So, Ive been in Puerto Rico for the last week or so doing work. Come back, and its time to get familiar with birdpoo poo once again. Around a week or so before I left, I did some upgrades to it, to be followed by some stuff my brother did for me while I was out of town.

Anyways - the parts added were 24mm suspension techniques front bar, 22mm comptech rear bar, goodridge brake lines, integra type-R brake setup, bridgestone s-03 pp's, panther + pads, and brembo rotors.

To put it all in a word - wow!! I drove around for 45 minutes to warm up the tires, and make sure everything was still tight. Then, time to go to the makeshift race track for testing. With the bars and tires combination, the grip is outstanding. The car has much less body roll than before, it feels just as flat through the corners as a gocart. The cars feels completely neutral going into the turn, and then turns into a touch of oversteer that is corrected with a small correction of the wheel. Amazing - It felt almost exactly like the last e36 m3 that I drove. It was cold out (mabye especially for me, as I went from 90 degrees on the beach to 30 degrees in an industrial park ) so the tires had a touch of squeal to them, but well defined limits before breaking loose. This situation should be helped some by me putting more miles on them to reduce tread squirm before VIR, and doing more driving to run these tires in.

The brakes felt alot better than when I had last posted. The pads and rotors had time to bed in from when my brother drove. The pedal feel was still a little slack (probably from me still using the cx mc) but modulation felt good and feedback was excellent. The pads stop this car amazingly. They do dust, and have a little less bite then cold, but an excellent pad. I almost felt they had too much bite until I changed my driving style on the pedal.

So, in wrapup (or beginning, for those of you that want cliff notes, rated on scale of 5)

Suspension Techniques 24mm front bar - The bar feels excellent on the car!! However, the mickymouse setup used to attach the bar to the lower arms raised some eyebrows, and the included greese was gone through quickly.

Comptech 22mm rearbar - This has to be one of the best parts I have ever added to the car. The quality of the parts is second to none, Spoon and Mugen could take lessons from these people. All hardware was first class, directions were clear and had great pictures and diagrams. They included teflon tape instead of greese for the bushings, and locktite for all bots that needed it. The cnc milling was beautiful, and all parts fit on this car just like stock. Only complaint can be that during shipping, some of the coating came off the swaybar itself, obviously a very small problem.

Goodridge brake lines - The lines work good, but require a week or so to firm up (as do most ss lines, I have heard) There is no tubing protecting the SS, so it is exposed to chafing unlike neuspeed lines. DO not use the copper washers and caliper bolts included in the kit- they are poo poo. Keep with your stock hardware.

ItR brake setup - Stock parts, so most everything fits just like it should except for the ebrake cables (they were a little too long) Pedal feel is not 100% perfect, but I must expect that this is due to me still using the cx mc and booster. The stopping power of these on a lightweight civic is amazing!!

Bridgestone s-03 PP's I am sure I have to drive these a little more to get a full review of them, but they feel stickier than the AVS intermediates I had on the car previously. More to come on these, but they feel like a good choice.

Panther Plus Pads - Wow. I was unsure what to expect after the initial phone call. The owner seemed a bit snippy with me, but this is probably chalked up to either him or me having a bad morning. The pads came in by the deadline I specified, with no big cost increase to me. After breakin, I have found these pads to be the best I have ever had. Cold pad grip is a little off, but still more than what stock and even other aftermarket pads offer. And when they get warm?? I thought that when I hit the pedal hard the first time that the hand of God himself reached through the clouds and grabbed my rear bumper. Modulation is easy with these pads, and fade is nonexistant. The street can do nothing to challenge them, I cannot wait to get them on the track and try all they can do there!! Only downside is that they dust a little, but poo poo, they are a more race oriented pad, and I have gunmetal wheels.

Brembo OEM replacment rotors - Better than stock, and cheeper. Cant go wrong here.

Well, I hope this can help some of you out on deciding parts for your own cars, as I am very happy with the results of this combo of products!!

ceas..

 

Outstanding review. I concur on the Comptech rear sway/tie bar combo and the Brembo rotors. I have them and they are second to none. I have been searching for some pads too and those are one of the ones I was looking at. One step closer Congrats!

Zach

 

Yes, the P+ pads are outstanding. I will be picking up a set for the RX7 @ VIR coming up (which reminds me i need to call carbotech and order!). I have had them on my saturn, and stopping power is second to none for a streetable pad.

-Ryan

 

The larger master cylinder will make a big difference.

congradrats

Will

 

good review ceas...

also thought i'd let you know....i got my new licenceplate on the way....
I1III1I

how do you like me now!?!

 

I saw a Saturn with VA plates with the same thing. It's just to confuse cops/thieves/etc...

 

I11II1I = Communist Propaganda.

Obey!

ceas..

 

Nice review ceas - you bastard, can I please steal your car! Got to love that EK!

Is this review on your site as well? I would like to see some pictures! Thanks.

 

Sadly, the site I have has not been updated since early 2000 at the latest, I believe.. Something about me getting rid of my computer and all. Now, that I have the parents one to use again, all I need to do is find a camara for pictures and remember my password, and the site might be back up again shortly!

ceas..