Hi y'all,
I'm planning to have my 2013 Honda Fit (base model) lowered a little bit. Right now I have 16" alloy aftermarket wheels installed (tires still about the same outer diameter as the OEM) and now I'd like to tighten up the fender to wheel gap for a sporty look. I'm looking to go with the RS-R Superdown springs for the mild drop (front: -1.2inch to -1.4inch and rear: -1.4inch to -1.6inch) ... My question is should I replace the struts at the same time? I plan to have the springs install done by a local shop because I don't personally have experience doing this type of mod and the car is my daily driver. If I can save some labor cost by having the struts replaced at same time I would like to go with that route. I don't know how long the OEM struts are supposed to last but the car is now 6 years old. What do you think? What struts brand should I go with? The car is my daily driver and if I can get the suspension to ride a little firmer I don't mind that however I'm mainly after the lowered look not track performance.

Thanks

 

The stock dampers are not set up to run lowering srprings and should be replaced when the springs are changed. For the price why not go for a budget coilover kit? Tein makes some great stuff at an afforable price. For daily duties it would be perfect plus you can set the height exactly where you want it.

 

Ohh ... I did not think about coilovers. Thanks for bringing that up. I looked up the Tein Street Basis ... A complete set is just a little over $500? Not bad and I like the adjustable ride height feature as well.

 

It's a great set of coilovers for the price! They are on the softer side so ride comfort won't be compromised as much and since you are in Texas salt won't eat at them. IMO why buy shocks and springs seperate when you can buy a complete set where everything is matched for $500. Easier to instal too. Pretty easy DIY.

I had the Tein Flex on my Fit which I really enjoyed. Was a little too soft to run them really low but great for DD duties.

 

I think I can handle this myself if I have enough patience. It's just that I don't like the current cold weather and don't want to stay outside for long. Once it's warmed up more I'd consider giving it a go. Is camber bolt kit necessary for the front struts when doing a mild drop about 1 to 1.5 inch? Like at what point does the camber change significantly from stock setting?

 

No it's no neccesary. You won't have any camber issues unless you run a wider wheel with more offset and want to go real low. Then you will need the camber to tuck the tire in the wheel well to keep it from rubbing. Unless you want to run custom camber specs in the front for handling purposes it's not needed.

 

assuming you go the springs route, struts would be a smart idea. esp considering the age of your oem ones

and as the above have mentioned, its usually best to pair up lowering springs with anything else other than oem struts (even if the springs are "made for oem struts"

 

I'm going to get the Tein coilovers instead of separate springs and struts. Cost a little more but I think having height adjustment is good to have to play around and set it however I like.

 

I just got the front coilovers installed, and will probably finish the rear ones tomorrow. This is my first experience with coilovers and they go together nicely. The only thing I don't like so far is that the top of the piston rod has flat spots (instead of hex socket like OEM struts) to keep it from spinning when tightening the top nut. I tried to grip the flats securely with locking pliers but still got some threads partially beat up when tightening the top nut... In the future if I ever need to remove or replace the coilovers, and the top nut gets stuck at that point, I guess I would have to tear through the rubber dust cover and get something to grip the piston rod itself to fully take off the top nut?

 

Glad the install went okay. An open ended wrench should fit over the piston against the flat spots to keep it from spinning.

 

I didn't think about that. I did try using an adjustable wrench at first before I switched to locking pliers. The wrench probably got a little loose so that messed up some of the threads.