Slamming 5th Gen Prelude to the max?

[WoGBoX]

Hi guys,

I recently got myself a 5th Gen Prelude - stock as, but they're good looking cars and go pretty well so I'm happy. My last car was a CE Lancer 2 door. The Lancer was slammed on its guts using custom K-Mac springs and stock shocks (I modified the rear bumpstops). I had the K-Mac's resized a couple of times, I believe in the end the rears were 5 inches lower and fronts 3.5. Surprisingly 18s just managed to squeeze under the guards and this gave me the look I was after.

Now with the Prelude, I plan on keeping it standard except for the suspension (actually just the springs). I'm not real keen on subtle lowering, my cars have to be super low. I'm not worried about ride handling or whatever, it will never be worse than the Lancer anyway whatever I do lol.

I am really CBF to stuff around with changing standard springs to the lowered ones and back a few times so I can get the springs resized to get the look I'm after. I probably changed the suspension set up on the Lancer 20 times all up, so I'm a bit over it lol.

Does anyone know how much travel the standard 5th gen shocks have? Has anyone here lowered their Prelude more than 3 inches? Got pics?

I don't care if the shocks die quickly, just as long as there is enough travel so the springs actually sit captive. Not super keen to cut bumpstops, but will if necessary.

Say if I wanted to do this...

Front - tyres to sit level with guard or up to 1cm under.

Rear - tyres to sit inside by 3cm.

What height springs am I looking at? I know someone will suggest to get a tape measure out and work out the distance, but from experience the springs never come back low enough, which means mucking around with resizing.

Thanks heaps guys, any help is much appreciated.

[destrukshn]

easiest way, get some coil overs.
they can drop your ride about up to 3.5" depending on what coilovers you get.

[czy_sol87]

dude with that much lowering i wouldnt be surprised that ur dragin the ass on the floor, ur not worried about handling etc, u should be, what about turning, ur not gonna be able to turn without scraping something
just get some coilovers and set them at the max lowest setting, and that will be low enough, or go to the suspension place and tell them that u want and they should be able to do it for u
i had superlows in my crx and that was already tooo low, scraped everywhere i went
i have a couple of mates that were into really low cars, one mate even had his WRX less than 50mm off the ground, worst thing i've ever drivin, but he ended up getting over it and sellin the car

[WoGBoX]

Hmm yeah good points raised...

BTW the Prelude is driven on smooth Canberra roads - means I can go lower than most Sydney cars hehe. When I had my Lancer I made the mistake of parking at Parra Westfield multi-level carpark when visiting Sydney. Easy enough to get in... on the way out different story. Didn't realise there would be massive speedbumps on the exit lane - all 5 levels of it haha. Never again...

How low will your average coilover set up be able to go? 3.5 inches? Don't want to spend money on a set if they don't go as low as I want. What brand of coilover would suit my needs best?

czy_sol87 - where did you scrape? Tyres or bodywork?

I too got a bit over driving an impractical car, but stock height just doesn't do it for me. Car has to be decked lol

[slknv]

I had a weird, custom coilover setup in my 5th gen, koni yellow shocks with 3 extra low spring perch mounts machined into the body, with Skunkworks coilovers. Looked like this;



was about 3.5" out of the front and 4" off the back - surprisingly, you could still drive it that low (you could turn the front wheels) and no guard rolling or plastic removal needed! I think the perfect wheel size & offset helps a lot. However this low, my exhaust was about 0.5cm off the ground, so not really driveable! I have proper Tein coilovers in my current car, and it's about 2.5" lowered and probably won't put it any lower unless I enter it into shows.

[Vinnie]

if ur looking for massive dumpage maybe bags are worth a look? jus dont go the cheap option u mensioned in ur first post as doing that to the suspension can make ur car dangerous...

[dudeling7]

yo man i live in canberra too! haha gotta love the roads here they are soo much better than elsewhere!

my car is pretty slammed atm but i got an integra. what colour lude? should catch up sometime haha.

i reckon as others have said maybe get some coilovers.

or get a custom spring and some koni yellows or somethign like that, should get you pretty low!

[czy_sol87]

czy_sol87 - where did you scrape? Tyres or bodywork?

hey mate, i had problems with the cat scrape everytime i went over a speed hump, also problems with bottomin out and scrapin the front guards while full lock and also turnin, lots of body roll even though i had lowered spring, stock shocks were fu*ked, after less than 3000kms on the new springs

im not sure if he was on this forum, but he is on Prelude Australia as bluelude, he had coilovers in his ride and that thing was slammed, was also a semi final autosalon competitor last year (part of the prelude australia stand)

coilovers usually drop about 4", but the ride quailty and handling will definalty be heaps better than just compressed springs on stock shocks, worth the $$$ if u ask me, got some in my car now and love them, also if u decide that be sooo low is just ridiculous and impractical, u just whined up the coilovers and ur set, dont need to spend and more $$$ to get it raised

ps pm sent

[theseven]

i think mine is lowered by around 5 - 6 cm front and rear

my rear is now lower than that cos got audio setup on the boot.. the car sitting the same height front and rear

just check out the guards whether enough lowered...

still can get lowered with some other options but it is not recomended since it is rubbing everywhere already

[LS93]

Blulude has been mentioned....here is a few pics....(car was sold but owner still on Preludeaustralia forums i think)







1st two pics are street-driven height and the last pic is mas05...

[WoGBoX]

Hey thanks for the pics guys. Lowering has to be the best mod you can do to make a car look better, and it shows on these rides. Well done to the owners.

theseven that's more like the height I'm after, maybe a little lower. Do you know what sort of springs/coilovers you are using?

[WoGBoX]

dudeling7 I know your car, always see it parked at Mobil in Braddon. I like your ride, nice and clean and slammed

Vinnie bags are awesome but I'm only planning to keep the Prelude for another 12 months before I upgrade to a C200 Kompressor. Will def put some bags on the Merc, only really got the Honda to stop the never ending defects I was receiving before.

slknv I remember that car haha. Used to love it back in the day, along with another oldschool Hot4s 5th gen, the slammed green one with NSX style tan leather interior and subtle pinstriping.

In the meantime with my Prelude I will just go same route as with my last car and play around with some custom K-Macs I guess...