How low do you guys go with your coilovers? Is there a certain range of usable height so that the shocks will have enough travel or you just slam it for aerodynamics? especially on crxs'

share your setup people

 

our civics are, in my opinion, in stock form, hardly aerodynamic....that being said...

i currently have my setup at 5-1/4" in the front measured at the jack points, and at 5-1/2" measured at the rear jack points....this combined with the GC tophats...i don't ever recalling bottoming out yet...i have at least 1" of useable shock piston travel from the looks of it. I am not 'slammed' i dont tuck tires, and i have about a 'finger and a third' gap. I want to raise the front another 1/8" as well as the rear...

 

so it doesnt really mean that you need to slam your car for track event?

 

What suspension are you using?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Reid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What suspension are you using?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Wheel and tire size might be of some value, here, as well...

 

Ride height is a large variable. It will depend on spring rate, unsprung weight, wheel/tire size, and the track.

you need to start with a base line and verify that your not bottoming out.

 

it's on a stock gutted crx dx with only ksport coilovers running 10/6 spring rates and 14" wheels.

now i have 2 finger gap front and back.

anywhere that i could read more to understand this better?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BrianZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ride height is a large variable. It will depend on spring rate, unsprung weight, wheel/tire size, and the track.

you need to start with a base line and verify that your not bottoming out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

that and it depends on your taste and hwo you want your car to behave. a higher ride height, kind of like softer springs is more forgiving and is easier to correct mistakes in lines. because the center gravity is higher weight transfer is more noticeable. a higher ride heigth with a little more body roll and weight transfer will be more firgiving for beginer and some advance drivers because it makes throttle steering more effective

 

you most certainly dont need to be slammed for the track, in fact mroe often then not it will really hurt your lap times b/c you will bottom out if you are too low.

 

track? specifically? what kind of racing?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BrianZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ride height is a large variable. It will depend on spring rate, unsprung weight, wheel/tire size, and the track.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Don't you mean sprung weight?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VeilSide_Mas &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
anywhere that i could read more to understand this better?</TD></TR></TABLE>

"Tune to Win" by Carrol Smith is a great book for understanding the fundementals of race setups quickly. It's just the right amount of detail. Reading through this will help you make informed setup decisions. Anyone who suggests something specific for your setup probably just heard it from someone else, and it may not be the right thing for you and your car.

In general though, lowering your car too much can be worse than running at stock height. Until you have an basic understanding of what suspension geometry is all about and what it does, don't mess with it. And it is certainly NOT a requirement to go out on track.

One general rule of thumb though for hondas: I have never seen a honda that was fast that was lowered beyond the point that, when at rest, it's lower control arms were angled upward. If you are going to play with your ride height, anywhere between stock and a level control arm probably won't get you in TOO much trouble...

Chris

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by White98LS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Don't you mean sprung weight?</TD></TR></TABLE>

well it does depend on that too, but i did ment unsprung. I have noticed when I put a set of hevier rims on the car (unsprung) I hit the bumpstops more often.

 

You can go really low
But to prevent going slow
Keep it off the bump stops
So you don't kill your shocks
As wheel rates go high
Kiss your tire grip goodbye

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BrianZ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well it does depend on that too, but i did ment unsprung. I have noticed when I put a set of hevier rims on the car (unsprung) I hit the bumpstops more often.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Oh ok, that does make sense.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GSpeedR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You can go really low
But to prevent going slow
Keep it off the bump stops
So you don't kill your shocks
As wheel rates go high
Kiss your tire grip goodbye</TD></TR></TABLE>

what do you mean by as wheel rates go high . kiss your tire grip goodbye? so if the ride height is low enough to decrease body roll to almost 0 then it should be alright?

 

going lower doesn't mean you are reducing your body roll to "0"

once again, too low is not good at all.

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1564415

 

wow great info , thanks for pointing that up.

cheers

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VeilSide_Mas &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what do you mean by as wheel rates go high . kiss your tire grip goodbye? so if the ride height is low enough to decrease body roll to almost 0 then it should be alright?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Too low hits bump stops
Roll resistance becomes huge
Weight transfer galore

 

what about coilovers , the new ones that just adjust the shock body and does not interfere with shock travel?

roll resistance?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VeilSide_Mas &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what about coilovers , the new ones that just adjust the shock body and does not interfere with shock travel?

roll resistance?</TD></TR></TABLE>

At some point the suspension will bottom out. Maybe the shock will have 0.5" of travel left when the upper control arm hits the inner fender. Either way the wheel rate will be infinate and you're going to get screwed up handling. Personally my car was too low when I first installed my koni/gc's and it was bottoming out. I've raised it up a little and the car rides and handles much much better.

Having it too low caused me a couple of issues at the track. In steady state corners the car would lean over enought to bottom out the outside front shock. This caused mid corner understeer. Lifting mid-corner to stop the understeer would cause the weight to transfer forward and caused oversteer. This makes for a twitchy and unpredictable car.

Also when entering a certain corner there was some uneven pavement. This cause the shocks to bottom out and become twitchy as well. The only time I've ever spun at the track was because of this.

Prior to this setup I had lower rate progressive springs with lots of travel (eibach pro-kit). At the track they were obviously worse handling than the current setup, but were much more predictable because I never hit the bumpstops. The car felt very neutral. If I had started out with the setup I have now (and too low) I would have thought the twitchy behavior was either normal, or that I wasn't driving right. I would have most likely changed how I drive to make the car less twitchy and I would have been slower.

My suggestion to you is to make sure you aren't bottoming out and get out to the track. Dollar for dollar, seat time will make you faster than any mod.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nonsense &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Dollar for dollar, seat time will make you faster than any mod.
</TD></TR></TABLE>