Suspension upgarade dilema

[civic_punk]

so lets say a got coilovers what should be my next step?

[8695Beaters]

All aftermarket coilovers (that I have seen) are height adjustable. Basically, the spring sits on a big screw and the position of the screw affect ride height. A racer would take his car to an alignment shop and get the car corner balnced (they adjust the heights until each wheel is supporting about the same weight). You can just get away with eyeballing it. Set them at any height you please (not too low), and then raise and lower them until they all look even and are at the height you want. Don't go too low or your ride will suck, just like what Lawless said.

As for alignment, if you don't go too low, then you won't need an alignment. After about an inch you will need an alignment. Set your height and drive to the shop to get it done. That would be your next step.

After that, you will be wanting some better tires. Scratch that, get new tires and then get the coilovers. The tires will add more to your handling than any coilover will. After tires and coilovers, I would look at a strut brace (Civics are fairly weak in this area, my Integra was. Although that could be because I totaled it), and anti-roll bars. That will make you nice and happy.

As an aside, the adjustment I was talking about was the damping adjustment. Some coilovers come with knobs to adjust how much compression or rebound is allowed by the shock. If you don't know what that means, it is best to avoid the knobs (for now. Once you learn a bit more, it's fun to play). And knobs are more expensive than no knobs.