Yea, I have been thru way too many springs on way too many different cars, and I never once seen a car with a perfect drop where it is even on all sides.. and i owned all of my cars when they were all brand new, so unless Iam driving them funny.. i have been having really bad luck with plan lowering springs from Eibach.

I switched to some Eibach coilovers on a different car, and I was able to set the exact height i wanted, but after a short time the ride quality was VERY bad... so that is why i went with this coilover kit that came with the shocks and struts as well, because I wanted to make sure i have a smooth ride regardless of the height, and I also wanted to dial it it in perfectly even. EVEN if kept it at a pretty high setting.

Overall I been loving my honda fit for the past few days, and this is no doubt one of the best upgrades you can do... besides the progressive sway bar of course.. now that thing was a REAL upgrade.

 

I am sorry it was too low and i raised it up immediately, because i knew i didn't want to drive it that low.

But, here is a picture of one of my fronts collars, and as you can see it has a bunch of thread that is adjustable, and I am assuming it can be dropped another 2 inches or so more.

 

I did not mean like its a HUGE gap, I was just asking if that was what the gap was at the middle setting. Can you please measure that gap for education purposes? =)

As for additional 2" probably not. As bilsteins states its max drop is 50mm or roughly 2" total. Well maybe you can get more than 2" but I'm sure ride quality will suffer.

As mentioned with my Swifts and tire set up I currently have about 1.5" between the tire and fender. I want to get that to around 1/2" or less.

 

Hi Vash,
First, yes, the 3 coils on the rear do touch like that,

Second some people who want even lower rear with Bilstein do that by taking the rear collar adjustment so just springs in direct contact of the rear axle.

Third,
The Bilstein is NOT a true coil over design meaning,
with some coilover they have the way that the total length of the strut can be adjusted without changing the spring collar, this kind of coilover allow full range of the strut movement while with Bilstein,
if you lower the collar that hold the spring, it also mean you reduce the range of movement/suspension travel available.
With my Ohlins it actually specified on the manual that they do not recommend going to the lowest height.
With Bilstein on the manual it show the recommended position of the spring collar of around 165 to 195mm from the upper camber bolt as the point of measurement... anyway,
when you ask the Bilstein to work at the lowest position, that mean you have less suspension travel available to absorb the bump and it will be easier to hit bump stop during over 90mph speed on bumpy freeway, thus affecting handling on my case.
Just try it, lower both Bilstein to it's lowest setting then drive on bumpy freeway at over 90mph, you will feel the diferrences...

Same thing with my Ohlins, in the beginning I don't really follow the recommended height by Ohlins and later when I adjust to the recommended height, the ride is so much more stable on bumpy freeway at speed over 90mph...

 

This makes sense. Yes there may be room to lower it more due to the threaded area available but you will be going out of the recommended range of the shock.

So when you say you ran it at the lowest setting Alpina, did you put the collars at the absolute lowest possible? Or at the MAX 2" recommended drop?

 

Larger diameter wheel might hurt the acceleration a little bit especially if it is heavy wheel, but if give you a larger footprint and lower profile/side wall flex thus making it give you more grip/better handling. (grip is not always better the lower the tire profile, but it is to certain degree at least for my case when i go from stock dunlop to 40 or 35 profile available for 18in wheel... which is not that thin since my width is either 225 or 215 (now).
It also can help a bit with mpg if you drive a lot on the freeway because
it allow the car to run at lower rpm for the same speed, but if you drive a lot on stop and go, then yes, the heavier wheel would hurt mpg a bit.

I understand that you would like to have a lowered car (less gap on front lips) but I had seen a lot of Yahoo Japan Auction for a used and broken JDM Mugen RS Front Under Spoiler, especially around the center lower parts where it is the lowest and very thin plastic...
and those JDM Mugen RS Front Under Spoiler is not only expensive (consider shipping from Japan), and soon will not be available for sale anymore because our car is no longer in production...
so... you might want to be careful not to go to low with it

another thing is there is no defying law of physics...
if you lower the car too much either the ride will suffer due to less available suspension travel
or
if you use the coilover that have full height adjustment (unlike Bilstein), in theory the ride quality should be the same but the geometry will never be right.. beside many of those coilover in the Bilstein price range do not have the same performance and quality as Bilstein...
some people use the longer ball joint to compensate for geometry change... but I see it create problem with clearance to brake rotor in some car...
or
if you use air suspension, it will add complexity, added weight and loses a lot of space at the trunk and heavy too... and most likely cost more then Bilstein... unless you really want to have a car very low to the ground during static display.

plus I still think that non air suspension will have the ultimate better handling than air setup...
some exotic car with lift function use an air pillow under a conventional suspension... but it still use regular spring shocks set up...

anyway,
connor55,
do you remember when you ride in my car few weeks ago on bumpy SoCal freeway doing over 90mph? do you like the way my car ride?
With Bilstein, you will actually have a bit more softer ride compare to my current Ohlins... not to mention your thicker sidewall on your tire will help too...

Guys, just buy the Bilstein, you will not be disappointed in ride or height

Here, test drive a BMW 3 series with M Sport package (not the full M Car), your Honda Fit will ride very similar to that with Bilstein, Guarantee

I think I promote Bilstein enough without being paid hahaha
but I just want you guys to get the best bang for your buck

 

Hi Shinjari,
If I am not mistaken, I put it at the absolute lowest possible...
now, if you want to make experiment,
try this,
lower the front to the absolute lowest possible but at the same time CUT a bit of the bump stop or try to find shorter but firmer bump stop...
it might be that there is a little bit more travel if we use shorter bump stop,
but i don't want to risk if turn out the shocks pass the maximum bottom up point and broke something inside... so i never try it

but again, if you really want to lower it to the max (with it's original bump stop height) and you don't drive too much at very high speed on bumpy freeway then you won't feel problem with the ride/stability...

