I have a 97 civic ex manual and I'm in the process of buying springs to lower it. I've been told eibachs are pretty solid springs but I don't know how much to lower my car. Any suggestions? And should I replace my struts as well when i lower it?

 

For the Eibachs I would personally recommend the Sportlines. They drop the car around 1.8" all around. You will need new shocks though. I'd recommend either the Eibach shocks or Koni STR.T(the Koni's come with lifetime warranty).

Another good spring very similar to the Eibach Sportlines is the H&R Sport springs. They have nearly the same spring rates as the Sportlines but they don't drop the rear quite as much. It'll probably give your car a more even drop. Meaning the rear won't look lower than the front... I'd also suggest the Koni STR.T's with these springs.

For either kit(springs and shocks) you're looking at around $350.

 

I've found that lowering more than about 1.5 inches tends to restrict your choices of tire/wheel sizes and how often your car will scrape on driveways, speed bumbs, etc. That's why I went with Eibach Pros - not slammed but a good compromize between ride and handling. I also went with the Eibach shocks and a camber kit.

 

Not entirely...

There are so many wheels out there with some many different diameters, widths and offsets that it's actually pretty easy to fine something that will fit just fine with ~2" drop. It just seems like a lot of people think you slap a wheel on and go, which isn't always the case. That's who ends up rubbing...

I have no idea where my ride height on my race car is compared to stock but I think I can safely say it's around a 2" drop, maybe a bit more. I don't have issues with scraping. Yeah I need to be a bit careful, but I generally don't go much slower than I do in my daily driver which has around a 1.5" drop. Shouldn't be flying over speed bumps or driveway burms regardless of what suspension you have... And again, it takes just a bit of research to find out what will work well for your suspension to not have to worry about scraping or bottoming out or w/e. Anything lower than a 2" drop however will begin to sacrifice ride comfort. But as most things, that is subjective.

 

Orly?

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17s and I didn't have any rubbing issues.

 

Clean

I got Tokico Blues and Tein S-Tech springs, 1.8" rear drop and 1.5" front, i think. I dont know if youre looking for more performance or something but i enjoy my new suspension and it was fairly cheap. I wouldnt let the possibility of rubbing be a big choice factor, you can get spacers and/or roll the fenders ect. Plus like others said the right wheels should clear that up anyway.

 

I can say without a doubt that 45 series tires are as low as I would go on a Civic (and I live in San Diego, where there are not that many potholes). The larger the wheel, the smaller the cushion between the rim and road surface. I've driven in cars with 17-18 inch wheels and 35-40 aspect ration tires and the pounding is tireing after a while.

But in the end, you decide what you can tolerate in the name of looks. Some newer cars have 35-series tires on them from the factory but their entire suspension system is designed around them.