Tein Lowering Springs Install - Quick Question

[Mugen.Kid]

Hey I'm planning on installing some tein h-tech springs, but nowhere is there mention of cutting the bump stop and if cutting it is at all necessary. In their manual, they have different diagrams of where to cut, but I couldn't find any info on '00 civics cutting the bump stop.

Anyone know if I should cut it or leave it as it is?

 

[civexspeedy]

The H-Techs don't drop very much, you could probably get away with just leaving the bump stops as they are. If it'd make you feel better, you can cut just the last rib of the bump stop off.

Just cut the last rib on the bottom.

Normally for a bigger drop you cut about half of the bump stop. A lot depends on the rates as well but the H-Techs are barely stiffer than stock.

 

[Mugen.Kid]

Well it's not really for "making me feel better" hahaha I'm new at this.. But what would I gain from cutting or what effect would it have on my suspension if I cut the bottom rib off?

Oh, and I'm planning on getting the H-Techs for a 92-95 civic but they are otherwise the same right? (I think the 92-95 springs have a slightly lower spring rate than the 96-00 springs)

 

[civexspeedy]

The bump stops are there to prevent the shock from literally bottoming out under full compression. If that happens, there's a good chance of the shock being blown. If you don't cut the bump stop on a lowered car, you may be hitting the bump stop a lot which isn't ideal. Cutting the bump stop allows for a little bit more suspension travel while still preventing from completely bottoming out. In your case, if you cut just the last rib(like 1/2"?) off, it'll allow for a tiny bit more travel. Chances are you'll never, or very rarely, hit the bump stop unless your car has a lot of load(like a trunk full of heavy stuff) on the suspension and you hit some hard bumps. So, if you don't cut it, you may or may not hit the bump stop.... If you do cut it, again you may or may not hit it but your chances for hitting the bump stops are a little less likely. Either way it wont hurt anything.

The H-Techs for 5th and 6th gens are different. The 5th gen H-Techs are 190Front lbs/in 129Rear lbs/in spring rates and drop 1.2" Front and 1.1" rear. The 6th gen H-Techs are 212Front lbs/in and 123Rear lbs/in spring rates and drop 1.3" Front and 1.1" Rear. There shouldn't be any issues using those springs, they are just slightly different than the ones intended for your car.

 

[Mugen.Kid]

So then with the softer spring rates, that's good for my stock shocks, right? I mean, it's slightly less stiff than the '00 model springs and if I cut the bump stop just a bit I should be fine, correct?

I mean, my stock shocks have about 70,000 miles on them, so would they still be alright with the H-tech springs? Because I'm getting an even softer spring rate, so I guess I'm further reducing my chances of blowing my shocks, correct?

 

[civexspeedy]

Yes, yes, yes and yes to all your questions...

Going up 25 lbs/in in the front and 49 lbs/in in the rear is nothing, especially at such a low rate to begin with. You probably wont even notice much handling difference.

I slapped on my old Tokico springs from my '95 onto my daily driver '99 Civic about 9 months ago over the original 130k mile shocks. 9 months and about 5+k miles later, still riding around on them with no signs of problems. I have yet to confirm any spring rates on these springs but from what I've seen, they have higher rates and definitely lower the car more than the H-Techs you're looking at. You should be all good to go.

 

[Mugen.Kid]

Thanks for the info civexspeedy! I'm not looking for any performance gains.. Im actually riding on F2 Type 1s at the moment, but the streets around here are hell and I was thinking of going back to stock but for $190 why not lower a bit..

One last thing.. I was just thinking, If the bump stops are made for the softer stock springs, why the need for cutting when you install a stiffer spring? Yes, the new springs may be shorter, but shouldn't their spring rate compensate for that?

 

[civexspeedy]

There are a few reasons for cutting it. It's a combination of how much you lower, the spring rates, and driving conditions. Some lowering springs lower quite a bit but have fairly soft rates. If you left the bump stop uncut and go over a large dip in the road, the suspension will easily compress and hit the bump stop very soon. The reason you would want cut it a bit is so it wouldn't be hitting the bump stop so soon and you allow the shock to work more efficiently by actually absorbing and controlling the movement rather than abruptly stoping too soon when hitting the bump stop. Now if you lowered the same amount but had higher spring rates(and shocks to match), then the suspension won't travel as much when hitting that same dip in the road. However, not all roads are the same. You may come across a larger dip or w/e.

Now that's just in normal driving. Under real hard cornering, it's a matter of the cars weight overcoming the spring rates. Driving on relatively smooth roads with fairly stiff springs and not slammed may be fine for an uncut bumpstop. When it comes to very hard cornering, like literraly to the edge of grip like in autox/road racing, the cars weight can put enough force on the springs to compress all the way and to the point where you are siting on the bump stop. This is not ideal because under those conditions, you want your shocks to absorb and control all movements in the suspension while cornering. If you're riding on the bump stop, you can actually take away grip in the tires. Cuttingthe bump stop a little will allow just enough room that you won't hit the bump stop so early and allow the suspension to do its job.

Now of course you can go with higher and higher spring rates but if this is a street car, that's not exactly comfortable... My race car is lowered quite a bit, to the point that I have only a few inches of room for the shaft on my shocks to travel(for the front atleast). I cut my bump stops in half because of that. Even though I have incredibly stiff springs, I still get enough compression that if I didn't cut the bump stops, or even only cut a small amount, I'd be hitting them VERY soon under racing conditions or even on the streets.

 

[Mugen.Kid]

Awesome. Thanks for the info civexspeedy! I bought the 92-95 h-tech's yesterday and I'm gonna be installing them sometime this week when I have some free time.

I can't wait to get some comfort back in my ride Although I'm gonna miss the ride height of my Type 1's