ECS Tour/Sport flashing light and lowering springs

[Geordon]

I have two issues here. The first is that my stock ECS struts are 19 years old with 110,000 miles on them, and are nearing end life. Occasionally, when the temperatures are cooler, such as in the mornings now, say 55 degrees, the Tour/Sport light will come on and stay until the ignition is cycled. While flashing,the system seems to be in Sport -- and somewhat rhythmically up and down -- even on the highway. Once it warms back up, say 70 degrees, and I start the car, it starts and stays in Tour mode. Is this most likely due to one or more bad struts, which will heal itself with replacement ECS struts? Or is it more serious, and in the ECS computer system, itself?

This replacement "opportunity" presents my second question. I only drive street, and want to maintain the smoother ride. However, I would like to lower the car by up to an 1" to reduce the wheel gap. Less is fine, if that gives optimal performance for the price. From all my forum reading, it appears KWv3 coilovers give the closest feel to stock, but at a considerable expense to me, as I won't be needing the racing features. Under $1000 coilovers all get the "harsher than stock" reviews. I was thinking of Tein H springs with new ECS struts to get a 0.7"/0.9" drop, but then I read that keeping the ECS under compression all the time isn't good, either.

Some board members swear by the coilovers, others swear at them, and some say leave it at stock height and find some other way to hide the gap.

Am I making this too difficult, or am I really asking for something that isn't economically feasible?

Thank you,

Geordon