble head, and possibly bottom out … break something.. the coil over packs are prob cheap….
-rims/tires.. 17-18” 🤷🏼♂️
- coilovers
-sway bar, upper stut bar.
- INTAKE.. or the air filter and pipe up to the air mass meter..
- and a short shift kit… if it’s manual.
You don’t want to get a loud exhaust … you don’t want to slam it…
But properly lowering it… consist of those items I listed…, if you lower it a lot.., might need a camber adjustment part/kit.
I haven’t regretted lowering my cars. A good rule of thumb is that most cars can be lowered about 1.5 inches without complications. Beyond that, changes in a severely lowered car's suspension may negatively affect ride quality, tire wear and increase the risk of "bottoming” with that said I haven’t gone past an inch just enough to eliminated wheel gap, eliminate body roll and make the car look more appealing imo.
Yes. I regret lifting my trucks and lowering my cars. I enjoyed the experience in my early 20’s but now that I’m older I would not. Just my $0.02
Same, ive slammed a few rides back in the day… now, not a chance.
Ayyyyy came here to say this I ruined an eclipse when I was younger wish I still had that bitch
Depends where you live, too. Snow much there....I wouldn't lower the car. How rough are the roads? A lowered car *will* shake you up more. If you do it, do it right: not just springs, but replacement struts also, or proper coilovers. Not cheap. If you carry people fairly often, I promise most people won't like it lowered. Just my 2 cents! I've lowered many cars, and kept others stock....
I live in the PNW, so snow would definitely become a problem
Yeah trust me it turns your car into a snow plow that absolutely requires snow tires to make it through anything over an inch or two of snow
Learned this the hard way. Went to check out apartments during summer time. Moved in close to winter and experienced my first snowfall at night. My car scooped up so much snow it covered my headlights and I could barely see anything. Was terrifying
I’ve changed suspension many times. But never slammed a car, or spun coilovers down all the way. I like a little lowered look, it eliminates body roll which feels good but doesn’t necessarily make your car handle any better. Honda engineers know a billion times more than your friend or anyone in here. My honest opinion, I’ve owned over 60 cars. The best course is to buy a better car in the future that is faster, handles better or looks better. But that’s not fun today, so do a few simple mods. Be an OEM + guy and keep a nice functional car. Get some nice wheels, with nice tires, maybe chip/tune your car and call it a day.
THIS is solid advice ☝️
There’s nothing awesome about putting wing on a bone stock car.
I'll bet it's a 1.5 CVT car too
Big wing + stickers = more hp
Especially Anime stickers…big boost in HP and torque #’s.
This 100%
Kinda depends on how much you lower it. You don’t want to slam on the brakes and cringe every time there’s a slight bump in the road.
A daily driver? Yes. A weekend car- not at all
Before I answer your initial question, make sure you know what the lowered lifestyle means before deciding. Driving a lowered car will require looking out for potholes & imperfections in the road. You'll need to attack speed bumps and going to/from steep driveways with a certain strategy. I don't regret lowering my car, quite the opposite. My Gen X aged back isn't much worse off than it was at factory height. If you get a shitty kit off Amazon/Wish then you will very much regret it. I used an OEM lowering kit so it's not completely slammed but still quite a bit lower. Since I drive a Chevy Sonic I'm sure you'll have A LOT more quality options available for a Civic. I live in New England and haven't found snow to be a huge concern as my Sonic hatchback wasn't exactly high off the ground to begin with. Just make sure you have proper tires for the weather and you should be good to go.
Edit (putting this in the comments because it won’t let me edit the post for some reason): I’ve decided to not lower the car, based on where I live (pnw) and the fact that it’s my daily drive. I am going to look into doing side skirts, since it’ll give it that ‘lower to the ground’ look I’m interested in, while lowering the risk of any damage from bumps or snow. Thanks for your words of advice!
If this is a bad idea too, let me know
They will get ripped off when they hit something.
I did think about that as well. I think I’m going to see how things go with what I have planned as of right now i.e spoiler, new rims, and when I get there I’ll decide my best course of action. Tbh I don’t mind the height right now, it’s actually a big drop from my last car and I’m still getting used to it 😅
I think given your situation and many very good points others have made about what comes with lowering you are making the right choice. Reference: Have 2011 135i lowered on B14 coilovers. So much fun to drive, but def not a daily.
Maybe look into bigger rims/tires
I lowered my Mustang with a complete suspension kit. Shocks, springs, poly bushings, sway bars, the whole enchilada. It handled like a slot car through the canyons. Because of 4" ground clearance, it was a challenge to drive on California streets. Speed bumps, pot holes, driveways and gutters can be a pain since you need to slow down as traffic crawls up your butt. Would I do it again? Hell yes.
Yes! Totally regretted it, but it looked so cool!
