Want to lower my jazz..

[95331140]

Hi guys,

I'm currently in the mood to do a couple of small things to my 2003 Vti-S Jazz.

I want to lower my jazz and am looking at buying some S-Tech Tein springs:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TEIN-S-TECH-LOWERING-SPRINGS-HONDA-JAZZ-FIT_W0QQitemZ140282306406QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car _Parts_Accessories?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Ride height
* Front approx. - 46 mm.
* Rear approx. - 31 mm.

Spring rate

* Front 2.9 kgf/mm.
* Rear 6 kgf/mm.

A couple of questions...
* Will those drop in ride height be noticeable?
* Will I require a camber adjustment kit as I want to ensure I maintain the good tire wear I currently experience.
* Will these springs be fairly comfortable? (I'm not wanting to change the shocks at this stage)

Thanks guys..

[trism]

1. it says about 1.5" drop, but then says the ride height is 46mm and 31mm. im not 100% sure what these figures are, but 1.5cm is a reasonable drop

2. shouldnt need a camber kit as the drop isnt too extreme. it isnt camber that kills tyres, its toe, so dont be too worried

3. yes theyll be comfortable, probably similar to the stock springs

[95331140]

1. it says about 1.5" drop, but then says the ride height is 46mm and 31mm. im not 100% sure what these figures are, but 1.5cm is a reasonable drop

Yeah, it's a daily driver and the wife drives it on the weekend. I think she'll need to be a little cautious, but not overly, which is ideal.


2. shouldnt need a camber kit as the drop isnt too extreme. it isnt camber that kills tyres, its toe, so dont be too worried
I guess a wheel alignment should fix this..


3. yes theyll be comfortable, probably similar to the stock springs
Stock springs are pretty harsh I find, but as long as it doesn't get worse, I'll be happy.
Thanks Trism for ur reply :thumbsup:

Also, I don't think I should be worried about scrapping, but I'm looking at possibly pumping out the wheels a little to increase the track on front and rear using wheel spacers. Something like a bit more offset. Anyone done this before?

Anyone know a reasonable price to install springs and have a wheel alignment done?

[dyljoy]

Where are u live mate, price of install and alignment should be around $150 for 4 corners, but i am more concern about take the car to reliable and trust workshop to do that job, not pick the cheap one to do it. Just my 2 cent!

[95331140]

Where are u live mate, price of install and alignment should be around $150 for 4 corners, but i am more concern about take the car to reliable and trust workshop to do that job, not pick the cheap one to do it. Just my 2 cent!

Hi dyljoy, I live in the Sydney West area. Yeah, I'm not after the cheapest place. I just want a proper job done at a reasonable price.

[dyljoy]

oh, i live in brisbane, so i have no idea which good workshop to go, but someone else will know the answer, u can ask at "what/where to buy" section.

[trism]

anyway, camber will not cause acclerated tyre wear. it just seems like it, as the tyre isnt wearing evenly all over, just more to the edges. the actual amount of rubber worn away is the same

[bosshogg]

As claymore says you need to correct the camber, if your wheels lean to far in the inner tread will wear off in quick time and vice versa, camber kit/bolts wise you can get these, i don't know if they ship worldwide though.
http://www.potn.co.uk/p1350727.htm
depending on how low you go you may not need them as manufacturers normally have tolerances when it comes to camber, this is normally because passengers in you car will change the wheel alignment slightly.

[rossw]

Two things.

One, if you are in NSW and your car has less than 100mm clearance after you lower it, it's no longer street legal. That means you have to be able to drive over a block 100mm high between your wheels and not hit it.

Whether that matters to you or not is up to you, and I'm not about to argue the rights and wrongs. You might get away with it, or you might get defected or get knocked back on your next pink slip.

To avoid this problem, be very sure what clearance you will have after you lower it. You need to know what the clearance is now and then subtract the amount of lowering.

Second thing is if you lower your car by 1.5" (it says inches in the ad, not cm) and leave the shocks the same, you risk ruining the shocks from constant bottoming, especially if you trim the bump stops to retain a reasonable amount of suspension travel.

Shorter shocks avoids this problem.

[Zilli]

But you are correct, excessive camber does accelerate wear, but excessive or incorrect toe coupled with camber will accelerate wear incrementally... the way your wheel points is what causes scrubbing, whilst camber, when toe is assume at 0, will wear your tyre by virtue of the inside edge of your tyre being the main contact patch...

[chargeR]

Meh. Camber gets chicks and I wouldn't be too concerned about anything less than -2 degrees as long as your car is aligned with zero toe by someone that actually knows what they are doing.

An example of the amount of camber generally required to pull chicks :p. Wear with this camber setting is acceptable:

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7360/frontsji2.jpg

[trism]

but if youre saying that it doesnt matter about static measurements, why do we bother with wheel alignments??
***edit. If your going to argue please pm each other***

[trism]

ok so back to OPs original question

no you shouldnt need camber equipment. but when the springs are installed, its best to get a wheel alignment as you should whenever installing/changin suspension equipment.

when you get this done, youll be able to find out what the camber is, and if the person who did the alignment thinks youll need to do something about teh camber you can then go and look for solutions

[Zilli]

Lol. I can't be bothered trying to respond to this off a blackberry. Ill respond when I'm back in NSW.

Just quickly though. You say that 50 pc of the time it makes the camber extend further into negative. The other 50pc it goes the other way. As does toe. So... My entire point is that if you start from a spec that is out of range from an oem perspective, you are exacerbating the problem even though suspension is never static. When you start from a bad static position it only gets worse. Oem settings are there to prolong wear. In the case of a jazz the suspension will flop

***edit:im gettin PMS from editing guys***

[Paul1985]

Excessive camber causes faster tyre wear.
Driving your car causes engine wear.
Modifying your car can cause extra wear on your car.

It's as simple as that. If you want a car with minimum wear, keep it stock, serviced correctly and drive it lesser.

All moving parts wear, including tyres. With that in mind, are you willing to change settings of your car for it too look better?? I would personally even if it wears quicker.

Claymore is definately one of the more knowledgable people on this site, he has helped me numerous times.

Too all involved, why can't there be friendly knowlegeable debates. Debates on forums are a great thing and provide for some great learning and information. But there is no need to get personal and fiesty.. People HATE to be proven wrong on here ive noticed, if proven wrong it becomes a spiteful thread with all involved.

Some of you obviously havent seen tyres with excessive camber or toe... I seen them all the time at work as i work at a manufacturer which tests different tyres and settings on a regular basis.

[bankids]

...i saw the topic and click into the link that's my spring for sale.
I've got my mate installed them as well then change of camber isn't too much. and you won't notice too much tyre worn unless you use very low profile tyres.