more suspension questions....

[bobafett]

well i have decided to get 16" wheels. and not any bigger. for one i dont want to pay more, its just not worth it to me...

with that in mind, what kind of a drop could i get away with WITHOUT getting a camber kit? i am also looking for the back to be higher than the front. (keep in mind i have 80-100lbs of speakers back there)... lol...

i have decided against koni's and ground control coilovers, since i dont need that stiff of suspension. as long as it is stiffer than stock, i will be ok. what do you all suggest?

[89AccordNate]

The only drop you can get without a camber kit is a 1.5" drop on eibach prokits. It will be stiffer then stock, but with 16" wheels your car will look like a 4 x 4. If it was me, its drop it 2.25+ or no drop at all! As for making the back higher then the front, that wont happen with pro-kits..and it will definitely look retarded if your subs dont have enough weight to push the rear of it down.

Fat chicks are effective for this, but in order for it to be totally effective you have to keep them in your car all of the time, which means feeding them..and everyone knows how expensive and messy it is to feed a fat chick.

Nate.

[bobafett]

hehe/// thanks for the advice... well how much does a camber kit cost,. or for the prelude parts that do the same thing? and are they readily available?

ok well if i am getting 16" with 205/45/16 tires it wont be that much taller than stock right??? i will have to do either the suspension or the wheels first, but i am thinking suspension would be smarter since i would see a performance gain!

[goldyaccord]

I'm with Nate here...

But, I urge u to get a 2.25 drop atleast with those 16 inchers. if not it'll look like your going rally racing or something. I also urge u to get prelude arms if u do indeed go the 2.25 route. I got my 'lude arms at the junkyard for 30 bucks. I also recommend that u drill out the slots an inch. I think it's Harmless. If so, Make sure u drillout in the direction of the slots. They slot out at an angle.

If u have anymore q's... ask us.

whoo. Sorry to have cut this short as my Springs JUST arrived!! U probly already know, but i ordered some race springs for the front at 500lbs verses the 350lbs soft springs.(those are relocated to the back). Damn, I'm looking at the coils right now and they are NOTICEABLY THICKER than the 350lb coils. whoo hooo...

I'll post later on the install and test drive!!!!!!!!!!!


Josh

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by bobafett
well i have decided to get 16" wheels. and not any bigger. for one i dont want to pay more, its just not worth it to me...

with that in mind, what kind of a drop could i get away with WITHOUT getting a camber kit? i am also looking for the back to be higher than the front. (keep in mind i have 80-100lbs of speakers back there)... lol...

i have decided against koni's and ground control coilovers, since i dont need that stiff of suspension. as long as it is stiffer than stock, i will be ok. what do you all suggest?

Koni's aren't very stiff and I don't recommend them as part of some all conquering sports suspension package. They are firm, not stiff and theirs a world of difference between stiff and firm.
All lowering springs are firmer. NOT all struts are. Like I've said before, I had struts on my car that weren't firm enough and I pulled them because I could not stand the things they allowed the suspension to do, things that would get a suspension engineer fired if he set up a production car that way. So,....what are you willing to except?

So what do I recommend. I cannot tell you to spend extra money on Eibach springs. I know of 2 members that have complained bitterly about the ride quality of them. One of them hated them so much he pulled the springs off the car and sold them! H&R's are an excellent spring and work very well with my Koni's, the nuespeed springs are really close to them. And both of them drop the front more than the rear. These 2 springs are the softest loweing springs you can get for your car period, so If your against using koni struts they would be a better choice to use softer struts on, namely the tokico's. But once again several members have complained that these struts are soft in the front.
I don't think it would be a high crime to use konis in the front and tokico's in the rear.

[bobafett]

well how much would a setup like that run me?

with konis/tokicos and the springs?

[Jims 86LXI HB]

$212 for 2 front koni's, $120 for 2 rear tokico's from shox.com
$149 for H&R springs, from www.optauto.com.

Total $481+shipping costs.

BTW, I had my 90lbs daughter sit in the hatchback so I could simulate the weight of your subs and stuff. A extra 90lbs brought the rear a little less than a 1/3" down as shown with a tape measure.

[bobafett]

and would that be good quality parts???

how much of a drop would i have? and how much would the camber correction stuff cost me?

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by bobafett
and would that be good quality parts???

how much of a drop would i have? and how much would the camber correction stuff cost me?

Yeah that would be good quality parts.

H&R sells them as 1.5" drop springs, but they do drop the front more, it's like a 1.7" drop in the front.

You do not need camber correction with 1.5" drops or less. I don't have any camber correction installed and you'd have a pretty tuff sell to convince me I need it. I have zero problems with tire wear and I run softer high performance tires.

If you wanted to go lower, go with the suspension techniques speed tech springs 2" drop and only $97 from www.fastfours.com
I had suspension techniques springs on a previous honda and have nothing bad to say about them.

[bobafett]

so would i need a camber kit with the h&rs? 1.7 inches might be too much with out a camber kit..

the 2.0 drop seems a little better. but then i would need camber kit for sure...

then again, not having to worry about wearing out tires is nice!// i might just have to go with the h&r's...

thanks for all your advice!

[bobafett]

$212 for 2 front koni's, $120 for 2 rear tokico's from shox.com
$149 for H&R springs, from www.optauto.com.

Total $481+shipping costs.

well after thinking about it, i think this is just right for me... the only problem is that i cannot get to optauto.com is there another place i can get these springs from?

when i call shox.com, i just ask for koni's for the front and tokico's for the rear? and tell them my car? -- will they need anything more specific, like which version of the struts? (if they make more than one for our car :))

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Yeah their is, but the price will be higher. When you say you can't get to them, do you mean on the phone to order them? Or you can't reach them on the web? Here's a direct link to the springs form www.optauto.com Cut and paste it.

http://www.optauto.com/webstore/product_information.asp?number=HR-51873&variation=&aitem=10&mitem=24&back=yes&dept=238

And yes all you do with shox.com is call them and let them know your make, model, and year of car and what struts you want. Right and left Koni specials and 2 rear Tokico H.P's If you want ask them if they can match the price on the springs($149) from optautocom and save you the hassle of making another phone call:D

[bobafett]

thanks for those links...

well i tried to get to the website eariler, and it wasnt working, but it is doing fine now!