suspension drop, the best solution... Options

[My2Celi]

What's the best way to drop your car with comfort? I like drop car, but from what I read its uncomfortable unless you get the right parts. let me see if i can show a pix of how drop i want it. well its in this topic of the honda civic " The Civic"

[Bigmeanbulldog55]

Quality parts = Quality ride

Simple as that, man. Buy good stuff, Teins and good shocks. I can't remember the name of the shocks, but someone will come along and say it in a few.

[pure_dx]

tokico? eibach?

This post has been edited by pure_dx: Jan 13, 2006 - 9:06 PM

[97lestyousay]

kyb, koni, bilstein

[Gen6-GT]

If you're going to spend $$$ on better shocks and springs, why not just get a set of Tein coilovers? The cost isn't that much more than bilstein/koni and a set of springs.

[Jen]

Eh, while this is being talked about. When I had my Intrax springs on, they were on new stock shocks. Was that wrong? The ride was always good.. but I always wondered.

[My2Celi]

okay ill look into that. But whats the difference between coilover and springs? someone told me its differnt. sorry im still noob.

[95CelicaST]

Coilovers are adjustable sleeves. You can use some sort of tool that comes with to lower and raise it to your desired specs. Springs are just a set amount and thats all.

[Coomer]

No-one makes shortened struts for our cars. To have a drop that low and still have suitable suspension travel you need custom shortened struts and coilovers by Ground Control or something, or full coilovers like the Tein SS setup.

[My2Celi]

nnoooOOOOOOO. man this is gonna b tough now. custom struts

[Coomer]

If all goes well, I'll make a how-to on shortening struts within a couple months. I'm going to try to shorten my KYB GR-2s myself.

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Tein SS coilovers are great if you can afford them, I bought a set late last year and I love them. However, I realized that the design and dimensions of the strut and spring assembly compared to the stock design results in a much harder ride.

If you look at the Tein's, the whole assembly is very narrow and thin compared to stock or aftermarket springs for our cars.....heres a picture to show you what I mean by this.



The Teins are more narrow and the spring really hugs the strut unlike stock which has a great big seat for the spring to sit in and "give" a little more....If you look at the stock fronts you'll see what I mean. Obvously the springs that come with these have a pretty high spring rate also, so that adds to the roughness a little. But I think that because the impact of hitting a bump is expressed through such a narrow shock and spring as opposed to dispersing the impact over a wider area with a stock configuration or even Tein springs with KYB's, the ride is obvously rougher than if you went with the latter.

So I would go out on a limb and say that if you want a better balance between ride comfort by design and handling as well as saving a wad of money, Tein springs and a set of stock replacement shocks is for you. If you want a better handling car and can sacrifice some comfort for your car feeling like a go-kart, then go Tein SS.

This post has been edited by Silver94CelicaOwner: Jan 20, 2006 - 12:56 PM

[playr158]

i noticed the same things with the AROSPEED coilsovers i was using...except i had stock spec struts....

very go-kartish

but i'm upgrading to TEIN SS this upcoming spring

[rjbibeau]

did you use the stock bearing plates for the teins? or did you upgrade to the cusco pillow ball mounts. is it a tighter steering response compared to just plain coilovers and stock struts. I will prob be buying a set of these with my work bonus next month

[95CelicaST]

How much do the Pillow Ball Mounts cost?

[celiracer]

Dan did you aerospeed coilovers ride smooth tho? or was it a rough ride? Let me know. Cause i know any time you lower a car its gonna be rough. But just wanting to know if you were happy with the aerospeed coilovers at all.

And i'll be using my stock struts will that be ok? or not?

This post has been edited by celiracer: Jan 21, 2006 - 12:23 PM

[playr158]

stock struts defenitly not goin to hold up that long your goin to want to get new ones...

the ride was ok, bouncy when slammed but not too bad when decent hight...

[tovejas]

Tein SS coilovers are great if you can afford them, I bought a set late last year and I love them. However, I realized that the design and dimensions of the strut and spring assembly compared to the stock design results in a much harder ride.

If you look at the Tein's, the whole assembly is very narrow and thin compared to stock or aftermarket springs for our cars.....heres a picture to show you what I mean by this.



The Teins are more narrow and the spring really hugs the strut unlike stock which has a great big seat for the spring to sit in and "give" a little more....If you look at the stock fronts you'll see what I mean. Obvously the springs that come with these have a pretty high spring rate also, so that adds to the roughness a little. But I think that because the impact of hitting a bump is expressed through such a narrow shock and spring as opposed to dispersing the impact over a wider area with a stock configuration or even Tein springs with KYB's, the ride is obvously rougher than if you went with the latter.

