I recently purchased a set of Skunk 2 pro series full coilovers for my 99 civic Ex. Upon installation they didn't come with its own top hats but no biggie oem ones were used as well as skunk2 very own bump stops. Anyway, a test drive was done and it was bouncy like a ****. The next day I took out the coilovers and cut the bump stop in half leaving the beefier part in and went for another test drive and it was a little better then before but I can still feel the bounciness. On another note a friend with a DA teg has the same coilovers as me except his came with skunk2 top hats and the ride in his car is alot smoother then mines. Looking at his setup he doesnt have bump stops installed WTF??? should I take mines out or would that be suicide?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BoOsTeD C1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I recently purchased a set of Skunk 2 pro series full coilovers for my 99 civic Ex. Upon installation they didn't come with its own top hats but no biggie oem ones were used as well as skunk2 very own bump stops. Anyway, a test drive was done and it was bouncy like a ****. The next day I took out the coilovers and cut the bump stop in half leaving the beefier part in and went for another test drive and it was a little better then before but I can still feel the bounciness. On another note a friend with a DA teg has the same coilovers as me except his came with skunk2 top hats and the ride in his car is alot smoother then mines. Looking at his setup he doesnt have bump stops installed WTF??? should I take mines out or would that be suicide?</TD></TR></TABLE>

you would have to crazy to remove them.....

1. they are placed there to allow the damper to not slam and bottom out, these will cause damage to the seals .... they wont like very long

2. If they are slamming it means that may or could lose control of you car .

3. you are going to damage your strut mounts

If you are that low that your bump stops are touching ..... its obvious that the car is toooooooo low and the dampers need to be adjusted firmer

turn up the car 1/2 inch and firm up the dampers and it should feel better

you could also consider the spring rate.

 

Controlling the firmness of the damper will not prevent bottoming out, infact, since most dampers are rebound only adjustble, setting the rebound too high can cause a 'jack-down' effect--the dampers have so much rebound it does not allow the suspension to come out of compression/bump before the next one, and the next bump compresses it even more and you bottom out. Rebound controls the outward motion (the spring wanting to expand after being compressed) of the shock rod, not the inward motion.

 

my skunk2 pro-S came with top hats, the reason why the seller you bought them from didnt supply them is because they are trying to sell them at a cheaper price.

how low are you? you definitley want to raise it back up and see how it feels, and i wouldnt reccommend cutting the bumpstops... they were that length for a reason to prevent the shock from hurting itself.

 

Lots of times the install manuals even tell you to cut bumpstops.

Cutting them is OK.

 

See if you can use a 20mm hardish bump stop.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Alex Trebek &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lots of times the install manuals even tell you to cut bumpstops.

Cutting them is OK. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ha! Mines did not come with a install manual...My car is pretty low but not slammed...I'd snap some pics but I dont have my digi cam at the moment. The fronts don't bounce as much as the back so Im gunna raise the back up a little bit and see if the ride quality is a little better. If not then I'm gonna stick to this setup for awhile till I can get some money for some FF2 coilovers. Yes, I shouldve gotten those in the first place

Edit: Went to Raise the back and it rides alot better...I didnt know I was that low cause I couldnt get the jack under the side of my car ...Sucks I cant get the ride height I want without sacrificing good ride quality. In conclusion I should have researched more about the right coilovers and instead of jumping the gun. I'm still going to get FF2 coilovers without a doubt.


Modified by BoOsTeD C1 at 1:40 PM 5/27/2007

 

Skunk 2 should have recommended right heights for their coilovers. I know Tein Flex C/O's say 12.4" F and 11.97" R (measuring from the center of the hub to the fender straight above). The OEM top hats may have some added motion and friction which is screwing up your damping control. Pay attention to the movements of the car. The stock tophats allow motion in more directions than the Skunk 2 top hats so not all suspension motions are directed through the damper/spring. The harshness could just be bottoming out, but part of that problem is that the shock is damping out a certain motions and some are going uncontrolled. All I can think of to describe this is imprecise. Other than ride quality, you should notice a more precise feeling in your friend's DA (assuming your suspension mods are equal)
edited for spelling