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What would be the best Suspension setup for performance, I am looking for responsive handeling and the best traction, i dont want comfort, i go canyon racing so plz help!

 
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Be more specific. It really depends on how much money you have and how much adjustability you want. Start by searching for the many types of sway bars, tie bars, coilovers, struts, springs, and don't forget tires.

 
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..... This is a tough subject as there is no "perfect" suspension for all ocations. but here goes.
First thing you need to find out is how rough/bumpy are the roads/track you intend to drive on. the rougher the road/track the softer the springs will need to be to keep the tires on the ground while hitting bumps, ruts and stuff (A tire in the air can make no trackion). that being known, pretty much all of the suspensions availible to us would be considered rather Mild for track use. For moutain roads (Not the best of condition of roads)Your probably going to want to run a softer spring then what you could run on a track, so (and this is just a guess) I'd try out 700 LB/in on the back and 500 LB/IN on the front. From there, you're going to need some good shocks, so some up valved Konis would probably do the trick here (The "stock" koni Yellows are only good to about 450-500 LB/in springs). You could probably talk to one or more of the shock MFG race devisions and see what they have availible. If you can find them Double adjustible shocks would help wonders in tuning yor handling.

after you've picked out your spings you'd probably want some anti-roll bars. For autocross, most FWD drivers only upgrade the rear anti-roll bar. This is great for autocross where most corners are mid to low speed, but will make the car rather tail happy in higher speed corners. So you'll probably want to upgrade the front and rear. with the stiff springs, I would not recomend going to much bigger, Heres a possible upgrade: the progress Front bar combined with the comptech adjustible rear bar. that way you can further fine tune your handling.

Other little things to pick up, Chassis reinforcements, As many as you can afford. and finally, get rid of the stock crap control arm bushings. pick up some Polyurithane ones from Prothane or energy suspension.

Tires..... Your "performance" tires may not be as sticky as you think. pick up a set of Light weight 15's preferably 15X7. Light and wide thats what you want (helps with handling, braking and acceleration). Then wrap them in either a Falken azenis (205/50-15) or a Kumho MX (205/50-15) dont be detered by them being 205s the Azenis 205 has a contact patch larger then most conparitve 225s.

Brakes.... no point on going racing if you cant stop.....

Right now your weakes point in your brakes (for racing that is) is the fluid. it has a relitivly low boiling point. so lose the stock fluid and pick up some Motul 600 or ATA super blue. after that comes the pads (and if you have a non Si civic the shoes as well) stock pads over heat way too quickly for racing, so you'll need a set of almost race pads. EBC green stuff would work well and so would Porterfield R4-S pads and shoes (this is what I have). IF you are really runing in to heat problems the the EBC Redstuff or Porterfields R4 compound would be better (but you need to heat them up a bit for them to be effective). Finally to the rotor.... Not much needed here, Drilled rotors do precisely squat, and slotted rotors chew up pads, but help prevent glazing the pads. Just pick up a quality set of rotors if you need them.

Allignment, heres a bit of the black arts of racing.
Your going to want to run a bit of negitive camber on the front, for autocross its not uncommon to see people runing -2 to -3 deg negitive camber on the front. For road racing such extream camber is not nessisary, I'd go with -1.5 to -2 deg on the front and -.5 to -1 on the rear. Toe, this is a bit tricky.... You could run a bit of toe out on the front to help initiate corners, but then the car will be slightly more unstable going straight (it will wander a bit so you'll have to pay more attention to driving). or if thats not an option run 0 deg on the front. on the rear and im not sure you can adjust toe on the rear of our cars, runing a bit of toe in will staibilze the rear end (if you need it) and a bit of toe out will help bring the rear end aroud (once again if you need it) other wise I'd run the rear a 0 deg.



Now if I couldn't afford to customize my set up like that, I'd probably go with either Tein Flex, JIc, or preferably KW type III (Double adjustible shocks, un like the other two).

BUt that all just my opinioin.

