Robo7's OEM+ FL5 Build Journal

[SpoolinFK8]

20mm spacer

15mm spacers

 

[Xmetal]

20mm spacer

15mm spacers

Thank you for the pictures - very much appreciated Agreed that the 20mm look to have a bit more poke than I would like and the 15mm spacer look just about perfect.

 

[FL5HondaGuy]

I am running 20/25 and it looks perfect IMO. Taller rubber (35 profile 19's ) and dropped on H&R's. No rubbing. Check my thread for pictures.

 

[SpoolinFK8]

I am running 20/25 and it looks perfect IMO. Taller rubber (35 profile 19's ) and dropped on H&R's. No rubbing. Check my thread for pictures.

I’m running the H&R sport drop springs(Blue Springs) which is only F: .75” & R: .60” which doesn’t produce enough drop and camber angle to justify running the 20mm spacers so they poke out a bit much for me. The aggressive H&R black springs have more of a drop so the 20mm spacers looks better.

 

[FL5HondaGuy]

I’m running the H&R sport drop springs(Blue Springs) which is only F: .75” & R: .60” which doesn’t produce enough drop and camber angle to justify running the 20mm spacers so they poke out a bit much for me. The aggressive H&R black springs have more of a drop so the 20mm spacers looks better.

YEs but keep in mind I am running a taller tire which closes the wheel gap hence why I think it is perfect.

 

[SpoolinFK8]

YEs but keep in mind I am running a taller tire which closes the wheel gap hence why I think it is perfect.

Here i’ll show you what i mean. I’m running Bonos 15mm spaces all around. On a .75” drop in the front and from the top View look how flush my tire and rim sits to the fender. Excuse the dirtiness

 

[FL5HondaGuy]

Cool. I totally get it but to my eye you are still tucked front and rear. We clearly just have a different ideal level of "flushness". All good man. Car looks great enjoy it ! Go pinstripes !

 

[SpoolinFK8]

Cool. I totally get it but to my eye you are still tucked front and rear. We clearly just have a different ideal level of "flushness". All good man. Car looks great enjoy it ! Go pinstripes !

I totally agree with you, on different points of view on flushness, but if i tell you how I used to drive my cars Vs now you wouldn’t believe me unless I showed you. I ran all types of adjustments and heights on all my cars. From fully customized controls arms and coilovers, just to get the wheels as flush as possible. If i were to run springs with more of a drop, then I would’ve definitely installed my 20mm spacer. Which Is what i first installed with the H&R Springs i have. I think it looks off to me given the drop. But like you said it’s really a matter of how it looks to you the owner.

here’s how i used to drive my daily cars 19yrs ago to present. In order from oldest to latest. As years and wasted Money went by, the cars Stance kept sitting higher and higher. Lol. all my cars have been on Coilovers except the FL5.

This was the turning point for me, with the whole Form over Function faze. I started going Function over Form.

 

[Robo7]

I thought I would list out my complaints about the car and what I did to remedy those issues for the perfect OEM+ car for me.

Issue 1 - Stance: I'm not a big stance guy, but I know that low and wide is a better look generally than inset and high. When I walked around the car at the dealership I knew right away I would need to add spacers and lowering springs to get the car to look right. I was torn though with making changes to the car that Honda's engineers designed to be this way. I didn't want to mess with the scrub radius, ride height, or somehow add back torque steer.
Solution: I tried to minimize the changes as much as possible. I decided to go with the smallest drop possible (H&R Springs which drop the car ~0.5") and then add a tire with a bigger sidewall (265/35 R19 which adds 0.5" back to the height). The result is perfect, the wheel gap decreased 1" while my ride height didn't change. I also added 20mm spacers to all four wheels to get the wheels flush with the fenders. The H&R springs ride a little softer than stock so the ride isn't as harsh, but it's also not quite as sporty feeling. It still feels good, but I preferred the feel of the stock springs if I'm being honest. The increased tire sidewall cushions big bumps slightly. I also added Spoon Rigid Collars but had them installed with the springs so I can't speak to how they changed the feel of the car. The result of these changes is that the car is much more comfortable to use (good since this is my daily) and still feels and drives great. I will say the spacers added a hint of torque steer, but it went from a 0 to a 1 out of 10.
Mod Grade = A-. If I did it over I might try the Spoon springs instead as they have a similar drop and I hear they maintain the sporty characteristics that the stock springs have. Overall though I'm very happy with these mods though.

Issue 2 - Lights & Lip: I'm a bit OCD about things that maybe others wouldn't car about. For me though I found it insane that a nearly $50k car was using incandescent light bulbs in the rear taillights and in some of the interior lights. Also, the rear taillights looked cheap. I get it's a Honda Civic, but at this price it irked me that Honda didn't create a better looking LED taillight for this trim. Finally, the front of the car just always looked like it was missing a front lip. The car has this highly contrasted black rear diffuser and side skirts, but no front lip to go with it. To me it looked unfinished.
Solution: I replaced all the incandescent bulbs with Lasfit LEDs, I added tint overlays to the rear tail lights so it doesn't look like an incandescent fixture with LEDs plugged in, and installed the Project Aero front lip.
Mod Grade = A+. The taillights and lip look excellent. The car should have looked like this from the factory. I will say I had my lip sanded and painted professionally. From Project Aero the lip comes wavy and with some hard lines. Nothing else on the car looks like that so I had my paint shop sand it down until it looked smooth and the hard edges were gone. It's painted piano black and now matches perfectly with the side skirts and rear diffuser.

