After lurking on this forum for a while, I finally ordered my new stuff the other day. I was originally going to get KYB AGX shocks, after talking to a lot of owners who loved them. They I started to find bad stories, pictures of oil leaking out, etc, and I decided it would be better to be safe and get Illuminas, I personally know a couple people using them (not on CRX's though), and they love them. I also got Ground Control coilovers, which I decided on a long time ago instead of straight up springs. I daily drive my car year round, and I go to school in Upstate NY, where potholes have been known to swallow CRXs whole, so I need the adjustability. Currently, I have all stock springs, and stock shocks in the rear, with Tokico HPs on the front that are so beat I didn't even know what they were until I scraped away some of the crap on them.
So on to the questions. First off, for installing the new stuff, will I need to grind the shocks or cut anything to mount the coilovers? I know I will have negative camber when I put this on, and that it's better for cornering to have a little negative camber. That's fine for autocross, but on the street I'm worried about tire wear. Some people say the tires will only wear if the toe is set wrong, others say camber itself will wear tires. Considering I drive the car every day, I don't want to be going through tires really fast.
One last thing. I was going to order a poly bushing kit for the car as well, at 220k+ miles, the old bushings are worn out, visibly bad in a couple of places. I have been told that poly bushings make the biggest difference in road feel, I don't want to drop fillings or bruise my kidneys driving to work. Would I be better off replacing them with rubber OEM bushings, and if so, where can I get these?
thanks in advace

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by downest &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">First off, for installing the new stuff, will I need to grind the shocks or cut anything to mount the coilovers? </TD></TR></TABLE>

No, you shouldn't.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by downest &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">on the street I'm worried about tire wear. Some people say the tires will only wear if the toe is set wrong, others say camber itself will wear tires. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Toe is what wears tires. Your tires will be more sensitive to toe the more camber there is, but camber itself isn't what causes the wear. You will have to get an alignment after the install and have the toe set to zero.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by downest &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I have been told that poly bushings make the biggest difference in road feel, I don't want to drop fillings or bruise my kidneys driving to work. Would I be better off replacing them with rubber OEM bushings, and if so, where can I get these?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Poly will stiffen the ride quite a bit. They are cheaper, but they can tend to be noisy, and won't last as long as OEM rubber. So that's a judgement call.

 

theres no grinding necessary to install suspension.

when driving normal, bad toe wears tires. keep in mind that whenever you adjust your ride height, your toe changes.

personally, i dont recommend poly bushings except in a few locations. upper control arm and lower shock bushings pretty much. im not sure why ppl think a rough feel after installing poly bushings equates to better handling. you can get the front lower control arm bushings separately, and the whole rear lower control arm with new bushings and youll be better off that way.

san leandro, majestic, hondapartsdeals are all good online dealers.

get an upgraded rear swaybar. suspension techniques from summit if you dont want to do your own shopping.



Modified by Tyson at 11:57 AM 2/23/2006