Well, I am at the stage in my suspension of choosing the GC setup part to go with my newly acquried konis. The only thing thats stopping me from heating up the credit card is what rate do I run. I also ran into a nice set which was used for barely 50 miles on a CRX (they are presently mounted on GC coils, so they are specific) but they came with GC off the shelf rates (I think 350f/280r or something along those lines). My future plans definately have lots of auto-x in it. But, since the season is all but over, my plan was to run these OTS rates, and then as I see fit, upgrade to whatever rates would be required to have the car atleast behave somewhat 'right' for the auto-x.

My goal presently is to have something tidy enough for street driving (although, the car is not daily driven). I have the option of either getting the 'used' GC or ordering whatever rate I want. Most of the rates I have been recommended fall in the area of 400-500, front and rear, as being just bearable on the street (but, some of these are on 300 lb lighter cars). I also live in the maryland area and the roads, well, arent glass smooth by any near means. At times its more like a mine field of potholes, both visible and invisble. Feels as if your driving through the craters of the moon . But anyways, I am young, can take a beaten, car is not daily driven and wont be auto-xed intil the suspension/brakes/tires are sorted. I also dont exactly have access to friends cars with varied spring rates as well. I did get to drive in a gutted eg with skunk 2 coils (at whatever rate I have no clue on), as well as my bros mr2 (which, with the wheel rates being different, as well as various factory/aftermarket braces, is not very comparable).

But, I was also wondering that I could go with the OTS rates, and with the konis being adjustable, if I want stiff, its just a turn of the **** away?? Bah, whatever. Just wanted to know some input from you guys.

Thanks.

 

I started autoxing my integra on those ots ground controls. You won't be doing any mad dorifto oversteer moves with them and they are kinda soft, but if you haven't done it before it's an alright way to learn.

 

I'm running 400/400 on my 00 gsr for STS class. They feel almost too stiff for the street, and the gf complaining she needs a sports bra to ride in the car just reinforces that idea. I'm also running RT-615 Azenis on the street, so that probably contributes to the stiff feeling, I gotta hurry up and get some "street" tires. Pot holes, just slow down to < 15 mph, no problems. Though I did find a nice raised bump on the freeway that put me and a friend into the headliner...

As to how the rates are working for auto-x use, I'm still learning so my judgement isn't as valuable as a more experienced persons. Comptech rear sway, and OTS Konis. Car has enough oversteer for me.

 

i ran ots koni and 450/600 for 3 years. shocks held up and other than broken concrete, ride was not too bad. this was on a civic ex that weights 1990 as driven daily.

now 650/600 with koni spss3 and maybe going to 650/800 still daily driven.
both were with no front bar and 24mm prgress rear bar.

 

i just went down in spring rates from 450/550 to 350/250. and tbh, i can't notice too much of a difference on the street.

the 450/550 wasn't bad on the street at all, and this is on a 2900 lb prelude--however, having ridden in a few RSX's w/ stock suspensions, i'd be worried about the jumpy rear end issue that the RSX tends to have.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bad-monkey &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i'd be worried about the jumpy rear end issue that the RSX tends to have. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you think it is a suspension design flaw or a good set of shocks and springs could solve the problem ?

 

I run 380/350 (default rates for '94-01 Integra are 380/250) with OTS Konis and I love them on the street and auto-x. They're just gentle enough on the street so that it's more amusing that uncomfortable to passengers (Konis handle the small bumps amazingly well) and out on the course they feel great, not "soft" to me and I have plenty of rotation for my driving style. You can always start from there (I only had to buy a pair of diff. springs for the rear, $60 shipped from a fellow H-T member) and change things around.

 

I ran 450/550 GCs with OTS Konis for about 2 years and they were fine on the street. I drove multiple times to Florida from Boston and back and had no complaints. Now the car is on 660f/760r coilovers with proper damping and again, I have no complaints about the ride. I'm sure I'll pay for it in 10 years, but for now it seems to be OK

 

I can't tell from your post if you are referring to springs for an RSX or an Integra.

I have just put a fresh set of Koni Sports on my daily driver CRX and played around with several spring rates in recent months to develop it for my preference. This Spring, I bought a Tein SS package for the CRX and drove it around on the street and track and greatly disliked it. The spring rates with the kit were 440f/220r which I did not care for. After going back to my aging Koni Sports, I decided to try a number of spring options and see what I like best for rather aggressive street driving but still requiring what I felt to be a reasonable ride quality as my wife complained about the harshness when the Teins were on the car. I put 400s on the front and liked it and tried both 325 and 250 rear with both the Koni RACE and Koni Sport dampers. I decided that the RACE was too much for my street interests (not surprised as they weren't designed for street ride quality) even with the softer springs. As of two nights ago, I have settled finally on the off-the-shelf Sports and 400f/325r for street use. My 58 year old stepfather is driving the car 1000 mile round trip to Memphis this weekend and I think he should be accepting of the ride quality.

For only track, I like 400f/600r so I will take my RACE rear shocks and put on the 600 springs, extra coil-over sleeves with spare upper mounts so I have an easy 20 minute change of the rear shocks and spring unit when transitioning from street to track use.

Again, this info is based on a CRX for my interests near Cincinnati.


Modified by CRX Lee at 6:49 PM 10/13/2005

 

When I first went from OEM everything to Koni-GC 350/250 I thought it was way too harsh. Now I'm at 500/350 and I dont mind it much at all. A lot of it is just adjusting yourself to a harsher ride. Obviously local road conditions also make a difference.

 

I'm daily driving my race car becasue my prelude is apart...

It has been about three weeks that I have been driving it and I am on 750 front 950 rear... Definetly sucks. If you ever had anothe person int he car, they would hate you. One of these days I will have a strret car again!

 

I have an Integra with Konis and GCs. When I lived in LA I first tried 350f/450r and found it too harsh for my commute. Then I tried 450f/350r and still didn't like it. I settled on 350f/300r. This is with a comptech rear sway. It was a good compromise between my commute and track use. I think I'm a wimp compared to many on this board.

I recently moved to Chicago and I can't stand it here. The roads really suck. I think I'm going to swap out the GCs for some Pro-Kits any weekend now. I'm even considering H&R OEs to keep my sanity on my commute.

 

why do you guys run higher rates in the rear? i thought since it is front heavy and the rear is so light, that youd want a stiffer front spring. yo uguys with 500 rear, doesnt your back end jump like crazy?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by yaya &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">why do you guys run higher rates in the rear? i thought since it is front heavy and the rear is so light, that youd want a stiffer front spring. yo uguys with 500 rear, doesnt your back end jump like crazy?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The higher rate in the rear gets the car to rotate much better. I am running 760 rear 660 front on the street and have never had a problem with the back end 'jumping around'.

 

I currently have 700# fronts and 800# rear on SPSS3 valved Koni Yellows. The ride, overall, isn't that bad (especially if I slow down the rebound for street driving) but does have an occasional day of suckage when I come upon a shitty road or am in a parking structure. Overall, I'd say it's a very firm ride but not a harsh one.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by yaya &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> yo uguys with 500 rear, doesnt your back end jump like crazy?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you have that problem, either you are driving over the limits on the streets or the suspension is not setup right.

P.S. I got my GC/koni installed and finished literally 5 mins ago 350f/450r, and using GC from a CRX with 7 inch springs all the way around. I will do a full writeup, hopefully with pictures, with all the details possible. Right now, I am tired, sick, and I hungry

 

any update your new suspension setup? I'm in the market for some koni's and GC...I'm also trying to decided on a spring rate.