Change the entire car with one thing

Yes, wheels can change the look of a car and the tires can play a big part of the handling but that's not the one thing that changes the entire car. Suspension and ride height are what determine the look and handling and overall character of a car. That's what I'm getting into today with this post.
First a quick run down of what suspension I've had on previous cars:
My 1972 bug had stock rear suspension and the front beam suspension with 3-4 splines removed. It dropped the front end probably 2-3 inches and gave it that "hot rod" raked look. It was bouncy but looked cool.
My 1995 Civic EX coupe started out totally stock. Within a year and a half I had Eibach Sportline springs (given to me by my friend) and KYB AGX adjustable shocks and struts. This setup was awesome for the price and simplicity. The parts were good quality and worked well. The adjustability of the KYBs was really nice to have. I was able to feel the difference from soft to hard.
My 1995 Mustang GT had Eibach Pro-kit and I don't remember if it had anything other than stock shocks. I never really pushed this car in corners.
My 1998 Civic LX sedan was totally stock.
My 2002 WRX originally came with Goldline lowering springs and KYB GR2 (non-adjustable) shocks. This was a nice setup for the daily commute and spirited drive. I wanted to get more aggressive so I replaced them with BC BR Coilovers with 8k f/6k r springs and adjustable shocks. I had these installed at Innovative Garage in Salt Lake. I also had them install a bumpsteer kit. This setup changed the entire car. I also had a fairly aggressive alignment. It was lowered more as well. I had 17x9 +35mm Rota Grids with 245/40/17 tires. I did take this to a W.O.W (Wide Open Wednesday) event at Miller Motorsports Park which included an autox area. What a hoot! After getting the coilovers and enjoying the new ride I will never want to go with anything else.
My Fit was dead stock too.
My BMW 330ci had the H&R Sport Cup Kit (lowering springs and shocks/struts). This was a very nice setup as well. Stiffer and lower than stock but not very aggressive. I did an autox event with it like this. A little too much bodyroll but very nice for the daily drive.

So, in the past 20 years (whoa, I'm getting old) I've had many different cars and suspensions. These have all been my daily drivers. Obviously a track dedicated car will be a different discussion. For a daily car though, for me personally, I like a stiffer suspension than what the average lowering spring and sport shock can offer. Especially if you want to drive a car hard, like at an autox event or attacking some canyons, you're going to want stiffer springs and good quality dampening. This setup gets even more important when you run aggressive wide wheels and tires. I ran into this with my bimmer. I went aggressive in the rear with 18x9.5 +35mm and 265/35/18. After I first got the wheels/tires installed, I drove it to work. It was rubbing on some bigger bumps. I then invested in a heat gun and fender roller. I rolled the fenders and gave them a mini-pull. There was a mounting screw that I trimmed as well. All that work helped but I still heard a very slight "squeak" noise on big bumps. I found that the tire was rubbing on the edge of the bumper. If my suspension was stiffer there likely wouldn't be any tire to bumper contact due to the reduced suspension travel of a stiffer spring rate.
So, as I plan out what I want to do with the Civic, I will be getting some quality coilovers. There are many options for the 90's Civics. This chassis (88-00 civic, 94-01 integra) likely has THE largest selection of springs, shocks and coilovers than any other make/model. You can buy anything from $30 lowering springs or $200 "Racing Coilovers" from eBay all the way up to $5000 JRZ coilovers. For a street car like mine that will see mostly normal driving duties with some occasional aggressive driving and maybe 2 or 3 autox events each year it doesn't make sense to go very expensive. For me the sweet spot for street car coilovers is about the $1000-$1500 range. In this range you get quality construction for long lasting performance. You also get adjustability with dampening and ride height. This allows me to soften up the shocks for a trip down to St. George for a baseball tournament and then the next weekend stiffen it back up for an autox event. The ride height adjustability allows me to dial in the "look" or "stance" I want along with optimizing the setup for best handling and ground clearance. Having an adjustable setup you could go "show low" and raise it back up for daily driving. While that availability is there, I'm not interested in changing my ride height. I plan to get it where I want it and leave it there. Personally I don't want to have rubbing issues. I need to be able to put kids in the car along with some baseball gear. I had the rubbing issue with my bimmer and don't want to deal with that again. My personal preference on the "look" I want is not super slammed anyway. I prefer the "track" look with the top of the tire about even with the fender edge or a slight gap.
The most important first consideration is what brand are the coilovers. I don't want a no-name brand that has no history nor will back up any quality issues. Reliability and quality are important. In considering the options in the sweet spot of $1000-1500 one of the things I'm looking at is what the spring rates are for the different systems. My experience with the BC coilovers on my WRX was very positive. Those were 8k and 6k. I do remember reading that different suspension designs have different needs for a given performance level when it comes to spring rates. McPherson struct type design doesn't work the same as double-wishbone like my Civic has. I need to do more research to understand the differences. It has something to do with the geometry of the different designs and the "swing path" the specific geometries generate. Maybe I'll dive into that world a little and report back what I find.

