I have narrowed my choices down to these to lowering springs, but I was wondering of the two, which had better performance? im looking for the ideal balance between handling and performance(without spending 1000$ for coilovers) any advice/insight would be helpful.

 

i'm running on the sportlines. i love the drop it gives me, but it is a little bumpy. i got a 2011 ge8 sport, and since the front bumper kinda shoots forward a bit, i scrape a little bit coming out of some driveways and such. but like i said, i love the drop it gives me. if i remember, i'll post a picture later.

 

oh yeah, and as for the handling it gives, i noticed that when cornering, it's a lot more crisp and precise.

 

Lowering springs don't improve handling.

None of them. Just get the one that gives your favorite drop, nothing else will be improved by springs. Trust me.

 

Pics would be awesome!!

 

You are simply wrong. There's a reason why Ferrari's, Porsche's, Lambo's etc are low to the ground. The lower the center of gravity, the better the handling. There's also a reason why some classes (stock) of SCCA don't allow aftermarket springs. It's because you can get around the course faster with them.

Now, I do agree that lowering springs have their drawbacks. Less suspension travel, increased wear on the dampeners, potentially more wear on bushings, etc.

The choice between Pro-kit and Sportline comes down to ride comfort. Pro-kit's are variable rate and ride smoother for normal driving. Sportline's are linear rate and work better on the track.

 

So if I understood correctly the sportlines would give me the better handling of the two. But I would be sacrificing some ride comfort..

 

That's exactly right! Also consider the amount of drop. The Sportlines are lower which means more chances of ground clearance issues, more wear on components, and more of a chance of alignment problems. That all being said, the Sportlines are better performers and have a sportier feel. The Pro-kit's can be a little soft.

 

There's much, much more to proper handling than ride height.

You don't have to trust me on lowering springs not working, feel free to read up on the writings of Mike Kojima, a man who will forget more about car setup than the collective of FF.net will probably ever know.

The Ultimate Handling Guide Part V: The One Unforgivable Sin, Overlowering Your Car

The Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling Part 4: Reduce weight transfer 2240

Project Subaru STi Part One > MotoIQ 29

If I were an low budget yet quality set of coil-overs, where would I be? - MotoIQ - MotoIQ - Forums - Technical Area, motoIQ is about geeks and for geeks, here ya go, a geeks playground - Suspension, Brakes, Wheels & Tires

Oh, and don't forget about good ol' Dave Coleman.

FrankenMiata - Handling with a Hacksaw > MotoIQ

 

Sportline period imo

 

Those links addressed the EXACT things that I said. Primarily reduced suspension travel and suspension geometery. Those are serious factors with extreme lowering, but those exact articles suggest that mild lowering is advantageous.

The last article suggests that increasing spring rate leads to better handling and, guess what, aftermarket springs have higher spring rates.

It's really easy to talk yourself out of any mods, but the simple fact is that truly fast cars around a track have little to no factory parts.

If the OP asked, what is the best way to lower a car, I would have said go with coilovers because they don't decrease suspension travel and help to maintian proper geometery. However, he didn't. He asked about two options and I explained the benefits of each. A car with either of those options and trimmed bump stops will likely out perform a stock Fit with the weak factory spring rates.

 

Roll center, enough said

Lower does not mean better handling, its all in the suspension geometry, a porsche, ferrari so on, were made to be the height they are by millions of dollars worth of R&D not because low looks cool.

I used to Auto X my VW GTI and spent a lot of time talking to racers and engineers, lowering a car esp by just springs like many including myself have for looks does not make a car handle better, unless you also change the suspension geometry to coincide with the drop, running a high end coil over or damper/spring package at factory height on 99% of cars will offer must bigger gains over a lower height.

 

RCAs and other hardware are available.

 

We're both right, however, with lowering springs the only gain is in the lowered height, everything else is worse. Higher spring rates + stock struts/shocks = Ewwww.

However I think everyone will agree on this:

Most important part of handling = Tyres.

 

To my knowledge, all lowering springs will make your ride bumpier when compared to stock springs. A couple months ago I was also in your situation: choosing between the Sportline and Pro-Kit springs. I chose the Sportline's because they offered a lower drop.

As far as I'm concerned, I feel like the springs DO give me a certain degree of better handling when cornering, etc. Could just be a mental thing, and I don't really care about the science of it because a lowered Fit looks friggen awesome IMO.

Clearance issues: as TheDilweed previously mentioned, there are sometimes issues with scraping the front bumper. I've only scraped my front JDP lip twice since I lowered my car; both incidents were at a McDonald's in LA. Most other times I just scrape the rubber strip that sticks downward under the front bumper.

Go lower and get the Sportline's!

 

Agreed on all of those. I just think that a blanket statement that aftermarket springs are worse for handling than factory is too broad and not entirely correct.

Tires are without question the most important factor.

 

SPORTLINES. I have them, love the drop, I don't drive hard (slow rollin') so I can't say much about handling other than it doesn't feel as "floaty" on the interstate. Also I had no issues getting it aligned. As for scraping...it's all about the angles . Look at my sig for side profile and here's a better shot:

 

I have the ProKit...will post a couple pics incase you haven't seen any ProKit-equipped Fits.

 

Why can't I find anything for my 2005 base model. Every site I go to shows 2007 and up for both sportline and pro. I'm interested in the pro, but I can't even find other spring manufacturers for my '05.

 

How do you have a USDM 2005 Fit?