hi guys, just registered about 10minutes ago LOL hectic aha ive been with my 9th gen honda civic now for a year this coming august... and ive been considering getting some work done to it?

ive spoken to a few friends but im always getting totally different opinions and whatnot so here goes...

i really want to lower my car!! the stock suspension is so bloody high and it just looks absolutely silly! one of my friends suggested i just get bigger rims (currently 16") so i was then thinking on maybe some 17"s but then another friend said if i were to change my rims i would have to do suspension work anyway since the different rims will make teh car a bit unstable or something..

so then i thought maybe ill just stick with my stock rims since i like them anyway (they are very neat and have a cute little honda sign on it ^_^) and just lower my car a little... that would be the better option right?

and my other query was just concreting the difference between springs and coilovers.. so springs pretty much just lower your car for the looks? if i were to lower my car with springs then i would also have to change the shock absorbers also right?
whereas if i just get coilovers i just .. get the coilovers and thats it. but coilovers are much more pricey?

so technically in other words, if i were to get springs and a new shock absorbers(is that the proper name?) then my car should be alright? at the moment the distance between the tyre and the body of the car is liek -_- i think about 8cm... so like 3". hoping maybe to lower it by half. that should be alright?

also i was thinking of an exhaust... nothing too extreme, just a little bit of that amazingly sexy low rumble. compared to suspension work (which i have a LITTLE knowledge of...) i dont have any knowledge on exhausts and mufflers etc. just curious if anyone could give me any basic insight into them and what i should look for and approximate or average prices?

sorry for all the questions LOL HAHA i only want the best for my baby and also hopefully i can learn a lot more about cars from this forum ^_^