Ground Control/Koni coilovers-tried and true go-to suspension for the Honda community for years!

BC Type BR coilovers. BC coils have become a great entry level coilover option. I was happy with the set I had on my WRX.

So, let's get to the options I'm looking at for the '99 EK Hatch, in no particular order.
First we have the big names who have been in the suspension tuning world for a long time. This includes companies like Buddy Club, Tein, Skunk2, Apex'i and Ground Control. For the Honda world, I know the Ground Control system is very popular and well liked one. It includes Eibach springs on an adjustable coilover design and uses Koni Yellow shocks with different valving. I found this system for sale in the $700-900 range. Just did a quick search and people are running various different spring rates.

K-Tuned K1 Coilovers-found them cheapest on jhpusa.com

The Speed Academy guys ran K-Tuned K1 and K2 coilovers on their project Civic EK Coupe. This car is essentially the same as mine. The K1 kits I've found for $900 and run 10k and 6k spring rates with adjustable dampening. The K2 Circuit is 20k and 16k with different dampening valving.  The K2 goes for about $1500-1700. I found a few decent video reviews on YouTube for both. While the "racer" in me would love to run the K2 I think its just too stiff for my needs. Plus its another $600-700 more cost. I am definitely trying to get the most for my money. I have other parts I want to do on my Civic in this first year or so. So, any money I can save will go a long way to the overall look and performance of my EK.
Another option is BC coilovers. With my success using the BCs on my WRX, I would be happy to get a set for my Civic.
I'll tell you, I'm leaning towards the K-tuned K1's. The price is right. $900 is very affordable for what I'm trying to achieve. Also, I really like what I've seen from K-Tuned on all their Honda parts. They are a company dedicated to Honda's and so for me, the fact that they specialize in this certain type of car means they're invested in making good quality parts. and are designing them specific for these cars. I also really respect the Speed Academy guys and their opinions on parts they test.
So, I am pretty much decided on the K1's.
I have more research to do on what alignment settings I should do. I went too aggressive on my WRX when I had the BC coilovers. I had too much wear from the toe out. I went with the suggestion of Innovative Garage. It was not an issue with their work or the alignment. I found that the tire wear was too much for my commute. It caused my tires to wear sooner than I wanted. I found that the camber was not necessarily the issue. The issue was the toe out (I ran 1/16" I believe). It helps in turn in but when normal driving, it scrubs the tires on the inside tread. So, for the EK I'm planning to be more in the 0 toe out. More to come on what alignment I should go with. I believe I'll need to get adjustable upper control arms to be able to adjust camber front and rear. If I stick to about a 2" drop I may not need to get camber adjustability. Like I said, more to come there.

"Where'd Whoooo Gooooo?!"

Wow, 2010, that's the last blog post in here.  Serious crickets.  Doesn't mean tons haven't been going on.  This will be long... and I can't even promise that many photos. :)  Who am I even writing this to.  Probably just myself and those close to me who will get a link in a text or email from me saying, "Hey, I put a new blog up, go check it out, see what you think."  I'm super rusty with blogs.  Do people even do blogs still?  I used to follow blogs a lot more.  Well, let me catch us up for the last 3.5 years or so haha. 

So, I bought a 2002 Subaru WRX in April 2010.  Here's a photo of it about 6 months or so after I bought it.  It was a factory wingless car and I bought it from the 2nd owner as you see here except I had the axle back exhaust added.  Well, I just sold it last week.  But, I did take it to Bonneville twice, the second time I rode out with my pop and broseph to catch some racing action and cruise the pits looking at hot rods and race cars.  I had added a custom straight pipe to add some loudness to the suby's rumble.  One of my favorite mods.  Shoot, the straight pipe will live on to see another suby, or be cut up and turned into an axle back for my 2011 Honda Fit.  Woops, spilled those beans a little early.
Here's a photo above that I took on my trip to Bonneville in 2010. This is a memorable photo.  I had a blast with the subyrod.  I fixed it up quite a bit, every time something would wear or go bad, I'd get it addressed.  Last year I upgraded the brakes with the StopTech Sport brake kit with SS lines and blue fluid along with BC coilovers, Whiteline roll center adjusters and an aggressive street alignment and cornerbalance at Innovative Garage. 

