Digitalis

I would like to improve my cornering performance in my 1997 accord SE.
To my understanding, the biggest factors are shocks&springs, anti roll bars and sway bars, tires.
I am planning on replacing my shocks with Kony orange & 2" lowering springs. Is that a good combo or should I spend the same and get coilovers? (I do not want ride to be bounce and the bushings will be replaced at the same time)
However I would like to get a better anti roll bar or sway bar.
As far I read my car does not come with rear anti roll bar? Which would have a more dramatic effect on handling, an addition/upgrade of anti roll bar or an addition of a sway bar? Im a college student as well so what brand is a good bang for my buck.
Thanks

chrisnick

It's really all dependent on how you use the car. I HIGHLY suggest staying away from the STR.T shocks, they're not quite what you think they are just because they're branded Koni. Highly suggest Bilstein's if you don't need a ****(you don't), or Koni Sports("yellows") if you think you know what that ****'s actually doing.

Personally, my setup consists(currently) of Bilstein HD shocks, Skunk2 Sport Springs, a Progress rear sway bar and a REMOVED front sway bar. The car is very neutral, and lift-throttle oversteer isn't snappy or uncontrollable. I autocross(and daily drive) my car, and it's pretty quick around the course for what's done to it. I haven't messed with the alignment settings. I'm putting in 550lb linear springs with adjustable perches front and rear to get some more stiffness and rotation out of it. It all really boils down to your personal tastes and how you want the car to perform. Anti roll bars and sway bars are the same thing. Progress is the largest/stiffest off the shelf solution out there, but you'll have to drill a couple of holes in the subframe to get it to bolt up. At about 2" of lowering, at full droop, the bar will contact the rear lower control arms; don't worry, it's not an issue. Makes a little bit of noise every now and again over larger potholes, but I've personally been running around like that for two years now. Aftermarket lower control arms from Fat Four Customs should alleviate the issue. If you want a full-body coilover, spend the money for AMR's or Fortune Auto's. The cheaper options are all basically the same crap with different spring rates and adjustment styles. See my build thread linked in my signature for lots of Accord-specific insights and thoughts on this kind of stuff.

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Fitz Williams

iTrader: (1)

Coil overs will allow you to adjust the height of the car independently of spring rate. But that doesn't mean that you can't do it with a careful selection of springs and shocks. You will need some way to adjust the camber. The tire patch you put on the ground depends on this. Most of the cheap kits, whether Ebay or Moog or other are junk and will wear out in a month's time.

MAD_MIKE

I would opt to replace all your sway bar bushings, and install sway bars off an EX model.
IIRC SE only has a 25mm bar, EX has a 27 front and 15 rear.
My car would roll on the rockers due to sloppy bushings. Used the Prothane 8-403 kit for the front end links, replaced the sway bar bushings, and repaced the rear drop link bushings. Car is much flatter around corners now.

I would not bother lowering the car, especially for your commuter and college budget. ALL it will do is cause the car to have less bump travel and will require some costly front upper control arms or upper bushings to bring the camber back into spec. Purchase some decent tires and enjoy the ride.

chrisnick

In my experience, it's the toe gain that causes issues, not camber gain, when lowered. With my Bilsteins, I was able to "flip" the lower spring perches on the front shocks to gain a bit more travel and even out the ride height with my Skunk2 springs; Bilstein's also have two slots in them for the spring perch clip, like Koni's. If I recall, I'm about 13.75" from hub to fender on both the front and the rear at current ride height, 25" tall tire(225/50/16, 16x7 +45 offset wheels) and have ZERO issues. Once toe was corrected, well, correct enough not to cause excessive tire wear, all's been good with the front. Never had to adjust anything in the rear. If anything, I'd want MORE camber in the front as there's simply not enough with static gain for my use. I highly suggest the Skunk2 Sport Springs(virtually the same spring as the H&R race and older Neuspeed race- same spring rates) paired with the Bilstein HD's. Very comfortable ride and the car handles great. I would've run away with the local STC class season title if I didn't kill the engine with a puddle mid-season, which was due to my mistake, in a fairly under prepared car for the class. An STC national title winner was only about 1.5 seconds faster than me on almost all the courses we ran, with a much lighter, well prepared car.

jollyhonda

I am glad someone asked this. I am gonna watch this. To further request clarification, someone mentioned the EX sway bars. My car is a 94 LX, does it currently have a rear sway bar? I guess I need to crawl under the car and look at it. Was there a difference in the spring rates from the factory? The car I am building for my play thing has 310k on it, so it needs some maintenance, and parts replaced, so I am gonna be trying to replace parts with performance minded items.

Digitalis

Only EX has rear sway bar.
Dx/lx/se have smaller than EX front sway bar and no rear bar.
Mounting the EX Sway bar onto lx or se is challenging, due to the holes to which they connect not being threated.
For me, it's easier to buy an aftermarket rear sway bar (suspension technologies I think) that accommodates the lack of mounting brackets.

Fitz Williams

iTrader: (1)

Agreed. Don't waste time on an EX sway bar. They are too small to do any good.

jollyhonda

I read something elsewhere about the front bar from an odyssey. Anyone know anything about the compatibility?

chrisnick

Why would you want to add more roll stiffness to the front when the rear end is so sloppy?