Hey guys I need help choosing spring rates for my car. Heres some background info.

Car - 1999 Honda Civic Si. Daily driven but will attend most if not all Autox's in the area ( 1 - 2 a month). Id rather the car be more towards Daily driving/less harshness then a full race set up but i still want nice autoX handling. Car will most likely have a large rear sway bc of understeer if that makes a difference. Struts will be koni yellows.

Now besides the coilovers, regular koni yellows will be fine right? I mean do i need to get them revalved and/or shortened?

Thanks

 

I run 550f/750r rates on my 2000 Si and it's most likely a bit harsh for you (though I daily drive it myself). The rear sway bar will allow you to go with a lower rate in the rear. And you dont have to revalve the Konis if you're not running over 500 lb springs.

Be sure to get some camber adjusters and get the car nicely alligned (at a good shop) and even corner balanced.

 

yea i think your set up would be way to stiff for me. Any other input guys

 

you`ll find 400/450 or 450/500 would be the most popular.

 

Does anyone know the max Koni Yellows can take. Ones straight off the shelf not revalved or anything.

 

I am a fan of 450fr/550 rear but then that is on a stripped out CRX. I get a decent rotation out of the rear with a SM rear sway (25mm?) and stock front. I have not had any issues with the Konis OTS yellows with this spring rate.

Barry H.

 

I think if you are wanting to err on the side of street comfort but still want a really good handling car and plan to have a swaybar on the back, I'd say a 400/400 setup on your car would be good. The Koni Sports can handle up to 600 lb/in springs in the right circumstance, but you have to run the shocks turned way up do that our the car will be way underdamped..... and that makes for a VERY stiff setup. So, I'd highly recommend you do yourself a favor and be careful not to run too high a rate in the rear. A 400 rear rate is stiff enough to be good on course but also soft enough to be comfortable, reasonably.

Hope that helps.
Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RedShiftChris &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think if you are wanting to err on the side of street comfort but still want a really good handling car and plan to have a swaybar on the back, I'd say a 400/400 setup on your car would be good. The Koni Sports can handle up to 600 lb/in springs in the right circumstance, but you have to run the shocks turned way up do that our the car will be way underdamped..... and that makes for a VERY stiff setup. So, I'd highly recommend you do yourself a favor and be careful not to run too high a rate in the rear. A 400 rear rate is stiff enough to be good on course but also soft enough to be comfortable, reasonably.
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Ditto. I was running 375F/400R for a long time and was very happy with it for a compromise street/autox setup. With a Comptech 22mm rear bar on full stiff, this gave a nice amount of rotation without being at all twitchy.

This is on a 94 Integra, so YMMV.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtecvoodoo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you`ll find 400/450 or 450/500 would be the most popular.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm running a 400/450 setup on a GSR sedan for a couple of years and its been great.

 

I ran 600/800 on the street on off-the-shelf Konis for about 3 months, including about 2500 miles. They were not blown when I took them off, and as far as I could tell performance wise they had suffered no ill effects. When I added shortened SPSS3 Konis, the car not only handled better, but rode significantly better. With the OTS units, I was running around with the shocks on full stiff in the rear and half-turn from stiff in the front just to control the springs enough. With the revalved shocks, I was able to put them on full soft and still have a much more controlled suspension feel as well as a better ride. My car weighed ~2560 with driver. Before that, I was on 400/500 with the OTS shocks and the car handled really well, it just wasn't stiff enough to go as fast as I wanted to.

My advice, which is paraphrased from Lee at Koni: Decide which spring rates you need to make the car work. If you're not damped exactly correctly for the rates for a while, oh well, but choosing your spring rates based on what you need, and not what you think your dampers can "handle," is the best way to go.

 

Thanks Guys!!!! I think Im going to get the 400/450 set up.

 

what if u guys were riding on 205/40/16 ??? do u think that 350/350 would be ok for mostly dd?

 

Now I noticed that most of you guys like to have higher spring rates in the rear - do you guys ALL also have a front sway bar?

My EH2 is daily driven, but readily see's AutoX track time on weekends. I was thinking about using 500lb rates in the front (GC/Koni combo) and 400 lbs in the rear, with a neuspeed (19mm) rear sway bar. NO bar up front. I personally believe that you can only get the fullest potential of the front suspension geometry in a turning-intense, relatively low-speed environment WITHOUT the use of a front bar....

...But it seems that there are tons of guys here that have the rear rates higher than the fronts. Am I missing something? According to my own experiences thus far, my civic currently has a moderate feeling of understeer with completely stock suspsension. I'm assuming that adding a 19mm bar in the rear should make up for the difference in my potential softer rear rate - all while keeping it from being too stiff, and giving it more forgiving control on uneven track events (which is very common in my region).

Do you guys know of any equations that I use to find how a sway bar can affect spring rates?

 

I'm using 400/450 on my daily driven GSR... great balance at the track and not too harsh for daily driving.

 

I run 375/450 GC's with OTS Koni's on my 92 Civic Hatch which I autocross in SM class and daily drive.

John

 

380/350 GCs with OTS Koni Yellows in a '98 Integra with 25.4/19mm solid bars w/poly mounts. It understeers less than one might think because I have a good 110lbs weight reduction off the front and only -60lbs off the rear for auto-x... camber 2.0*F/1.4*R. Nice street ride and does decently well in SM.

 

what are u guys running for tires?

 

Auto-x: Toyo RA-1 205/50/15 on 7" rim, full tread (it rains a lot in Seattle)
Street: Yokohama ES100 205/45/16 on 7" rim

 

What are the ots GCs at?

I was thinking of doing 8" springs front and rear, and 425F/375R, that way I could swap front and back springs if i wanted with no problems.

Compared to say a, S2000, 425/375 would be stiffer? I'm trying to gauge how stiff is stiff, i've rode in an NSX and it was stiff, but not too much so.

 

u can get ground control w/ diffrent size springs ?? i though it was only different rates...

what are the diffrent size do?

 

I believe the GCs you can select custom rates as well as lengths. The lengths prob being 8" or 7" springs, unless all the springs are 8" and rates are selectable as you said.

If you buy ERS directly from Eibach, you can select from length, diameter, and rate.

 

im ordering some gc coilovers off this guy and im getting 350f/400r he didnt say anything about size should i be worried abou this? which ones should i get if i can pick?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by lavo81 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im ordering some gc coilovers off this guy and im getting 350f/400r he didnt say anything about size should i be worried abou this? which ones should i get if i can pick?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Get 8" front and 7" rear or both 8". Inside diameter should be 2.5" if that's even a question.

 

ok thanks alot