HKS Hipermax Touring Adjustable Lowering Springs for FL5 Civic Type R

HKS Hipermax Touring Adjustable Spring Kit - FL5 Civic Type R (80280-AH001)

The FL5 Type R leaves the factory too tall, it's the one complaint that follows this car everywhere, but lowering it usually means coilovers, and coilovers mean giving up the factory adaptive dampers and the Comfort/Sport/+R modes that come with them. This HKS kit solves exactly that. It lowers the car 13mm, 19mm, or 25mm on camber-adjustable pillow-ball front mounts, while keeping Honda's electronically controlled dampers right where they are. You get the stance and sharper steering without losing the adaptive suspension, and with no damper canceller needed.

Lowered, But Keeps The Adaptive Dampers

This is the whole point of the kit, and it's what makes it different from a coilover.

Most lowering solutions replace the dampers, which on the FL5 means losing the factory electronically controlled suspension, the drive modes stop working as intended, and you often need a canceller to stop warning lights. This kit keeps the factory dampers in the car and changes only the springs, mounts, and ride height. So Comfort, Sport, and +R keep switching the car's character exactly the way Honda set them up, and because the dampers are never removed, there's no canceller required and nothing to trip a fault.

For an FL5 owner who genuinely likes the adaptive suspension and just wants the car to sit right, that's the ideal: the look and the handling tweaks, without sacrificing the technology you paid for.

How It Lowers Without Ruining The Ride

HKS engineered this to drop the car without the harsh, compromised ride a cheap lowering spring gives.

Rather than jacking up the spring rate, HKS kept the rates close to factory (51 N/mm front, 52 N/mm rear) and instead worked deliberately with the factory bump stops to control the car's posture. That's the key decision: a big rate increase is what makes most lowering springs ride badly, so by holding the rate near stock and using the bump stops, the kit keeps the ride quality and the car's natural posture while still dropping it and tightening up body control. It's a more sophisticated approach than just fitting stiffer, shorter springs.

Three Front Heights, Full Travel At Each

The front ride-height system is clever and worth understanding.

Instead of a threaded collar, the front height is set by how you arrange two supplied spacers, which gives three fixed heights while preserving suspension travel at every one of them (a threaded collar can eat into travel as you lower). Both spacers under the upper mount sits the car 13mm low; the body between the two spacers gives 19mm (HKS's own test setting); and a single spacer above the body drops it to 25mm. The rear uses a screw-type adjuster, so you can set it anywhere in that 13-25mm range to match.

Camber-Adjustable Pillow-Ball Front Mounts

The front upper mounts do double duty.

The kit replaces the rubber front upper mounts with camber-adjustable pillow-ball (spherical bearing) mounts. The spherical bearing gives the steering a directness rubber can't, so turn-in sharpens noticeably. And the camber adjustment turns a lowered ride height into an advantage: instead of the negative camber that lowering forces on you, you dial in the camber you want, which also makes room for wider tires and more wheel fitment options rather than creating a fitment headache. It's the detail that makes this more than just a lowering kit.

Touring, Or The S / R Coilovers?

HKS makes three Hipermax options for the FL5, so here's how this one fits.

The Hipermax Touring (this kit) keeps the factory adaptive dampers and changes ride height and geometry only, it's for the owner who wants the stance and sharper steering while keeping the factory modes completely intact. The Hipermax S and Hipermax R are full coilovers that replace the dampers with HKS units and add manual damping adjustment, a bigger change in the car's character and a different kind of product. If keeping the factory adaptive suspension matters to you, the Touring is the one; if you want to replace the dampers entirely and tune them manually, look at the S or R.

What To Know For Install

A couple of practical points.

This kit supplies the springs, front pillow-ball upper mounts, rear ride-height adjusters, spacers, seats, collars, and hardware (plus two spanner wrenches and the manual), but no dampers, because you're reusing the factory ones, which is exactly what keeps the adaptive damping and drive modes working.

Plan for an alignment after installation, lowering any car changes camber and toe, so an alignment is expected. The nice part here is that the camber-adjustable front mounts let the alignment be set deliberately (and make room for wider tires) rather than just accepting whatever the drop produces. Note too that HKS's height figures are from its own test car; your exact numbers can vary slightly.

This is for the FL5 Type R owner who thinks the car sits too tall but doesn't want to give up the factory adaptive dampers or the Comfort, Sport, and +R modes to fix it. You get a 13-25mm drop in your choice of three front heights, near-stock spring rates that preserve the ride, camber-adjustable pillow-ball front mounts that sharpen steering and open up tire fitment, and the full factory electronically controlled suspension left intact, no coilovers, no canceller. Pick your height, plan an alignment, and give the car the stance it should have left the factory with.

Fits: 2023-present Honda Civic Type R (FL5, K20C). Part number: 80280-AH001. Type: adjustable lowering spring kit (retains factory adaptive dampers). Drop: 13mm, 19mm, or 25mm front (three spacer settings); 13-25mm rear (screw-type). Spring rates: 51 N/mm front, 52 N/mm rear (near stock). Front mounts: camber-adjustable pillow-ball. Includes: springs, front upper mounts, rear adjusters, spacers, seats, collars, hardware, spanner wrenches, manual. Does not include: dampers (factory units retained). Note: alignment required after install; no damper canceller needed.