  I went totally solo so I had to take a "selfie" with my cell phone haha.

I actually took it to Miller Motorsports Park last April, my first track experience.  It wasn't a full on HDPE or anything, but one of their "Wide Open Wednesday" events.  It handled really well.  It was well balanced and made it through the track event reliably for having 170,000 miles or so.  Yikes!  I sold it just last week with 188,000 miles, on the original motor, trans and turbo. 

The last couple years has been crazy busy with coaching and attending youth baseball games for my boys.  We haven't made it to too many car shows unfortunately.  I did put my suby in a cruise-in at Station Park in October, kind of its last hurrah I guess.  Sad face. 

But on to bigger and better, err... smaller and lighter.  I picked up a 2011 Honda Fit Sport with the 5 speed transmission in Polished Metal Metallic (aka Dark Gray).  Totally stock for now, but its a Certified Honda used car with only 27,000 miles, so it even came with a 12,000 mile warranty and the 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.  Stoked! 
Here's the basic specs: 2,489lbs, 117hp from a 1.5L SOHC i-vtec, FWD and comes with a rear sway bar for the Sport model.  So far I'm getting 40mpg in the 2 tanks.
When I got serious about looking for a car once I decided to put the suby up for sale, I originally went to go look at a 2010 Fit base in white.  When I got there (Stockton 12 dealership) the salesman and I couldn't find the car. I walked around the entire lot in the freezing cold while he checked his info and came back out and so, "Oops, the car is at a different lot being sold right now."  Crap!!!  So, when I didn't see any Fits with my price/miles/5speed requirements I started looking at newer Civics.  Of course, that was after driving a 1995 Civic LX sedan with 5 sped and 130,000 miles for $3000.  After driving that 18 year old POC, I knew right then that I needed to go newer.  I spent some time researching newer sedans, cars like the Ford Focus, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and Civic, Mazda 3 and 6, it came down to what was I going to really enjoy owning.  My wife was really concerned that I didn't get a "grandma" sedan and then in 6 months hate life and want to get something different.  So, being a small car kinda guy, I found another Fit to go check out.  To this point, I had never driven a fit.  I sat in one at Willey Honda like 4 years earlier, but it was an automatic and I didn't want to get a bad taste in my mouth of the Fit by driving a slushbox.  So, I found a 2010 dark blue base model with 5 speed and took it for a long test drive home to show the wife and kids.  I really liked it.  It had 48,000 miles and they were asking $11,850.  Not bad.  Pretty low miles and I liked the blue color and didn't mind the base model's appearance.  But, it didn't have cruise control and no arm rest.  I wasn't too worried about the steelies and hubcaps because obviously those will become winter wheels or go up for sale.  I returned to the dealership (Ken Garff in SLC) and I offered $10,717, which was the kbb.com Exellent Condition retail price.  They declined, saying that they'd lose money at that price.  So, we agreed to disagree.  The car had been on the lot for 2 months already.  So, I think they were asking too much.  I went home, a little bummed, but with the intent of talking it over with my wife.  I was willing to go up to about $11,400 or so.  Well, on my drive to work, I was feeling disappointed and not sure what to do.  Was really feeling the Fit.  I postponed calling "Fast Eddie" at Garff and my wife and I went back to ksl.com classifieds looking for more Fits.  It just so happened that Garff had this gray Fit Sport with less miles for $2k more.  Plus it was certified!  On my way to Garff to take it for a spin, I swung by Henry Day Ford in WVC to ook at a 2010 Fit Sport in black for $12,900.  It was clean and drove great, but I saw some scratches on the body and some gaps in the front bumper and fender that I was weary about.  I got to Garff and "Fast Eddie" said they just sold the gray one over the phone.  I was pretty bummed, but figured the dark blue one was a good pick up too.  Well, "Fast Eddie" went on the prowl and told me he was going to ask around and find out if he could unsell it and sell it to me since I was on site.  The dude pulled it off somehow.  So, I took a drive in "Lil' Gray" with Brandon and came back and said "I'll take it!".  2.5 hours later we were driving away in my new Fit.  Long story, but now its recorded for posterity.  :)

I can't leave well enough alone so I've got some "JDM Yellow" fog light vinyl coming in the mail and picked up a can of black Plastidip.  The plan is to black out the emblems, maybe a rear bumper guard by the hatch and maybe do the rear lower valance/diffuser in black too.  First time using Plastidip so I'll see how that goes and probably put up a separate blog post.