What at I looking at for max spring rates F/R for a CRX with OTS koni yellows?

 

How much pepper is too much on your scrambled eggs?

This is a matter of personal taste and so to a degree is spring rate because you drive a car on a road with many other parts and inside are people including a driver who all have their own preferences. You can't simply isolate damper and spring rate alone and expect to have a good package. My street CRX is sitting with 400 front and 325 rear for street use and I switch it to 400 front and 600 rear for track days. My CRX racecar has 600 front and 800 rear with true racing slicks on track only. I have tried a number of higher and lower rates for my car over the years and for my wants and needs, my roads near Cincinnati, etc., I have landed on a set-up that I like that works well with my overall package of tires, KONI Sports, and sway bars (stock front, Neuspeed rear).

With the short wheelbase and low weight of a CRX, I don't normally suggest over about 400 front and rear for a street car but that is going to be too stiff for some people and others will run higher numbers. I do suggest that you ignore high spring rate comments from later Civic and any Integra people as their cars will live easier with higher spring rates due to weight and wheelbase. I know of people who say they like their CRXs on the street at 400 front and 600 rear but I think it is not smart and a bad choice. But I like a lot of fresh ground pepper on my eggs, you might not like as much or you might like more.

 

Thanks for the advice, I was actually wondering what the dampers were capable of controlling.

 

Again, personal preference ranks really high there on what "controlled" means. What is acceptable to you might not be to me and vice versa, especially if you dirve on different roads and have different uses.

As a general rule of thumb, most people for the street will find that the off the shelf Koni Sport valving is acceptable up to the maybe 500-600 lb range. The problem is that the moment I say that, one guy can chime in and say "I have 700 lbs and Sports and I love them" and another guy can say "I like my revalved shocks at 450 lb springs" and certainly in hardcore autocrossers will get more control on stock springs with a custom valving vs. the off the shelf Sport valing which is still pretty good with autocross. Again, usage and preference variable outweight the limited knowns (rates, specific valving, etc.)

 

Not to thread jack, but since CRX Lee is already in this one...

Lee, what do you think the highest rate spring an OTS Koni Sport can safely handle without radically shortening the shock's useful life?

To the OP, I daily drive 400/400 rates on my 00 GSR, and it feels completely different (much softer and easier to live with) than similar rates on an EF hatchback, probably due to weight and wheelbase as Lee suggested. I agree with Lee that you should ignore those of us with heavier cars, because you can't compare rates between a 2,000 lbs CRX and a 2,700 lbs Integra. You're going to have to just guestimate on a starting point based on input from other CRX drivers, get used to the springs, and then adjust rates as needed for your specific needs.

 

I'm going to be one to say with my Integra....
450lbs up front and I have to set the Koni's a tad up from full soft to fully control the springs. 500 in the rear and I could go higher. Just from my observation on the Integra.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TunerN00b &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Lee, what do you think the highest rate spring an OTS Koni Sport can safely handle without radically shortening the shock's useful life?
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See my first two posts in this thread, especially the second one. There are more variables than knowns and it totally leaves of the most important which is driver/passenger preference but again the 500-600 lb is a very rough ballpark that can be generally applied but easily overruled.