I want to lower my car and i don't know how. What brand springs should I get. thx

 

#1 and most important-If you have never done this before, get someone to help you (and show you) who has personal experience changing springs and struts. The right tools and safety is a must.
#2 Search the FAQ's and installation instructions at the top of page. Lots of valuable information and instructions.
#3 Springs are a personal choice. How much drop do you want. How stiff a ride are you(and/or spouse/significant other) willing to put up with, how much do you want to spend on suspension.
#4 Start reading through the forums. Huge amounts of experience shared on this forum.

Mike

 

Safety first man. Since springs mounted onto a strut have TONS of unreleased energy, if you remove them incorrectly...well lets just say it could become a very bad day for you.
That said, since the search feature is unavailable to all us "plebians", here is some info I have gathered around here in the past year.

As far as springs go, there are basically 2 camps, those that drop the car alot, and those that drop the car less, but give a more stock like ride. Do a search on Google for Tein, Progress, or Sprints if you want a bigger drop, or Maxspeed, H&R, or Eibach for more of a stock ride. It has been said that the H&R are the most plush ride, while the Eibachs are more stiff. The Maxspeeds are a good bargin (what I have) but I am under the impression that they are a little stiffer than the others.

Before even getting to the install instructions, please note that although you CAN put lowering/performance spring on your stock struts, that you really should consider upgrading your struts to a performance brand. I have no personal advice on this except to drop a few names that seem to be popular, KYB AGX (modified for the 5th gens through Cattman.com) or Tokico Blues. The reason for getting struts as well is that the stockers are only designed to rebound within the travel alloted with stock springs. Since you are in effect cutting that distance down by lowering your car, the struts aren't working as well as they could.

Installation is a time consuming and dangerous proposition, I take NO repsonsibility if you drop your car on your head or if your spring puts a hole through your garage wall . The basic, basic instuctions are these.

1) Get a manual, I used the woefully bad Haynes manual, but it got the job done

2) Get spring compressrors (they look like a really long screw with 2 hook that attach to the spring itself - you can get these from Auto Zone for free for a day with deposit)

3) Put your car on jack stands or lift (DO NOT USE THE STANDARD CAR JACK FOR THIS) and remove the wheels

4) I would start with the rear. Remove your struts and begin the long process of removing your old springs. If you are putting on all new springs and struts, you should still remove the spring because of the danger of leaving something with that much stored up energy lying around.

5) Once you have the spring off and the new one on, you need to make sure that the bottom of the springs meets with the groove in the base of the strut and you you can put the entire assembly back on the car.

This is an extemely simplified list but shoudl give you some idea of the labor envolved. Despite the advice, I did do my spring install alone. However it took ALL day and looking back I wish I would have had a little help a fw times.

Please refer to my install pics for some better detail:

Spring Install

Also, as I am definatley a mechanic of the shade-tree variety, other advice given from some of the experts here should supercede mine. Good luck on the install!