90si-rex

Just picked up a 2000 Civic EX, and the suspension needs some work. It looks like whoever owned the car previously was trying to upgrade it by just throwing the shittiest parts on it that he could find to achieve whatever his goals were for the car. Definitely the wrong way to go about it, but whatever...it has low miles and I was able to get it pretty cheap.

So here's what I'm looking for...I want to put a decent set of coil overs on it without breaking the bank. My dilemma is that there are so many choices available and I don't have first hand experience with any of them. Both of the CRX's that I had and my wife's RSX have always had stock suspensions.

What I really want are opinions, pros and cons, etc. from people who have actually used aftermarket suspension parts. I've been leaning toward Skunk2 primarily because the price is right and they look decent. What I don't want is "xxxxx brand sucks! Get XXXXX brand instead," without anything backing up why one is better than the other. I want something that will give me a slightly lower ride height than stock without making it feel like I'm bouncing all over the road when I hit a small bump. This is a daily driver that will probably never see any track time, so I'm not looking to put a full racing suspension on it, just something that will drop it slightly, improve handling a little, but still leave it as something I can drive relatively comfortably on a daily basis.

Again, I'm looking for first-hand accounts and opinions from people who have actually used some of the different options available.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

CLICK HERE all of you curious about suspension setups and their costs/reliability.

Consider your hand held.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

From personal experience:

The Skunk2 suspension leaves a lot to be desired...but it's not awful. It has the same "dead" feeling that a lot of the Chinese/Taiwanese made suspensions do. The ride quality is very bearable and they are decent in terms of being "sporty". I'm guessing that the long term quality will be bad, though. I exprienced the model with full body adjustability. So the ride quality on the non-full body adjustable ones probably sucks. 32way rebound damping adjustable, I think.

Koni yellow with Ground Control coilovers in standard rates are good. But they're not exactly silky smooth. For around $800 (cheap), this is your best bet for quality and flexbility. Don't plan on slamming the car. Made in Holland and USA. Lifetime warranty. The ride quality is firm, but still fairly refined. Adjustable height and rebound damping. Not full body adjustable.

Tein's Street Advance suspension really surprised me with how good it is. Tein makes fairly high quality stuff, but this suspension in particular has a lot of refinement to it that I didn't think Tein was capable of in it's street suspensions. It's a little low on features when compared to other stuff in it's price range (also around $800), but I am really happy with them. It's a very "european" ride feel. You can tell that Tein still does R&D and ground-up design on it's suspensions. Manufactured in Japan. They are NOT full body adjustable, but are height adjustable via the spring perches. They have 16way rebound damping with some crosstalk into bump damping.

F&F felt about the same as the Skunk2 suspension did...but a little softer and more limp. It's true that haters gon hate and I love haters and gators gon gate maters....but F&F sucks. People say that they don't suck. "But those people suck"....would be my rebuttal. Cost is like $600....but I'd rather leave $600 on the sidewalk. The Type 2's that I experienced are full body adjustable...so rice burglars buy these to slam their cars.

Buddy Club N+ is the only sub $1K full body adjustable suspension I'd actually recommend. Around $900. Ride is a little stiff though.

These are the suspensions I've put on for people, owned, or rode on that are relevant to the constraints of this thread.

I've also experienced lowering springs:

ITR springs on stock shocks or Koni Yellows. I bought my ITR stock. So I got to experience that. It's such a well dialed suspension. Ride quality is right on. They ride about as agressively as a stock AP1 S2000 and more agressive than a base model AP2. Pairing the ITR springs with Koni yellows makes everything a lot better. The stock dampers need more rebound curve. You can do that with Konis.

Eibach Sportllines....too low...need an agressive damper like Koni Yellows or something. But still too low to ride well.

Eibach Pro Kit on stock shocks....rides very very very nice. Rides similar to the stock ITR suspension. I still like the ITR suspension better.

Tein S tech. Soft Soft Soft. But comfy. So soft though.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Full body adjustable means that you can adjust the height without affecting shock travel or spring position. The shock actually screws into it's body to become a shorter assembly.

Non-full body height adjustable coilovers are adjustable from the spring perch. You lower the perches. You lower the spring position. You lower the car. But you lose shock travel as you go lower. This is why you don't use this type of suspension for slamming.

Non-full body adjustable coilovers are cheaper than full body adjustable when you compare apples to apples.

Every suspension in your price range of under $1K is going to be single adjustable as far as damping goes. The dampers are adjustable for rebound only, typically. There may be some translation of that into bump damping.

You have no idea what I'm talking about.

90si-rex

Exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for!

As for budget, I don't necessarily have to stay at or under a particular amount. Obviously cost has some bearing on what I buy, but I'd rather spend a couple dollars more to get something that's going to last. I don't like buying crap, and if that's all that's available, I'll pass every time.

Eibach was a brand that was recommended to me buy a local shop...any experience with them?

90si-rex

And slamming the car is nowhere in my plans. That's fine for a show car, but not my thing at all.

90si-rex

And never mind on the Eibach question...just saw that you already answered that.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Eibach's pro street coilovers have dampers made by KW...which is excellent. Their springs are wound in the US. It's a really nice setup on paper with a ton of refinement. Height is the only thing adjustable and they're $1300...so obviously not popular to the civic crowd. The only relevant feedback I found on the internet was some dumbass that lowered his car on them all the way to the bump stops and then complained that it was harsh and bouncy.

I do love KW. But never actually experienced the eibach coilovers. I can't imagine that they don't ride really well.

90si-rex

I'm intrigued with the idea of ITR springs on the Koni shocks. Any idea what sort of drop I might be able to expect, or would it be close to stock? Also, how's the ride?

B serious

iTrader: (1)

It'll drop the car close to 1". If you lower the perches on the Konis, it's like a 2.5"+ drop. I wouldn't.

Ride is nice. Like i said...similar to a stock AP1 S2000 if you've ever driven one. It'll look a little raked forward. I had ITR springs and Konis on my 99 Si.

90si-rex

1-1.5" drop would be about perfect. I'll look into that setup. Thanks for the feedback.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Eibach pro kit with Koni STR-T or Koni Yellow/Ground Control coils would work really well for you too.

ProjectEK75149

I have the been running the Blox Competition series coilovers on my daily driver for over a year now. I am very happy with them and have had no unexpected issues. You can opt for a softer spring rate than what I am running by using their Tuner series coilovers. I also installed from and rear camber kits as well as rear toe arms so I dont have any adverse tire wear and the car handles like its on rails. You can pick up a set of them for $550 from JHPusa.com.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Glad you like them but Blox is junk. Get a suspension from a real suspension company with a proven track record and not from one that has them imported and rebranded.