Issue 3 - Interior: I don't know why Honda thinks the US has to have fake feeling leather on the steering wheel and shift boot. The stock shift knob looked nice, but it burned my hand in the summer and froze it in the winter. And my biggest complaint was with the silver faux aluminum center console cover that didn't match anything else in the interior. Lastly, I love red, but wow, that stock interior. So much red.
Solution: I swapped to the OEM Alcantara steering wheel, the JDM Alcantara shift boot, Mugen Alcantara shift knob, Mugen carbon fiber center console, and Mugen carbon fiber looking door sill scuff plates.
Mod Grade = A+. The Alcantara wheel and shift knob feel so much better and don't feel cold to the touch in the winter. The dark matte carbon fiber center console looks incredible, though I had to get the matching scuff plates so I have some other carbon fiber looking elements in the interior. Finally, the OEM high wall mats break up all the red a bit. I love how the interior looks now and don't plan on changing anything else.

Issue 4 - RMM: After the break in period I was a little disappointed with the wheel hop and a little bit of slack in the drivetrain when I would go on and off throttle in small quick bursts (happens a fair amount in rush hour traffic). I didn't want to add any NVH though.
Solution: First I tried the PRL RMM because it was the least aggressive for sale at the time. I really liked it. It solved the wheel hop, the drivetrain slack, and made the shifts feel just a little bit better. I didn't like the tiny amount of NVH it introduced though. After 4k miles with the PRL I swapped to the Wunderladen Racing Street RMM. It feels basically identical to me as the PRL, but the NVH is somehow a little less pronounced despite Wunderladen having higher durometer bushings. If stock NVH is 0, PRL was a 2, Wunderladen is a 1.
Mod Grade = A-. I'm very happy with the Wunderladen RMM, there is still a hint of NVH but it's more than fair trade off for everything it fixes.

I don't have a photo of the RMM installed, but here is one of the Spoon accessories I stuck on. I don't plan on changing anything with the drivetrain other than a Hondata tune after my warranty expires (if I can wait that long).

Sorry for the long post. That is the extent of my OEM+ build for now. Happy to answer any questions here in the comments.

 

[FL5HondaGuy]

Nice write up. I personally love the way the car drives with the H&R's and a 35 profile tire. Plenty of grip for my DD applications and I did not notice much if any handling trade-offs when I swapped and I have been on them for over a year now. Maybe give them time to settle ? I am curious about the RMM as I hate extra NVH. Where did you notice NVH most when idling in traffic/stop lights ? Is there any vibration at all when driving ? Glad you like the set up and thanks for sharing your build deets. P.S. Any reason you didn't get the full Project Aero-kit (sides and rear spats) ?

 

[Robo7]

Nice write up. I personally love the way the car drives with the H&R's and a 35 profile tire. Plenty of grip for my DD applications and I did not notice much if any handling trade-offs when I swapped and I have been on them for over a year now. Maybe give them time to settle ? I am curious about the RMM as I hate extra NVH. Where did you notice NVH most when idling in traffic/stop lights ? Is there any vibration at all when driving ? Glad you like the set up and thanks for sharing your build deets. P.S. Any reason you didn't get the full Project Aero-kit (sides and rear spats) ?

The H&R springs are great but they have a slightly lower spring rate in the front vs. OEM and they are progressive springs so they feel softer at turn in and get firmer the more the car compresses them. For me that translated to feeling more body roll at initial turn-in. Once you are turning and the springs compress it feels fine again. I think the Spoon springs are slightly firmer and are also progressive. I don’t know like I said I’m happy with the H&Rs but someday I might try the Spoons if I can score a cheap set secondhand. Tariffs have made Spoon too expensive for me to just spend that money on the chance I like them better.

NVH on the PRL RMM is noticeable on a cold start and settles once the car warms up and hits idle. When the A/C is off you honestly forget it’s there. When the A/C turns on you feel a little buzz in the steering wheel and everything vibrates a little bit (seats, floor, etc.) The higher you rev the more it manifests. It’s not overly distracting but you can feel it and hear it when you’re paying attention. I typically noticed it mostly when driving slowly or when stopped. At speed there are other vibrations/sounds from the wheels/road that I notice more.

My goal was to only fix what I felt Honda got wrong with the stock car and I only felt like the car needed a lip. The Project Aero side and rear spats don’t look OEM to me. If I decide to change the body I would go all in with Mugen or Adro kits. I also didn’t like the idea of drilling holes in my car. The lip is perfect because it just uses the existing holes and balances the side profile of the car with a black line that flows with the OEM side skirts and rear diffuser.

 

[FL5HondaGuy]

I hear ya on the drilling thing. Project Aero e-mailed me last night stating front and rear don't require drilling but the side skirts do. Deal breaker for me. Might grab the lip when tariffs are rolled back. Cheers

 

[SpoolinFK8]

@Robo7 nice man looks good. I’m running the same setup H&R Sportsline springs. F-.75” R-.60” drop. With 265/35 tires it closes the gap nicely and raises the car up slightly as well.

 

[FL5HondaGuy]

Good angle showing a 265/35/19 on H&R's with +20(fr) & +25(r) spacer set up.

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