While the Honda Civic Type R FK8 might be the best front-wheel-drive car to ever be offered to the general public, it’s not perfect. Straight from the factory, it has a really tall ride height to help accommodate the strangely large 20-inch OEM wheels.
Luckily, it’s pretty easy to lower your Civic Type R thanks to the vast aftermarket support. Unfortunately, it can be a little difficult to find the perfect suspension setup for your needs and budget. To help you find the perfect suspension setup, we’ve created this short guide of our favorite FK8 Civic Type R coilovers and lowering springs.
HKS Hipermax IV SP
When it comes to JDM tuning manufacturers, HKS has long been one of the biggest names around. For the FK8 Civic Type R, they offer a plethora of different parts. The specific part we’re looking at is their Hipermax IV SP coilovers. What’s unique about these coilovers, is the included HKS Error Canceller with cancels the error message that appears when the stock suspension is removed.
- Price: $2300
- 30 way adjustable damping
- Adjustable front camber
- Error canceller included
- 1 year warranty
- Pillow ball upper
The Hipermax IV SP coilovers offer 30-way adjustable damping with adjustable camber in the front. The front coilovers use a pillow ball upper with the original upper design in the rear. The only downside to the Hipermax IV coilovers is the price tag, but if you want the best performance possible, these coilovers are hard to beat.
Fortune Auto 510 Series
Next up on the list are the Fortune Auto 510 Series coilovers. What’s about Fortune Auto is the ability to send your coilovers in for major damping or spring adjustments. This isn’t a service that many enthusiasts ever need, but as your build becomes faster and faster, your suspension might be able to keep up without a major overhaul.
- Price: $2050
- “Ultra” Digressive Piston Technology
- Custom Built Assembly Certificate and Dyno Graph Supplied with Shocks
- 5 Year Limited Manufacturer’s Warranty
- 24-Step Simultaneous Rebound and Compression Adjustable Dampers
- T6 6061 Aluminum Mounts and Camber Plates
- Rebuildable and Revalveable
One of the unique features of the Fortune 510 Series built completely in-house by Fortune Auto’s staff in Richmond, Virginia. These coilovers offer 24-step rebound and compression damping adjustment. The monotube damper offers a strong design and the Concave Flow Digressive Technology has a broad range of damping adjustment without requiring a revalve.
ST Suspension ST XTA
What’s unique about the ST Suspension is how they’re able to offer the XTA coilover at a relatively affordable price, while also KW’s high-quality damper technology. While these coilovers might still be too expensive for some enthusiasts, they offer great value for the money.
- Price: $1569
- Features KW damping technology
- Aluminum uniball top mount
- Adjustable damping
- Camber adjustment
- Twin tube damper
Aside from KW’s superb damping technology which provides huge performance benefits, these coilovers also offer adjustable damping, camber adjustment on the front, uniball top mounts, and ride height adjustment.
BC Racing BR Type
If you want all the adjustable of an aftermarket coilover without dropping a huge amount of cash, BC Racing BR Type coilovers are probably the best solution for you. While BC Racing might not be as well known as some other companies, they still offer great products at even better pricing.
- Price: $995
- Monotube design
- Pillowball upper mount
- Adjustable camber plates included
- 30 levels of damping adjustment
- One-year warranty
The BR Type coilover offers pretty much everything you need for a street/track coilover. It uses a strong monotube design with 30 levels of damping adjustment and a pillowball upper mount. The front coilovers include camber plates, while camber plates are optional for the rear.
Tein S.TECH Lowering Spring
Of course, not everyone needs the adjustability or performance benefits of aftermarket coilovers. For many enthusiasts, a lower ride height is all they need. Tein is one of the most popular aftermarket suspension companies in the world, and their S-TECH springs for the FK8 Civic Type R are a great way to lower your ride height without breaking the bank.
- Price: $345
- -25mm ride height
- 5.3kgf/mm front
- 4.8kgf/mm rear
These lowering springs will drop you FK8 by about -25mm front and rear. This is achieved by making the springs physically smaller, which requires a higher 5.3kgf/mm front and 4.8kgf/mm rear spring rate.
H&R Sport Lowering Springs
For FK8 owners who are looking for the most affordable way to lower their car, we recommend H&R springs. These springs offer 0.8″ of lowering front and rear, while still offering superb ride quality thanks to the progressive spring rate. These are some of the cheapest lowering springs available for the FK8 and they’re perfect for anyone who simply wants a lower ride height.
- Price: $260
- 0.8-inches lower F&R
- Very affordable way to reduce ride height
Lowering Springs vs Coilovers
Deciding if you want lowering springs or coilovers mostly comes down to your goals with your Civic. While lowering springs are very cheap and simple way to reduce wheel gap, they simply cannot offer the performance of coilovers. The lack of performance from lowering springs comes from a mismatch in damping with the OEM dampers.
Your OEM dampers are designed to work within a specific movement range and work with specific spring rates. Lowering springs can put your OEM dampers outside their ideal movement range and most lowering springs will also use a higher spring rate.
Aftermarket coilovers, on the other hand, are designed with spring rate and damping in mind. Aftermarket coilovers match their stiffer spring rates which stiffer damping, resulting in much more controlled body movement.
On top of the better control, most aftermarket coilovers offer damping, preload, and height adjustment, which opens up a world of performance benefits if you understand how to properly tune your suspension.
To put it simply. if you want a cheap way to lower your ride height and give your Civic a more aggressive look, lowering springs could be the best option. If you want the most performance possible and adjustability, aftermarket coilovers are definitely the better option.
Still Don’t Know What You Want?
If you’re still not sure which suspension system is best for your FK8 Civic Type R, let our world class performance specialists help you decide! You can reach us by phone at 1-480-966-3040 or via email at sales@vividracing.com.