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So before I got my civic I did tons of research. And one of the things that it seemed a lot of mag reviews stated was that they were pissed at Honda for ditching the old front suspension and moveing to the Mcpherson strut (or whatever) type set up. Complaining that it was "less sporty" or "not as good for performance"
So i was wondering exactly how the 7th gen suspension is any worse performance wise than pre 7th gen set ups. What is physically different?
because it feels just fine to me.
or are the mag fellas just talking out their asses
thanks

 
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The old ones were double wishbone. They tend to be a little more responsive and a little less floaty.
BUT, there's nothing that says MacPherson struts are bad. Porsche uses them, lots of other sports cars do to. There's nothing wrong with them.
No one understood why honda spent so much time basically perfecting the double wishbone, then switched. Whats worse is the way they hooked up the steering. THATS what pissed everyone off. Its unconventional, it was supposed to reduce bumpsteer and torque steer, it did niether, and it makes it a pain in the *** to make aftermarket full replacements for.

 
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The big advantage that the double wish bone suspension has over our struts is called camber gain.

when the older civics go in to a corner, the body rolls over. In a double wish bone suspension this action changes the geometry of the suspension causing more Negitive camber on the out side tires (good). on a Strut type suspension, that action doesnt create nearly as much negitive camber gain.

 
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can we convert back into a double wishbone? ^_^

 
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You'd have to change EVERYTHING up front. So basically, no.

 
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damn!

 
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Great explinations thanks!
So basically the behavior of the wheel position through its range of motion is different between the two set-ups.

BTW whats "unconventional" about the new steering?

 
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the unconventional part of our suspension is where the steering rack attaches to the strut...

for 99% of the McPhearson strut suspensions out there the strut looks like this


Ours looks like this...

(thanks for the pic Boilermaker)


note where the steering rack attaches.. on nomal Struts it attaches at the Knuckle, ours attaches directly to the strut, causing suspension MFGs Many headaches as to re producing a part that is cost effective (Hence how there are so few availible).

 
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I see, good info.

Thanks!

 
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having owned 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th gen civics, the magazines are NOT talking out their asses when they complain about he suspension on 7G's.

The problem is geometry as said before but also the terrible "quality" of the OEM shocks and just generally losing the "fun to drive" feeling of previous generations.

I think the 6th gen had the best suspension, great blend of comfort and stable handling. No coincidence that it had the best OEM shocks.