 

At this moment, I can only afford a Honda...
but that don't stop me from trying to improve it as much as possible in terms of look and technical capability.
I always try to use a Real High Performance Car as guidance for my modification...

And if we check the latest and the REAL World Class Highest Performance Best Handling, Best Looking Road Car, they all do have quite a bit of front fender gap

Here are the example, Pagani Huayra:




Pagani Zonda:




McLaren P1:




Ferrari La Ferrari:



Now, let's compare to Connor car (and my car right beside Connor's car)
I think Connor's (and my) car already have less fender gaps at the current configuration than those hyper cars above,... don't you think this is already low enough?

 

I feel you man! i work for a fortune 500 company, and everyone is driving Teslas and exotic cars, the porsches in the parking deck are the guys who aren't making it.

I can't compete with that.... so i figured.. hey.. let me put some money into the honda fit (bought this thing brand new in 2009... and its been no doubt my best and favorite car...), and the past few months i have bought 3 subframe bars, a cusco strut tower, progressive sway bar and bilstein coilovers! best decision of my life!! and I owe alot of it to you actually, your thread has helped me alot with getting thru these damn broke wheel studs!

in all honesty i think many of these guys in high executive positions started out like us.. just doing everything themselves, because some of them stopped me and asked about my suzuki and those executive officers seem to know a thing about engine swaps and being real DIY car enthusiast as well... just like me.. perhaps I will be like them when I am 50, rolling around in a Tesla! It will be our turn someday Alpina!! we'll look back at this forum someday and laugh.

 

I think his is at a great driveable height. What size tire are you running Connor?

This is what I'm coming from 99 civic hatch...nothing fancy but it handled great and it felt like you were one with the road. Koni shocks and h&r springs with front and rear sways. Wheel gap just a little less than connors. Too bad some jerks stole it...but if they didn't I wouldnt be here talking to you guys What really peeved me though was I literally pulled the motor and rebuilt it at 250k miles...then 2 months later it was gone. Loved that car.



Seems like Bilsteins are the way to go. Just trying to do all the research I can

 

Thank you for all that info bmw. To be honest, i am still undecided about how high id like it. Air suspension is tempting because i can always change it very quickly, however as you mentioned the cost and complexity is not appealing. I wouldnt mind just lowering my rear end about 10-25mm to match the front gap.

You make a good point about damaging the jdm front. But remember with significantly less overhang, i will be able to handle deeper angles without the risk of scraping and will probably be safe being a tad lower than i am now.

Shinjari, get the bilsteins and tell me how it rides lol. I am running 205 45 17

AlsoBMW, you are basically saying that the lower i adjust the bilsteins the stiffer the ride will be?

 

Hi connor, if what you after is only lowering the rear end about 10 to 25mm, then buy the Ground Control Coil Over kit and just use the rear collar from that kit along with a custom spec Eibach Spring for the rear that you can specify when you order that kit (spring price included). or if you want you can also utilize the front adjustment collar too, this way you will be able to adjust the height to your liking on the rear (and the front if you want to).

please remember don't buy too hard of spring rate instead buy a slightly longer spring to compensate for the softer spring rate, this way you won't over powered your stock shock damping rate.

yes, you have less overhang, but that JDM RS mugen is very effective in making your car lower overall (like our rear RS mugen)...
infact, I am pretty sure my JDM RS Mugen sideskirt is lower than your USDM Mugen sideskirt...
every used front JDM RS Mugen for sale that I saw on Yahoo Japan, all have broken center piece... just like the side skirt RS mugen all have cracks... (mine have one crack too at the bottom) and I am not low...
it only need one scrape to ruin your investment...

well... actually come to think about it,...
Lowering the Bilstein to the lowest setting, not really make the ride harder if you drive at normal speed on decent smooth road, because your suspension movement don't travel that far that fast...
it only effect when you drive very fast at bumpy road because you basically hitting your bump stop and upset the car handling because your suspension have no more travel to go... (to soak/absorb the energy)...

so again, if you don't drive really fast on bumpy road then it is ok... no noticeable different in ride quality...
I just want to be perfect when I have mine hahaha

 

To be honest, if i do decide only to drop 10-25mm in the rear and nothing else. I may be tempted to cut the swift spring a little bit. But i know this probably a terrible choice. But since the swifts are linear, it shouldnt affect the spring rate much if at all. Yes the shock would be a little more out of its comfort zone but not much more than if i had load in the back of the car.

Yikes, i hope its not cursed lol! I will be extremely careful once it is complete, perhaps i will install the garage door lip to protect it from scrapes.

So the spring rate stays the same, but since you reduce the stroke, you will bottom out more easily. So it really depends on the size of the bumps then?

I wish there was aftermarket active magnetic suspension like the one bose makes lol! It would probably cost over 10k though...

 

Ah 205/45/17 (24.3)is similar to stock and clearly makes a big difference. Here is a side profile pic of my fit on 205/50/15 (23.1").



So that extra 1/2" in tire sidewall makes a significant visual difference. Just hope it doesnt make the wheel too small with that extra sidewall height.

Now it comes to whether I'll have money to buy suspension or the need to buy tires first haha.

SO the JDM bumpers bring the overall length of the car shorter...so wouldn't that make it less likely to be hitting curbs/driveways? Maybe all the JDM people just drive like they dont care over speedbumps and stuff?