GNW_Paul asked: I have a 95 Honda Civic DX Coupe with about 220,000 miles that is straight and clean and complete and has never been wrecked, one owner with a clean title. Also totally stock. I did a minor rebuild on the Engine 3 years and 40,000 miles ago.
I am about to do a complete overhaul on the front suspension and probably the rear suspension. The steering rack is leaking and 1 CV boot is torn, and the tie rod boots are destroyed. Currently the front struts are original and the rear have over 100,000 miles on them too.
At a minimum I am going to use an Energy Suspension Master Bushing kit, get a re manufactured rack, replace the upper and lower ball joints and all the tie rod parts, and install at least “better than OEM” shocks like low end KYBs or the Bilstein Touring on all 4 corners.
I am considering doing Eibach spring / strut Pro-Package lowering kit and / or the Eibach front and rear sway bar kit. I’m leaning towards the sway bars at least, and debating on lowering since I don’t really WANT to go lower, just want better handling. The car is a daily grocery getter and it’s primarily my wife’s car and she could care less.
So, would an extra $300 to $500 for sport springs and shocks and $250 for sway bars actually increase the sale value of my Civic shell something somewhat close to the extra cost?
Well I agree with the general principle that mods decrease resale value. But you also have to look at the specifics – we are talking about a 15 year old car with 220,000 miles on it and it is a compact. Also it is one of the 10 most popular cars for young people to “tune” or “pimp out” etc.
Responsible adults aren’t going to be buying this car regardless. It is also totally depreciated out at this point. It is a bit of an exception in the car world in that it isn’t worth much less if it doesn’t even run since 1/2 of the guys that want one plan to do a B18 or JDM swap. It is worth $800 to $900 just for the clean and complete shell with clean title. As is with the needed repairs it’s worth ~$1,200 to $1,500. I’m planning to put nearly $2,000 of parts and tires into it and no way could I get that back if I sold it. My only question is if another $400 for extra trick coilovers would partly pay off in resale value.
get discount Eibach Springs
