pheaton

iTrader: (6)

Hello all. I've read and read about suspension trying to figure out what would be best for me. But here I am creating a thread looking for advice..

This old timer has a '01 LX Coupe, original owner. I'm now up to 80,000 miles and my suspension has of course seen better days. It's getting time for a lot of new things, but suspension is high on the list. Sticking to the original vow when I bought my car to replace the stuff that breaks with better performing higher end stuff; it's not only time to replace, but to upgrade.

Shocks, Struts, and Springs are definately on the list, but I'm going to go ahead and go all out and add the strut and sway bars. I want to be able to get off the interstate at 40MPH without my tires screaming at me. Figured while I'm at it I'm going to go ahead and get 16" Wheels and Tires, but suspension is first on my list.

I've tried to do my homework so I could post this thread without asking you too many stupid questions. So here we go, this is what I'm looking for:

I don't want much of a drop an inch or so is fine by me. The streets around here will eat my car if I do any more than that. Like I said I just want to be able to take the occassional corner a little rougher, or interstate on/off ramp faster without getting that out of control oh crap my car is going to hit the ditch feeling.

I guess my main concern is ride quality, I want the ride to be smoooooth. I'm not trying to slam the thing, or hit up the track. Just a nice smooth ride with some improved corning ability.

What spring/shock combo would you recommend?

Or would you recommend coilovers?

Price isn't a huge issue, of course I don't want to spend a fortune.

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

Coilovers - Tein Basics
Shocks/Spring - Tein H Tech/Eibach Prokit with Tokico Blues

Forget the strut bars, invest in a rear sway bar.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

Strut bars don't do much? Rear sway bar will be ordered by the end of the week, I'm trying to decide which one. I think I'm going to get the progress. I was going to pick up the front one too.

I have added Tein Basics and the H Tech/Eiback/Tokico combo to my list of posabilities.

Any other suggestions anyone? Input is very welcome..

ronaldo9

iTrader: (6)

You can save money on an RSX or Civic SI rear sway they do the job just as well.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

Anyone else going to hop in? Should I take the above recommendations as undisputed truth?

02BLKCIVIC

iTrader: (8)

love my GC's with tokico blues

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

bitch, you betta rekognize! Lol, PM zzyzx and boilermaker with this thread and see what they say.

ronaldo9

iTrader: (6)

Better yet READ Robbclarks's signature!!!

jamis33

i like H&R springs too. They ride decent. If you go struts and springs get tokico blues struts.

I have tein flex coilovers and i love them. They ride almost as smooth as stock and i can slam it or have it at about stock height with no problems. THey are insanely expensive and sometimes i wonder why i couldnt' have just got by with struts and springs but i really like them. Thats just my advice. Suspension is always something really fun to do on our cars. And its good to hear you aren't trying to cut corners. I know a lot of guys whose idea of lowering their car is heating their springs and compressing them or even worse using bolt cutters to cut a few links off lmfao. Good luck

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

I PMd zzyzx and boilermaker to see what they say. .

Remember guys I want a ride quality that is stock or better, with some improved handling. Again I'm willing to sacrifice the drop to achieve that.

Or does the improved handling often times sacrifice ride quality as well? Again, I don't need track quality handling just daily driving and the occassional hard corner, or occassional fast off ramp from the interstate.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

I thought everyone would be chiming in to help. Starting to lean toward the Tokico Blues and Eibach Prokit combo.

ronaldo9

iTrader: (6)

The combo you have in mind would be perfect if ride quality is your goal.

Zzyzx

#1... your 01 LX did not come with a rear anti-roll bar. so you are going to have to buy an adapter kit. Progress sells one.

#2. Tires are going to make you have more potential grip, suspension tuning is going to alter the cars handling balance.
So of the two, tires are more important. As you can learn to drive around a cars handling balance... but you cant learn to drive in a manor that makes the tires have more grip...

Here's a short list of things you can tune/alter that will influence your cars handling... From most important to least.

#1. Driver
#2. Tires
#3. Alignment
#4. Dampers
#5. Springs & anti-roll bars
#6. Chassis braces.

Start at the top and work down.

For ride quality... any thing you do thats not OEM will give you a more harsh ride. Aside from adding weight. Make the car heavy and it will ride like a Cadillac, but then it will also handle like a boat.

As far as what to buy... I use to be very adamant about certain products. now I typically say buy what you are comfortable with, especially for a street going car. That being said, Bilstine dampers are near works of art and would work well with just about any progressive lowering spring.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

Wow thanks.

It's interesting how my thought process has evolved.

I went from thinking you could have it all, Cadillac quality ride, and Porsche's handling. To realizing that you can't have it all and prefering the comfortable ride..

Now. Things have again changed. The more I think about it, the more I think I can handle a little bit more of a bumpy ride and have the sure footedness of quality suspension.