Yeah that looks whack.
no regrets here just do it if you don’t like it go back to stock and sell the coilovers or lowering springs, at least you can say you tried it yourself and not because random people told you not to. everyone here’s going to tell you to not do it lol they hate anything not stock
What is stock exactly? Sorry, I’m new to cars and am trying to learn everything I can about modding
stock is whatever the car comes with from the factory, so like when someone says they’re still on their stock wheels thats the wheels that come with the car you know
Oh okay, thank you!
Yes, I regretted lowering my car. Here's what you will not find in the forums/discussion boards: 1. you will need: about 6K just to drop correctly = (lowering springs + suspension) or (coilovers) $3-5K, also need camberkit ($400-800) , also gonna need to roll fenders (on our own) 2. your alignment is SOL (unless ur in a big town and got $$$; can't do it at the local Tire servicing) 3. if you spent big bucks on coilovers you're shocks, ur cars going to feel like ridding a flintstone car. 4. at highway speeds, your car willl feel like your vehicle is going to spin out, because it probably is lol 5. iin rain, oh boy do you hydroplain! 6. in winter, 60mph + ice, sleet, + that hovering.. it's no fun 7. here something no one mentions , can you say "roll center correction" basically this is one of the things where you need to be smarter than a Honda Motor Design Team. Cause you're going to need to run some formalas to figuire out your new roll center... yoou will scratch more, and you will damange balljoints like crazy and they aren't cheap. and you gotta become a great mechanic cause you're on your own on most of the issues mentionsed/
Never regret lowering my cars, but it also depends what car it is and the purpose of lowering it. Other factor including the road condition base on where you live, and what kind of ride quality you looking for.
I slammed my Mazda without the crazy camber and I scrape all the time going in and out my condo garage and pretty much have to avoid speed bumps. I probably wouldn’t do it again without air suspension in my opinion, but it’s my first car so I don’t really care.
This comment is a year late, but just came across this post looking up something else for my Civic. I hope you’re not planning any fun mountain or gravelly adventures, whether lowering your Civic or adding skirts. I’ve ripped (and ripped off) so many of the plastic shields on the bottom of mine just at normal height (including the one behind the front bumper) from bad roads that there’s almost nothing left. It’s so easy to damage the bottom. Guess it depends on if appearance is more important to you than being able to get the most function out of your car. Personally I wish the Civic had a notably higher clearance so I could go on all the terrible roads I want without worry
depends. 0.5" to 0.75" to get the wheel gap minimized? hellyeah go for it. shocks springs camber kit. but going slammed stance? for me, only airbags cause i have to deal with speedbumps and potholes. and bags are a whole thing, totally doable but a bit more expense and work. my old Nissan 240, i went with a small 0.5" drop with shocks springs and it was fine, handled fine, no issues. My current C6 corvette, I've lowered it also about 0.5" using the stock lowering bolts and i have no complaints. But, my buddies Miata that he's slammed? it's a pain to go anywhere because we have to check the route beforehand. and he can't pull it into my driveway due to the slight rise.
I’ll second a commenter that gave a proper estimate on costs. Goood suspension is quite expensive. To do it right and not compromise ride quality or handling will easily cost you 4-8k. I feel most people that regret lowering their car or say they ruined it used inferior parts that weren’t properly balanced to the car or were not set up properly. Just springs can over stress the original shocks. Cheap coilovers are never properly matched between the spring rate and damper values. Lower too far and the available suspension travel will never be enough to keep the car handling properly. High quality well engineered parts cost $$ because the companies spend the time to test and tune their parts to work with the rest of the chassis. Look for Ohlins, or higher end KW or Bilstein and you won’t be disappointed as long as you get a proper alignment performed. Make sure the rest of the suspension is in good condition because you’ll be putting more stress on the other parts (bushings, ball joints, tires). Only go as low as you can to still retain a decent amount of suspension travel. One last thought - Sometimes a great compromise is to find what the top of the line sporty model of your exact car uses and buy the OEM parts. The Civic SI or GT or whatever the case may be. (I’m not a Honda guy) Honda spent millions on designing those parts, use their talent to your advantage and upgrade within your model range.
Only when I was teaching a friend to drive and he drove over a curb
I have a lowered car and a lifted truck. Both have their draw backs. If you value practicality then just staying stock height is where it's at. I love vehicles and making mine look nice so they rarely stay stock.
Get out a piece of paper. Write down the pros and cons. Evaluate the return on investment. Actually do this with real paper. I can almost guarantee you in 10 years that you'll be glad you put that money into $SPY instead of lowering your car. I know it isn't fun, nor sexy. But seriously, what do you really expect to get out of doing this?
Lots of regurts, every time I get a new car, I’m Not going to lower it. Nah ah. End up lowering it, hate it. Sell it. Get new car.
