I have not seen it so much on this forum, but have seen it a million times where someone posts the question "How Far..." followed by the message ... can I lower my CRX. I am writing this hoping to educate a little. <br> People amaze me at how little they know about one of the most important parts of their cars because they never see it, and never think about it, the suspension. <br> You can drop a car all the way to the ground if that is what you want to do, but why is it being done? The primary reason is usually "for looks" and while I like a good looking car more than most people, My idea of what looks good is a little different. To me the car that looks the best is the one that was done the right way. <br> Lowering a car can improve a car in some way, but never forget the univeral constant the for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So you do something and you are pleased with it, great, but what did you trade off? In far too many cases it is safety and/or reliability. <br> The car that I was looking at over the weekend had been lowered (the kid said) 2 1/2 inches. It looked like it too. It also looked like crap going down the road. Ultimately he had his steering wheel jerked out of his hand and his car is headed for the juck yard because he had no (thats zero) suspension travel. His subframe broke and part of it became seperated from the rest of his chassis. He could have been killed (which is Darwinism and I have no problem with idiots taking themselves out of the genepool). Worse he could have killed someone else. (how would you feel if you and a friend were going along and someone piled into you and killed your friend and you found out it was because some jackass decided make his car unsafe, just so he could look good?)<br> The body of the car rides on the suspension which dampens bounce and vibration and plants the tires on the road. But boy wonder cut the hell out of his springs (to make it look phat) and the poor car may as well have had the axles welded directly to the frame. The suspension must have some travel and must always have clearence. This includes your wheels/tires.<br> To be continued

OK, here we go.<br> What is the EASIEST way to lower your car? Simply change your wheels and tires. Ask any autocrosser, they will tell you that you can drop it up to an inch like that. You don't even have to touch the suspension to do it. You can go the other way and use LARGER wheels and tires and it will look lowered, but again you don't need to touch the suspension. So let's go back to the universal constant I talked about in the first post for a second. Smaller tires = quicker acceleration, smaller and wider = more grip. Either way, less top speed. Larger wheels and tires = less acceleration, less grip maybe more top in (if you have the HP to turn the extra weight right up at the top). The extra weight and size will hurt you performance wise, but if you are strictly into looks this is perhaps the best way to do it. You are not sacrificing ground clearance this way. And don't ask me how big a tire/wheel combo you can stuff in there because there are too many variables and I don't care enough about wheels over 16" to look into it. (There are several people in the club who can tell you, and will be happy to do so, I just ain't one of them, sorry...)

ran out of time, will be going into a lot of diff things, so you might wanna pack a lunch. This is gonna be going on for a while *laugh*

Ok.....Hmmmmm....stock spring and struts ....un safe...at fast speeds....1.Too high= tippy...2.soft=two wheel geting traction other two screeching due to body roll....Body Roll=Bad...cut springs equals stupid.....good springs = good traction and high perf driving with good struts....strut bars help stiffing frame up....sway bars help with body roll.....lower profile tires grip in to turns...but cause a lil less grip exiting turns...16 x 7 205 40's work good on 2nd gen Si.and i dont give a rip about 1st gens so dont ask me what works on them.....torion bars suck ....stock ride height sux...slamed cars hitinng bumpstops sux.....

True, but So far I am talking about the for looks thing. Now it's time to get into some serious stuff. Not just the fluff for people who want to look dope, fly, phat, or whatever this weeks expression is. <br><br>Suspension work. This is the harder than just messing with tires but as you point out is well worth it when cornering (also in braking and accelerating). <br><br>Nowadays most new cars (as far as I know all, but hey I could be wrong) use a coil spring suspension. All second gen CRX's are coil spring. These are SOOOOOOO EASY compared to the other 2 types. The chassis of the car rides on the springs with the shocks dampening vibration between the 2. Shorter springs, lower car, but stop and think... The stock springs are that tall for a reason. Suspension travel, so the shorter springs must be stiffer. Likewise the stock shocks aint gonna cut it. You want it to work right, you have to match the load rates. Some people have successfully cut a few coils off their springs but you really gotta know your stuff to do that right, and I personally dont recommend it as the car will be lower, but the ride will be the mushy stock ride and you can bottom out the suspension. Another way (if you have struts rather than shocks) is to change where you springs attatch on the strut. The perch for the springs are usually just spot welded and if you are a good welder you can grind off the old welds and move the springs higher up on the strut. I don't get into this idea because it is another case of not getting the right load rate for that reduced suspension travel. For a car with struts I would really just recommend buying racing struts. if you really want to go the bucks get the adjustables and thank yourself later. Kinda tired now, and as far as I can tell that covers the meat and potatoes of coil springs. I have decided not to really get too much into the swaybar and strut tower brace as I am really doing this to help people understand that the question "how far can I lower my car" really requires a lot more thought than most people realize. Oh, one more thing. And I think it is on of the most important statements I will make, NEVER try heating the coils to collapse the springs and thus lower it because your spring could actually break down the line from metal fatigue because you have altered the strength of the metal. And you could kill or cripple (or just hurt a little, but that is hardly a good scare tactic) yourself, or someone else.<br><br>More later on the torsion bars and I think I am going to ignore the existance of leaf springs because while I deal with them nearly every day, most people don't. <br><br><br>'Driver