1. Driving, I completely understand how this relates to what you can get from a car.
2. Tires. These aren't far behind. If I get tires though, I want wheels, so I'm saving up for these.
3. Alignment, again completely understand, I want to get my tired OEM suspension out of there and get the new stuff on, with tires, etc, then I'll get her all aligned up.
4. Dampers, of course, per the topic, they are coming. I'm still leaning toward the Tokicos, but your must respected opinion on the Bilstines has me searching for information on those as well..
5. Springs and anti-roll bars, again, these babies are coming. Thanks for the reminder on the adapter kit, I did know that, but knowing me I still wont remember to order it until the day I want to install it.
6. Chassis braces. We'll see, I'm not sure if I want to go that far. Time will tell.

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

I think zzyzx is talking like a racer rather than someone who just drives their car on the street. Although he is right in all aspects, he tends to overthink things when it comes to street vs. performance tuning.

2) Tires - you can great tires that are sticky, but they aren't going to last as long. Tires are a balancing act. You need tires that can perform in bad weather but also are sticky. I doubt you will find many that fit into either category.
4) Bilstein's are works of art but they are going to be expensive and I think are way more than you need.
5) Zzyzx, good call on the adapter kit.

bomerman19

iTrader: (1)

If you want a nice ride that handles well and is still comfortable and not to racy I would definitely suggest you start off with a Progress rear sway bar (probably one of the best after market parts out there for our car IMO) and progress front sway bar these two parts were designed to work together the well pretty much kill a majority of the body roll in the car and make it handle a lot better.

See how that feels and then work from there.

If you still want to build up your suspension I would suggest you go with a set of Tokico Blue's and a good set of lowering springs now mind you when buying a set of lowering springs the ones that have the same height in the front as in the back are designed for show (yes they do have a performance aspect to them too) but the ones that sit a little lower in the back than they do in the front are designed to help you with your braking balance.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

There is alot to think about.

I'm thinking I made up my mind, I had everything in the shopping cart.

Just as I'm thinking about my ride height of course it starts snowing here again. As I'm driving my car down the road realizing that the snow is high enough that I'm actually plowing it with my car's bumper. I start to think about what this would be like if my car were an inch or so lower. It would be worse.

So now I'm leaning toward coilovers again that way when the winter hits I can raise that baby back up.

Hrm.

Zzyzx

Be aware.. every time you alter the cars ride height you will need an alignment. Unless of course you like buying a lot of tires.

twiztedD17A1

Hey here i a good website to check out for an eibach coilover kit http://www.autoanything.com they have lots of good 7th gen civic stuff

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

I love buying tires. I just hate paying for them. heh.

So if I lowered it in the spring and lowered it in the winter I would be looking at 2 alignments per year.

That's a helluva lot more than I get now, which sucks.

So I'll talk to a friend whom might be able to get me a good price on alignments and if it ends up not being worth it, I'll just have to forget coilovers.

robbclark1

iTrader: (8)

just set the height and leave it. No need to get more than 1 alignment a year (unless you hit something).

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

I have a set of fresh shiny GC Springs on the way. I'll get some pics up once they arrive.

http://www.ground-control-store.com/...p/II=520/CA=71

So now what? These babies will let me drop anywhere from 0 to 2.5 inches. I'm thinking that I want to do a 1.5 inch, maybe a 2 inch drop depending on how it looks when I get it all installed with 16" wheels and tires. I know if you do much over 1.5" on Tokico Blues they aren't too happy.

So what do you all think? SHould I chance the Blues? Or do something else? Tokico DSPEC, Koni Yellow (ouch on price), KYB, Bilstein? I don't want the babies to blow in 6 months. I want years of service here.

Again, I don't want it to ride like a big wheel, but I realize that there will be some ride quality loss, but that's ok as long as the handling return is worth it. Oh and when I say handling. I don't mean track handling. I mean spirited driving. Interstate off ramps and things like that. I don't think I need top of the line here.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

Just for fun.. Poll up.

MarkieMark

how long have you been on that setup?
i acutally plan on doing the same but i'll be riding on stock shocks for a bit.

twinturbo

I used Kyb adjustable struts with tein springs. BRILLIANT!!
soft on street, rack hard on track, and everywhere in between!
highly recommend the adjustable KYB's

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

I can get a set of the KYB AGX for $545.00 shipped. Not too bad. I'll have to keep looking around, but those might be good.

Oppjonez

iTrader: (3)

Might I ask where you found the KYB AGX for that price?

inthezoneac

you can find skunk2 coilovers on ebay for $600. brand new, no fakes or anything. And skunk2 front/rear camber kits so you don't kill your tires for $300 if you can find them bundled.

pheaton

iTrader: (6)

ebay my man. That auction has ended though, and I haven't found them at that price since then. There are still some good prices out there.

Yeah, I know. I'm just not a huge fan of skunk2, they've been in the back of my head. Most people say they are ok, but I'm not sure if I've found anyone that has been estatic about them. At least anyone that has some good comparisons.

sicma99ot

i have tanabe springs and just ordered my tokico blues (ebay $320 new never opened) today so im eager to get them and see whats what.
totally forgot about going to get them aligned tho