I want to drop my Fit, while still keeping a comfortable ride-nothing stiff. I've heard great things about Tein, but also want to know if running the factory strut is bad. How long will it last, and is this the best way to retain a soft ride. Trying to avoid aftermarket struts(more $ & stiffer ride). Also with the claimed F-1.8", R-1.2" drop, can I get away w/no camber kit? Any info will help. Thanks

 

i use to have s tech on my car then i ended geting coilovers and i like them alot beter but if you get them dont forget to cut the front bump stops and cut 1 coil off the backcause they sit to high in the rear

 

The only way to avoid stiffening the ride when lowering is to go with coil-overs. The Enduratechs have a reputation for being softer than OEM when set up properly. OE struts plus lowering spring = stiff no way around it. Its not unpleasantly stiff though, I have been running Skunk2 and OE struts for about eight months now and they ride just fine...

 

I have s techs on my car ( it was lowered when I bought it ) and as far as I know the guy that had it before me just had it alligned after he dropped it. I like a stiffer suspension and they're perfect for me. You would really need to ride in a car with the setup you're looking at to decide if you liked it because my opinion is probably going to be different than yours.

 

Well... coilovers stiffens your ride. No matter you like it or not. The only way to lower the car is to get springs that has low spring rates such as the Tanabe NF210s (Tanabe USA Inc. - NF210 Normal Feeling Springs sorry this is the only thing I can think of right now.) Cause it gives a lower look while keeping the stock rate.

As for your question... it's not BAD BAD to put springs on factory struts. Although the lower and stiffer springs you go the sooner your struts will die... But we're not talking about in 2k miles it'll die. More than that at least. I had springs on my stock struts and it lasted me about 25k and until then it was still running fine. But I decided then to move onto coilovers.

 

same here.. 25k and my struts didnt feel like they dampened much anymore.

You'll be much better off with struts or coilovers from the start, that way you wont have to go back and fix things later. Aftermarket springs are just too stiff for stock dampers... and from what i hear stock dampers are a little too weak even for stock springs! hahaha

 

Hmmm I thought there was a deficiency of aftermarket dampers for our cars? It's really not that uncommon to run S-Techs on stock shocks.

Those should hold up fine. The drop is still mild enough for the dampers to have some usable travel left.