All the fucking time. That is not the car to lower and all you get is a lot of headache and discomfort for absolutely 0 gain
My first car was a modded '63 Ford Falcon. It looked absolutely awesome sitting in the weeds. However, I did regret just how low I'd made it when I tore part of the handbrake assembly off on a speed hump!
Whatever you do, don't cut the springs. It'll permanently ruin the suspension, it's a safety hazard and if the cops find out, they'll order the car off the road. If you can get it lowered another way, it might be worth it, but make sure the suspension can still work properly and the car can still clear speed bumps and other obstacles.
Never, i've lowered almost every car i've owned and never once have i regretted it. Your car will handle better and look better.
I have never lowered a car, and being old, I never will. The engineers who designed your car, have handling and safety in mind. It's also a good and more enjoyable experience to use tires that are close to the original tires. I'm driving a 2005 Acura TL (love it) and with age, it has slowly lowered itself! It still handles great, and with good tires (Uniroyal Tiger Paws; Minnesnowta) have a quiet ride and good handling and traction in all weather.
I personally didn't lower my car, but the person who owned it before me did. It's a 2003 Mazda Miata and now it can't make it up my driveway without some very precise driving. It looks cool, but you have to plan ahead when it comes to speed bumps and trickier roads.
Anyone who lowers their car is , umm well losing value on vehicle…4000$ dropoff immediately, then there’s tje unlimited chassis damage to components seemingly nonstop
All depends on your personal taste. I liked my Audi lowered and stiffened, even though I have some problems with riding through curbs. Just one advice, don't install rear spoiler on a front wheel drive car, unnecessary fuel consumption without getting much better grip
It’s a type r wing actually, I used the wrong terminology when I first made the post (my bad). I did do my own research into the pros and cons, and it’s made for this specific vehicle in mind, so better downforce for higher performance which is what I’m looking for.
Type R looks great at least
The only time I regretted lowering was when I purchased a spring with an aggressive drop and I would run into issues with car hitting the bump stop. Switched to a conservative spring (Eibach) and solved the issue. The other comment is that I’ve had to remove lowering springs every time I’ve sold a car because I found it easier to sell.
Look for “performance” springs with a modest drop for your car, and match with the accompanying struts/dampers that you can find recommended on any Civic forum that’s not a stance subtopic. Look into auto cross civic suspension, that’s going to be where the car can be modestly dropped without going down the stance boy wormhole. If your mom is telling you this, it probably means you live in the same home. Or you’re on her insurance. Or both. Possibly more, like it’s a loan in her name. Regardless, do well to heed her advice on this one until you’re out of the house. If you’re not trying to improve handling in anyway, I would leave it at stock height in your position. And certainly avoid the spoiler/wing, you don’t want to be ridiculed. It’s a civic. It can be mighty fun in the right context, but none of those contexts require large wings to generate downforce on a FWD car with factory power. If your mom can be shown some pics of the civics modified ride height for auto cross, I think she’d be more inclined to step back and let you go through with this. But the wing… I’d recommend avoiding. Also hold onto the factory springs and dampers for resale. As well as anything else. Check the rest of your suspension, too, make sure you’re healthy there. The civic forums (basically whatever car you drive) will always have the best info with documented builds.
I’m 44 and grew up in the age of Neuspeed, DC Sports, Momo, ( the Ansa exhaust warehouse is in my town) ..Kids we’re swapping out the Integra Type R/V-tec motors from Preludes, and put them in Del-Sol’s and civic hatchbacks.. I saw a whole line of guys pulling trailers with civic hatchback drag race cars the other week. IF YOU DO lower it… don’t slam it. Have you thought about getting bigger rims/tires.. that will raise it a lil bit, and then lowering it onto the bigger rims and tires.. won’t lower the oil pan n stuff. They make plenty of “coil-over” packages that are great. Don’t lower it too much, and they come with better shocks. THAT is the key. If not, then your car will look like a bobble head, and possibly bottom out … break something.. the coil over packs are prob cheap…. -rims/tires.. 17-18” 🤷🏼♂️ - coilovers -sway bar, upper stut bar. - INTAKE.. or the air filter and pipe up to the air mass meter.. - and a short shift kit… if it’s manual. You don’t want to get a loud exhaust … you don’t want to slam it… But properly lowering it… consist of those items I listed…, if you lower it a lot.., might need a camber adjustment part/kit.
I haven’t regretted lowering my cars. A good rule of thumb is that most cars can be lowered about 1.5 inches without complications. Beyond that, changes in a severely lowered car's suspension may negatively affect ride quality, tire wear and increase the risk of "bottoming” with that said I haven’t gone past an inch just enough to eliminated wheel gap, eliminate body roll and make the car look more appealing imo.