racerx510

so, i just picked up some ebay extended top hats and put them on my coilovers. front and rear are all the way down and im running the full size bump stops the top hats came with, the front is tucking about half the tire and the rear is a finger gap top of tire to fender. i took it down the street and its bouncing around like its just hitting bump stops.

with extended top hats should i be cutting those bump stops?

im running it as follows on the shock
-nut
-washer
-the top hat upper grommet (the black piece you would find on your oem hats)
-the shock shaft washer (the one that keeps the shock shaft from blasting through ur hood)
-bump stop (full size that came with the extended hats)
-dust boot
-shock body

j13

iTrader: (2)

whenever running a strut/sleeve combo or a lowering spring that lowers more than 2", its always required to cut the bump stop in half and use the lower half, gotta give the strut room to travel.

racerx510

cool thank you. i searched for a while last night for any pointers on installing the extended hats and found nothing

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

If you're tucking half the tire it's pretty much going to ride like ****. Places where you are running out of/already out of clearance:

-UCA to strut tower
-Tire to pinch weld
-Axle to frame rail
-Steering tie rod to frame rail

Do the shock bodies fit all the way into the top hats? If not, the top hats are not doing you any good.

racerx510

yeah but it feels like all bump stop no spring. pinch welds are hammered, not low enough to hit the others, prev suspension was oem shocks and cut springs, top of tire to fender. would bottom out on pot holes and front lip would rub on on/off ramps

racerx510

so i pulled the back wheel and stuck a jack under the lca. at full compression im not even hitting the bump stop with the 10.5" spring they came with. im pulling coilovers and swapping to a little softer 8'5" spring now

98civdx

What are your spring rates?

Softer springs can make it worse!

TunerN00b

An 8 foot 5 inch spring?!?!?

Ignoring that, you would need to remove the spring entirely and disconnect the swaybar to test full compression of the suspension. Just jacking up the LCA won't even come close. The best you'll get is slightly less compression than ride height.

Tyson

what shocks and coilovers are you using?

post pics.

j13

iTrader: (2)

if the vehicle is on all three wheels, with a jack under the LCA i think he'll be getting proper spring compression...

OP, i dont think a shorter softer spring will be a wise idea with tires tucking. youll bottom out and can cause other issues.

spAdam

iTrader: (1)

Agreed. If you're already hitting something why would you go softer?

racerx510

thanks guys, i had bought rokkors. good idea/bad idea i guess.

ok, so here's the run down on everything after this morning
1- extended top hats aren't really suitable for rokkors, u get added travel but the body wont fit into the top hat. the top hats i got came with bump stops and the rokkor dust boot seems to have some extra padding as well.

2- i called rokkor about the issue "the physics wont allow the front to be level with the rear due to the increased rear spring rate, youre welcome to send them back if youre in your 30 day return period and can take some pictures of what you're talking about", yeah, the guy isn't too bright. he was so lost he had to ask 5 people to help him understand. rokkors seem like a good idea, at least an oem quality shock or a step above, full bodied. i think the trouble here is a spring thats pretty hard and pretty tall at 10.5". (the cut springs my car had are 8.5" length sorry about that.). im debating on sending them back or just ordering different springs from progress. the rear shocks are sold for ej/ek but are eg, i'll do a write up on them in a bit and explain how to work with this.

3- 1 step forward, 2 steps back: i went back to my stock shocks, they're pretty much blown (i shulda kept my ground controls and drop zone shocks)., put the cut springs back on but used the extended hats and the bomp stops they came with. it all feels a lot better even then yesterday before i put the rokkor on.

4- i think ima keep the hats and go with tokico's and a ground control set up.

5- got a used set of 175/55/15 continental tires 2 for $60 at the tire shop today, they'll be good for about 10,000 miles and have a nice lip over the rim lip like michelin and the last tires i had (the name escapes me)

6. the advantage to using a softer spring in this case is that the shock wasn't bottoming out, it was just super bouncy because the spring is so hard. i think the compromise on the rokkors would be to just cut the springs a few coils as they are progressive springs in the larger to thinner space in the winding and i had the collars DUMPED and the rear was still only about 2" lower then stock (considering my wheel profile is shorter then a stock wheel 23" *11.1/2" ground to middle of center cap)

7. yeah, the point isn't to bottom out, in fact, the intent is simply to tuck the tire tread or to a bit of the sidewall. my 1st crx was dumped to the rim lip and drove pretty good on tokico blues with cut perches and 00 accord skunk 2's. yes, i cut the perches and was riding the sleeve on the lca's and front fork's... this was back in 2003 though. i think i may even try some ground control springs though on the rokkors, what it ended up being was about 1.1/2" from the top of the dust boot to the bottom of the bump stops. i wouldn't advise aftermarket extended hats but rather making your own from the oem hats because aftermarket extended hats have an inner lip, the oem outter lip seems like it would do a better job on retaining the spring to its position.

j13

iTrader: (2)

holy smokes dude...thats insane..that car was a death trap

zero-one

I have koni yellows(one quarter turn away from full stiff in the front and 1/2 turn away in the rear) with ground control coilovers 500f/400r I'm on the last clip in the front and on the middle clip setting in the rear. i also have the ebay extended hats all around. i have no dust boot and cut the bump stop half way. And shes sitting on 15' sprint hart cpfs wrapped with 205/50 neo gens i have absolutely no problems with bottoming out. sorry for the crappy iphone pic. ive been riding like this for about 1 month daily driven.

thegame7

iTrader: (1)

OK I give. I've searched for eBay extended top hats and can't find anything. This is all I found and I'm not paying $270.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EF-EG-EK-SI-...9febed&vxp=mtr

zero-one

crazy about the top hats being so expensive here's the ebay seller that i got it from http://myworld.ebay.com/originmotors...84.m1497.l2754 try emailing them or call them they cost me $110 shipped good luck.

zero-one

crazy about the top hats being so expensive here's the ebay seller that i got it from http://myworld.ebay.com/originmotors...84.m1497.l2754 try emailing or calling them they cost me $110 shipped good luck. I'm sure they might have some in their possession. I believe they are based in cali.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

http://www.jhpusa.com/store/pc/viewP...&idcategory=16

thegame7

iTrader: (1)

Not paying $290 either

zero-one, I'll send them a message and see what's up. For $270, I'll make them myself.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

You only need the fronts. I happen to have a set laying around.
But you should search harder.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...mount&_sacat=0

racerx510

i got mine on craigslist locally $107 out the door for all 4. on ebay they normally in pairs about $54 free shipping and color choices. my only options were gold an green. i went with gold. people say u dont need rears, i can neither confirm or deny but i dont think its a bad idea and will probably increase longevity and shock quality.

98civdx

How in the hell does a extended top mount increase shock quality?
let alone longevity out of that **** you bought.

thegame7

iTrader: (1)

Those look like stock replacements Are you willing to sell the set you have?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Erg. You're right. Doesn't look anyone is selling them anymore. PM me an offer.

zero-one

hopefully you get some i had no problems with my top hats at all.