I ditched the whole works and went coilovers...never looked back, although I wouldn't buy Tein's again having experienced some of the other offerings out there. Among the spring and strut combos, koni/eibach are considered a nice pairing for street use. I've driven a few of these equipped cars and they always felt great on the street. Quite forgiving, but beat stock hands down.
You can simply remove the motors from the strut tops and that will effectively disable the system. If you don't like the blinky lights in the dash, you could also remove/unplug the TEMS computer which is behind the rear passenger interior panel in the hatch where the antenna is. I then took the dash apart and removed the lights themselves and covered the space with a matching black plastic insert to remove all signs it was ever in the car, but I'm picky like that.
I can't remember if you can see it or get it out through the little access port though.