So I would go out on a limb and say that if you want a better balance between ride comfort by design and handling as well as saving a wad of money, Tein springs and a set of stock replacement shocks is for you. If you want a better handling car and can sacrifice some comfort for your car feeling like a go-kart, then go Tein SS.

how easy/hard was it to put those ss teins on? what major difficulties did you under go, if any?

[celiracer]

Well what kinda struts would i need to buy to be able to hold up the coilovers dan???

[LewFX]

coilovers have struts + springs in one and are adjustable.

[celiracer]

O, well i'm buying dan's aerospeed coilovers. Would they come with struts then? I woudn't have to use my stock struts?? Let me know thanks

[playr158]

get a set of KYB GR2 or KONI if you got the cash for them

[celiracer]

ok, thanks so i'm just getting the adjustable springs? And then i gotta buy all new struts for them? Sorry don't know much about coilovers.

[Silver94CelicaOw...]

Tein SS coilovers are great if you can afford them, I bought a set late last year and I love them. However, I realized that the design and dimensions of the strut and spring assembly compared to the stock design results in a much harder ride.

If you look at the Tein's, the whole assembly is very narrow and thin compared to stock or aftermarket springs for our cars.....heres a picture to show you what I mean by this.



The Teins are more narrow and the spring really hugs the strut unlike stock which has a great big seat for the spring to sit in and "give" a little more....If you look at the stock fronts you'll see what I mean. Obvously the springs that come with these have a pretty high spring rate also, so that adds to the roughness a little. But I think that because the impact of hitting a bump is expressed through such a narrow shock and spring as opposed to dispersing the impact over a wider area with a stock configuration or even Tein springs with KYB's, the ride is obvously rougher than if you went with the latter.

So I would go out on a limb and say that if you want a better balance between ride comfort by design and handling as well as saving a wad of money, Tein springs and a set of stock replacement shocks is for you. If you want a better handling car and can sacrifice some comfort for your car feeling like a go-kart, then go Tein SS.

how easy/hard was it to put those ss teins on? what major difficulties did you under go, if any?

The install was very straightfoward....you just need to ditch your old shocks and springs, and the coilovers bolt right in place of them. Defgeph came over and helped alot on my install, however it really isn't very difficult aside from getting the bolts unseized and off the car and removing the rear sway bar end links from the factory struts. Chances are you'll need to replace them since they use allen key ends and will strip easily. If you have some mechanical skill its really not a hard install, just time consuming.

[deliriouzgtfour]

anyone know where i can find new sperical balls for the stock setup or upper pillow ball mounts taht work wqith the GC's? Thanks

[soulshadow]

Lowering springs will cause an unstable alignment in your wheels even if you align them every week.
You will need the custom struts to fix that problem. Most people do not understand that so They end up like me who gets there tires chewed out at every hard cornering. The coilovers is what you really need to fix alingment problems and def the top pillow mount. Lowering springs have less than then OEM springs in terms of strength, cause they expand and contract a lot faster than stock. Even though they are the same length.

[Coomer]

Lowering springs will cause an unstable alignment in your wheels even if you align them every week.
You will need the custom struts to fix that problem. Most people do not understand that so They end up like me who gets there tires chewed out at every hard cornering. The coilovers is what you really need to fix alingment problems and def the top pillow mount. Lowering springs have less than then OEM springs in terms of strength, cause they expand and contract a lot faster than stock. Even though they are the same length.

What are you talking about? Quality lowering springs do not cause an unstable alignment. You just need to get your car properly aligned. I suspect that you've got something else wrong with your car.

And just out of curiosity, why do you think custom struts fix the problem anyway? In what way(s) would the struts have to be customized?

[playr158]

yea i'm in agreeance with coomer on this...

springs aren't unstable provided you don't buy ebay specials
and will align just fine provided you go to a quality shop.

[My2Celi]

soooo.. go with springs instead of coilover. for comfort and drops. and custom struts. am i right?

[soven]

forget the custom strut

[playr158]

its all going to depend....no "custom" struts"

go with KYB gr2 or koni yellow adjustables for struts

springs for a mild drop and good comfort
or
coilover for 0-extreme drop sacraficing some comfort

although if you have the bank get some TEIN SS coilover system which have a nice ride to them along with the ride height adjustability