 
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I will leave this open for a little bit since zzyzx went through the trouble of posting all that. But seriously, if someone came to you and said "what is the best car for this that or the other thing" you can't answer them. There is NO BEST of anything out there because best is all relative. You have to learn what you want to and what you can afford. Search around please.

 
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Hey Zzyzx I picked up an RSX 19mm rear sway last night and I'm installing it tonight after work. I'll test it this week and let you know how it compliments the tiny front 16mm bar. How long did all that take to type anyways?

 
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15 min with out spell check.

You'll like the RSX bar, I have one on my car as a stop gap befor I move on to a larger bar(and it was dirt cheep).

The car will understeer Much less then stock, but it wont make the car want to oversteer in all but the fastest corners. I'd say that its probably the best suspension mod for any one who wants a bit of improved handling, but doesn't want to deal with a car that will want to get *** happy at its limits.

 
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Keep in mind you have a much larger front bar than me. Time to go install!

 
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How so? I have an 01 EX. any one recall what the front bar on that was?

 
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the 03's only have a 15mm front sway bar, we have a 1" or a 25.4mm front sway bar, zzyzx.

 
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rear bars on the ex are 12mm

also, you arent going to want a harsh ride for carving

 
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If you want parts of what I think would make a great suspension I would have to say JIC FLTA-2's only because they are out. The Tein Flex, KW V3's and Progress are probably great, but they aren't out yet, though you can get the tein flex for the ep3 to fit. IF you want hardcore coilovers you can get EP3 Spoon or Buddy Club racing coilovers. The BC ones have spring rates of 10/16!

Buddy club also has control arms with pillowball bushings already installed if you want some hardcore stuff. If you can't afford those then get the ES or Porthane bushings. I have the ES bushings but they aren't in yet. Motormounts might also help...but again they aren't out yet.

For sway bars, i think the progess set is nice, but an adjustable rear would be nice. I don't think anyone makes one yet, but if they did, it would comptech. The cusco rear sway bar is probably the best so far. The neuspeed front sway bar is nice, but I think one that attaches to the firewall would be better, but there isn't want available. If you want really hardcore, then you can get a full roll cage with a floor bar.

Other than that, I think zzyzx has covered most of the things about toe and camber and tires and brakes.

 
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yah, it is 15.9mm front 12mm rear...and you don't want to mess up that CARVING with a harsh ride

just messin with ya.

i am just trying to be silly, and I hope it didn't come out wrong.

 
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25.4mm? Hm, I feel all special now.

 
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Yep 01-02 has a 1" bar but they made it smaller in 03.

 
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Thanks for the excellent advice Zzyzx and Robb. The roads out here are paved, but a bit harsh, so stiffer spring rates may not be suitable (in addition to being uncomfortable). The maniac in me still wants to go all out for performance, but I have to be realistic. Would JIC FLTA-2's be too much for semi-bumpy roads? If so, what would you recommend. Similarly, would Progress rear sway bar increase instability on uneven surfaces? Thanks again.

 
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the jic's might be too much for a bumpy road, but I don't know how you want your handling to be. The people that have JIC say they love them....which is why i bought them, though they aren't on yet. The Tein SS setup is nice. I have been in a civic with it and drove as a passenger in an Autox race. It handles pretty well. You don't want to make mistakes though, because they can be costly. Say you get the tein ss and drop a little over a grand and find out they aren't the best for you, then you hvae to go drop another grand-grand and half on another set. I think the Tein SS would be good enough for doing some racing...it probably won't be optimal but if you want to drive your car as a daily driver then they should be fine. The KW V2's are also another good option. They are supposed to be rust resistant and they have slightly higher spring rates than the tein ss's. if you plan on just keeping it as a daily driver then Tein SS or Tein basic should be fine.

i think the progress rear sway bar will help greatly.

