Need Advice Guys!

[accordboricua]

Ok. I'm planning to get new shocks and springs for my car, 89 5 speed lx. But, since I have to get all new, I'm thinking of lowering it a bit, not much just the lowest I can go without needing to get a camber kit of some lude's ball joints. I have 16's dressed up with Goodyears 195/50R16.

1-What do you guys recomend I get?
2-Do I need to get lower on the front or the back to keep the car looking parallel to the ground?
3-Can I get stock struts and use lowering springs? pros and cons?
4-Is the max low I can go without the need of camber kit or lude's balljoints 1.5"??

Any help would be appreciated! Thanx!!!

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Lowest you can go without needing camber correction would be 1.5" I'd recommend neuspeed, H&R(which is what I have) or B&G suspension(the B&G's would be the stiffest). All those springs lower the front end a little more to help give the car a more level appearence. You will need to get stiffer struts to go along with those stiffer lowering springs. The minimum starting point would be Tokico H.P.'s. But these struts barely have enough stiffness in the front for duty with lowering springs. Some people are bothered by this, other's do notice they are soft in the front and some don't care. A better choice, especially for the H&R and B&G springs would be Koni specials (which is what I am running with my H&R springs)

I can comment further about running a to soft strut with lowering springs. I tried to save a few bucks and use Bilstein struts. I ended up pulling them because, just like the tokico's they are soft in the front. The car would bounce over large bumps and didn't feel as nimble as I though it should. Once I installed the Koni's the car never bounces and it feels much more nimble and tossable. They are not cheap, but they do really transform the car, by being a very good match with lowering springs.

Here are some prices and where to get what I have recommended.
Neuspeed/H&R springs $149 at optauto.com
B&G suspension springs $169 at shox.com
Tokico H.P.'s $235 at shox.com
Koni specials $424+free shipping at shox.com

If you have any more/other questions, feel free to ask,

Jim C.

[goldyaccord]

Along with what Jim said, Look into Ground control coilover sleeves/with Springs. I think they are goin for 339.00 a set. Try to keep your height to 2.25 max unless u wanna blow struts. I'm using the GC/Koni combo. Koni's work real good with this setup. Unfortunatly for me, all my struts are blown due to my extreme drop 2.5-3.5 inches. all Springs and coilovers have some float and just enough stiffness in the rear for most people. I on the other hand, is more performance oriented which means i have too get higher spring rates for my GC's and rebuild my koni's and revalve them to match my spring rate. GC's have the stiffest spring rate setting off the shelf to start with than other springs listed. softest settin for Gc's are 350lbs Front, around 250 in rear. I'm goin towards 600-700lbs front and 500 rear or reverse order. As for rebuilding the koni's, i'll wait till i get the desire spring rate down. then i'll plop dough down to get the koni's to match.

Hope this helps with some questions not even asked......

Josh