H&Rs and KYB AGXs are on, now I have some problems.

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

C

confusatron

Senior Member
Yeah, so I had the shocks/springs put on today, and the car is sitting scary low. I can barely fit my fingers between the top of the front tires and the fender. And these were the LESS lower lowering springs at 1.5". The full race springs lower it 3", I can't see how that's possible to drive with, especially considering as far as I know I'm running a stock diameter wheel/tire combo. So now that the car rides lower I'm getting audible fender rub frequently while turning, and sometimes when I hit large bumps. The car seems to accelerate better now, but I really don't give a shit considering the damage this rubbing could do to my tires and my car.

Also, my civic now bounces like a fucking pogo stick over road bumps. I'm wondering if I should stiffen up the KYBs. They're currently set at 2 out of 4, with 4 being the stiffest and 1 being softest. I wonder if that would help with reducing spring travel in front, or am I just an idiot and I'm stuck permanently with fender rub? Is this normal?
 
stiffen up the shocks and roll the fenders (im guessing its rubbing on the outside)
 
you can do it with a baseball bat
or there is a specific tool made for it
you might be able to rent one or try to find a shop that has one

this is what it is
http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/tools/fenderlip.jsp
youre not going to want to buy one unless you plan on charging everyone you know to roll their fenders too
 
Christ. Yeah I found a site called Rollyourfender.com that I'm checking out right now to get the gist of how to do it. I'd at the worst try and find a place I could RENT or borrow the tool from to do the job. This sucks.

Does rolling the fender flare the fender out, or does it tuck the fender upwards?

Looks like the rental fee is $50 with a $300 deposit, and it includes a heat gun.

Okay now what's the "baseball bat" technique, how do I do that :mrgreen:
 
it kinda does a little of both

and the baseball bat technique is pretty much like this
jack the car up till you can just get the bat between the wheel and fender
then slowly roll the bat while prying the fender out
tuck the lip up inside and then pry the fender out a bit to give yourself some more clearance

another piece of advice is to thouroughly clean the inside edge before you roll it then afterwards put a nice bead of cauk in there to seal it up and keep water out so it doesnt end up rusting out on you
 
E_SolSi @ Oct 16 2005 said:
Quoted post[/post]]
it kinda does a little of both

and the baseball bat technique is pretty much like this
jack the car up till you can just get the bat between the wheel and fender
then slowly roll the bat while prying the fender out
tuck the lip up inside and then pry the fender out a bit to give yourself some more clearance

another piece of advice is to thouroughly clean the inside edge before you roll it then afterwards put a nice bead of cauk in there to seal it up and keep water out so it doesnt end up rusting out on you
Click to expand...

That sounds like it should work. I'm probably gonna monkey around with this tomorrow while I'm also gonna try and fix my exhaust vibration problem.
 
just remember SLOWLY
and if you have access to a heat gun that will help a little but if your not careful and go too hot you will cook the paint right off
so remember GO SLOW and NOT TOO MUCH HEAT
 
By the way... H&R springs have a reputation for lowering cars MUCH more than advertised.
 
I did a ghetto fender rolling job today. Basically I detached the plastic liner from the fender, tucked it up under the screw fin, and with a couple sledgehammers, bent the edge up under itself as much as possible. When that didn't get the job completely done, I put my gloves on, grabbed that bitch with both hands and pulled, pulled and pulled some more, upwards and outwards until I had <span style="color:#FF0000"><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%">manually FLARED FENDERS.</span></span> They look pretty good except for the dents that were already there. And guess what:
<span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%">IT WORKED!</span> NO MORE RUB! I ROCK!

The only thing is, I have a brand new drivers side fender already, and I'm gonna go pick up a new passenger side fender one of these weeks, and just roll them real nice while they're OFF the car with some metal working tools. Then prime and paint them and bolt them on. So these fenders that are on the car right now aren't staying permanently anyway.

But the bottom line is, Blanco, I really love the way the car rides now. I have the front struts set at 4, and the rears set at 3. It rides so nice now. Over really shitty pitted roads, its a little rough, but hell, over most roads its so damn sweet. Cornering is ridiculously sharp and precise, not hurt at all by the Korbach frame locks and the H Brace I'm sure. This car feels so much better than it ever has, I can't believe it. I can't wait to get my sway bars next. :mrgreen:
 
So now my new problem is this grinding/crinkling sound when I shift from N to 1 and 1 to 2. It's really weird. I can feel it in the clutch pedal. No problem or hesitation or anything with actual shifting gears. Just the weird sound and feeling in the pedal area, but coming from the wheel well or near there as far as I can tell. I'm gonna check it out sometime in the next couple days when I have time. Probably something due to lowering the car those couple inches.

Also, now that I fixed my exhaust and it hangs freely now, its clanging against my megan 4 point H brace. Beautiful. I'll probably have to remove it and sell it or something. I guess I'll get sway bars, and or traction bars to make up for it. Bummer, I really like what that thing does for my handling.
 
Getting ready to order this strut/shock and spring combo on my four door and had a few more questions before I bought em.

1. Does it scrape when you go over a speed bump? (my work has one and I have to drive over it everyday)

2. Does the handling increase quite noticeably and does it take away from the ride quality as much?

P.S. Going with GR-2s due to lack of funds :confused:
 
4DRB16A @ Oct 24 2005 said:
Quoted post[/post]]
Getting ready to order this strut/shock and spring combo on my four door and had a few more questions before I bought em.

1. Does it scrape when you go over a speed bump? (my work has one and I have to drive over it everyday)

2. Does the handling increase quite noticeably and does it take away from the ride quality as much?

P.S. Going with GR-2s due to lack of funds :confused:
Click to expand...

1. I noticed today at Jewel that I could take speed bumps at 20 mph with no shuddering, rubbing, scraping, etc. If anything it felt a hell of a lot better than it did with the stock setup, but then again, my old shocks were completely shot.

2. Sort of. Cornering was greatly improved on my car, even without sway bars, but then I also have Korbach frame locks installed as well as a 4 point underbrace. The only thing is that on smooth or moderately pitted roads my car feels a lot better. But on roads with lots of expansion joints that have shifted and are uneven, like on concrete highways, the ride is kinda bouncy. But other than that I wouldn't trade the improvement in handling for anything.

3. And I've heard nothing but good things about the GR-2 shocks, so don't feel bad.
 
Anytime you lower a vehicle you are going to notice huge increases in handling. You are lowering your center of gravity.

As for rolling fenders you don't really need a heat gun, nor want it IMO. Heat guns get to hot and you chance burning your paint on the fender. A hair dryer gets plenty hot and it's alot easier to control heatwise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top