 
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how bumpy of a road are we talking about? if its not a washboard road, then I think the JIcs would do fine. one other thing you have to realize is that as speeds increase the force those bumps apply to the suspension also increases. Making it more likely that a tire will come off the ground.

about the Sway bar, depending on what else you do to the suspension adding a 22mm rear bar will make the car want to oversteer at the limits of traction (not many people ever reach this). a little Oversteer in a FWD car is not really a big deal, as long as you dont do something stupid to make it worse, Like hit the brakes or lift off the gas. as far as unstable in the straighaways, no not really, but it will make you feel certin types of bumps more.

 
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Going from a 12mm rear sway bar to just the RSX 19mm rear sway bar makes me feel way more bumps in the road. I'll write up a full review this weekend since there isn't much information about 03 and 04's with the 16mm front sway bar upgrading to the RSX bar.

 
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Zzyzx, the main roads here are fairly smooth, but are compressed coral base with asphalt-rubber compound topping. Because we get lots of rain, sub-terra erodes and some portions of road become uneven, mostly on outer lanes which can sink several inches or more. This subsidence also results in sinking or protruding manholes, pipe trenches, drainage thingies and poorly repaired potholes, causing anywhere from 2" to 4" sudden drop or rise. Not everywhere though and main roads get re-surfaced every few years. So its not washboard type, and many irregularities can be avoided by driving autocross style around the bigger dips and bumps, when possible.

Another problem. I have Nitto 205/40R17s on OZ Superlegerra's. Was told 45's would rub (the idiot). Anyways, ride is harsh but handling is great even with stock suspension. Too much wheel gap and roll though, so I was thinking of compromising (performance v. comfort) by getting Mugens. I'm a bit worried that because these are designed for EP trim, the spring rates might be off for my 2k2 4 door sedan. King MS says they will fit and ride perfectly, but are the spring rates for mugens (EP) that different from spring rates for EM? If so, I'll go with Robb's advice and get Tein SS or KW's although I don't plan on lowering much or changing height for racing & all, that is, unless the maniac kid in me takes over (again) in which case its JIC's!!! Thanks again for yr help.

 
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The road is perfect, i go racing on Mulholland.Dr thats basicaly the only place where there are no cops except malibu canyons. Once again the road is near perfect no bumps or anything.
I need the car to get a shitload of traction. when i took my bros corolla out there the car would lean over to one side and start to slide prematurly and i dont want that

 
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A little oversteer shouldn't be a problem and a lot (The vast majority really) of handling problems are driver created. That corollas rear end may be sliding because of how the driver is taking the corner, and what he is doing with the controls like when he brakes, how he finishes his braing, such as if he trailbrakes at all or just lifts off the brake, when he gets back on to the gas, how he gets off the gas.... theres a lot of things that a driver can do that will make a well handling car handle poorly. You could have the best race car engineres build you a car, but if you cant drive it right then it will handle like crap. Its just way too easy to blame the car for handling problems when most of the time its the driver.

any way, I suggest picking up the book "Secrets of Solo Racing" and reading it twice. then going out with the car as it is now and learning it. because if you are going to drive at the limits of traction, you're going to need to konw where they are. (Autocross is an excelent way to learn the limits of your car and not have to worry about going off a cliff) this is also why I say when tuning your suspension, change 1 part or setting at a time. that way you can see the effects of each part and if one setting causes some problems you know exactly what caused the problem.

Back to the question..... You are going to have to do a bit of testing to find the right setup for you. I say for you because how you want the car to handle is probably very different to how I want the car to handle. Example: you seem to want a car that doesn't oversteer at all. I dont mind a bit of oversteer, it help get the car pointed in the righ direction, so if you handle the oversteer properly, you can get through corners quicker.... The other issue your going to run in to is if you tune the car to not oversteer a bit in the faster corners, then the car is going to understeer more in the mid and slow corners, causing you to go slower.... Right now I'd spend as much time and $$ on working on your driving style rather then setting up the car. You'll go faster because of it.

Good luck with that, I wish I could help more but you are the only one that gets to decide what you do. happy racing and watch out for trees.