Aaron.

i just bought a 93 dx hb and its all stock. I noticed that when i drive faster than 75 on the freeway, the steering becomes very unstable and when making lane changes at 75 or so mph, the car will sway violently from left to right. I know that in an economy car its not supposed to be the most stable at higher speeds, but this is an excessive amount of sideways movement. It feels as if the suspension is dead and the car just transfers the weight back and forth from the left side to the right side. If anyone can shed some light on this problem it would be greatly appreciated. i don't want to change anything yet until i know what the problem might be.

also i want to upgrade my suspension. if indeed this is the root of the problem then i was thinking about getting a set of tein HA's. i think i can get them for about 900, but i was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions. this is going to be an auto-x car so i want something that will last. Also, my budget is about that price, so it can't be anything thats more than 1k or so. thanks for the help!

Ricey McRicerton

Im thinking your problem could be coming from worn out shocks....I wouldnt personally buy the Tien setup, but I dont auto-x. Another option that is good (but not as good as the TIens) is GC Coilovers with Koni Yellows!

94CivicSi

iTrader: (1)

real CO's or CO kits carry a HEAVY penalty for autocrossing. I think it's like +7 points for NASA-X whereas spring and shocks is only +1. (+15 point limit before jumping class)

For an otherwise stock DX, I'm not sure I'd get TOO crazy with suspension. Even will all my mods, I'm very happy with my Eibach Pro Kit and KYB AGX. The progressive rate springs make the ride tolerable on NY's horrifying roads and the ability to adjust the dampening rate on the shocks allows you to tailor the ride to conditions.

tonyxcom

there isnt much nasa autoxing here in the bay area.

nwdave

Can't go wrong with Truechoice coilovers...Koni yellows w/adj. perches and Eibach ERS springs.

Mista Bone

you need sway bars, easiest to install in the Eibach kit. No need to get different control arms either. This was the first mod I did to my DX, back when Super Shops were still in business.

Also look into some Eibach Prokit springs and some decent shocks, KYB AGX for example.

Aaron.

i knew there was a penalty for coilovers, but i didn't know it was that high, for springs and shocks, what kind of combinations would you suggest aside from the eibach pro kit w/kyb's? i haven't really looked at springs and shocks seperatly and i don't really know what's good out there. I have mostly been looking at coilover systems.

Mista Bone

let me ask you this.......


WHY a coilover setup?
2 pluses.......custom spring rates and custom ride height (only ONE!)

Minus.....usually noisy, $150+ to get cornerweighted properly, anytime you change ride height you need and alignment, more harsher during daily driving due to the consistant rate.

Daily driver + some autox, ProKits are fine. Ther are other makers that have a very similar spring that works just as well. H&R, Neuspeed, Pogressive Tech.....

some daily driven + dedicated autox + maybe some track time.......well you are in the middle. How much will your kidneys take????

Totally autox or track car, then coilovers are your answer.

Now this assumes you are looking from the performance aspect and not for the looks of being slammed!

deepnite

everyone has their favorite setups..usually cuz the bought it..misery loves company..there are good combinations out there depending on the kinda driving ull be doing..i prefer a seperate spring/shock set up over a full coilover system only cuz coilovers tend to be too stiff..my favorite is the eibach pro kit / kyb agx shocks..also a worthwhile investment would be an upgraded rear sway bar..im not too enthused with a front one

JeffS

First question...

My guess is worn out shocks or a bad alignment. If you're definitely going to replace the shocks and springs, then just do that, then get your alignment. You'll never know which one fixed the problem, but oh well... The HB is fairly succeptible to wind buffeting. I'm not sure if it's the shape or weight, or both, but I've noticed that my stock CX isn't too stable. Now my track hatch is another story. It's still not as planted feeling as my prelude was, but it's much better (than stock).

Second question...

There are so many options that it's hard to get a strait answer. The #1 key is getting good shocks... whether that means threaded body shocks (aka coilovers) or traditional ones. You'll never regret spending money to get quality. Tein HA's get very mixed reviews. I had a set on my prelude for a little over a year before selling the car. I was moderately happy with them. First of all, you must keep the threads coated with anti-seize. If you do, you're fine. If you don't, they'll rust. Secondly, they're rather heavy. They're on the stiff side (at least they were on my car). They're 16-way adjustable, but I found that only about 7 settings were useful for the front. The bottom settings were too soft, and the top 7 or so resulted in a loss of traction due to too much rebound damping. That could be considered a good thing because it means they could handle stiffer springs if you wanted to upgrade later on.

If you're looking at traditional shocks, Koni is where it's at. You can save a little by buying something like KYB AGX's (still decent shocks), but they can't handle as high a spring rate, and Koni has much better service options. You can send them in to be rebuilt, or even revalved for stiffer springs in the future. Spring rates are another issue altogether. It really depends on what you're REALLY going to do with the car. If you're really going to autocross, then stiffer springs might be in order, but you have to be able to live with them on the street. For strictly street performance, something like the Eibach Pro Kit is a decent upgrade, but you'd do better performance wise to go with something like Ground Control Coilover springs, simply because you can choose the spring rates that you want, and change them later if you wish. Anyway, I could write a book so I'll stop here.

Another note on the autocross thing. If you're serious about it, you may want to consider just buying new shocks and leaving the stock springs. This will leave you in the stock class where you might stand a chance of being competitive. Once you chance the springs you go into a higher class. Anyway, the main thing is to be honest with yourself. Many, many people say they're going to autocross, but never do. It's doesn't make you more of a man to drive around on hard-*** springs all the time. I certainly wouldn't want to drive my track car the 30+ miles to work each day. Back when the prelude was my only car (on tein's) my back (injured from a motorcycle wreck) would hurt on a regular basis.


[Modified by JeffS, 2:19 AM 8/10/2002]

Traymack1

first get a swaybar because the hatch doesn't have one, that is the biggest improvement u will have in a hatch

aeolus

I say just a bad wheel alignment