what is the best suspension setup that i could get for my lude? i want excellent handling but i would also like to have a nice smooth ride

 

koni adjustables and h&r springs

 

lol...forgot to mention...its a 3rd generation prelude

 

Be prepared for disappointment. You can't have both. To improve your handling you increase your roll stiffness, which means those bumps your car absorbs now, won't be.
I suggest you get bigger sway bars. They increase roll stiffness without changing ride quality. That's better than stock, but far from 'excellent handling'

 

alight...i figured that i couldnt have both...what would give me the best of 'both worlds"?

 

The single most important thing you can put on your car is better tires. Aside from helping your handling, they also help your stopping/slowing distances. They're the only thing that connects you to the road.

Sway bars/anti-roll bars are very useful for for stiffening without ruining your ride. What year prelude do you have? You'll need to know what the stock sizes are so you know what to upgrade to. If you get the sway bars (start with the rear and see how you like it, you probably won't need a new front one) and you aren't happy, then you'll need to get stiffer springs. Be aware, stiffer springs will affect your ride, so if you want to stay close to stock, don't get very stiff springs.

Upgraded shocks can help with turn-in characteristics, and will very moderately affect ride quality, so would be a good thing to consider.
So
1) Tires. For a daily driver that doesn't see snow, I recommend Sumitomo HTRZII's, Bridgestone RE 730s, or Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 (these aren't that great in the rain). There's a new Bridgestone Turanza that uses Uni-taq rubber, so they might be good too.
2) Bigger rear sway bar. Size depends on what you have.
3) Shocks.

Don't get everything at once, buy tires, get a feel for them, then sway bar get a feel, etc.


[Modified by Steppin Razor, 8:59 PM 6/14/2002]

 

sweet sweet...thanks for the advice peope
BTW: i have a 91 prelude Si

 

ground clontrol coilovers with a set of good shocks would do just that.
i had ground control's with tokico illuminas on my 89 Si a few years ago, and i liked it. not bouncy, not too stiff, comfy and handles good.

 

get a tokico set-up. get the hp tokico struts and the springs to go with it. they give you a good smooth ride with awesome handling.

 

thanks for the advice!

 

What do you guys think about Mcpherson struts and Ground Control suspension?

 

McPherson struts are a kind of front suspension design, you have double a-arms. You need shocks. I'd stay away from adjustable coilovers like the GC's unless you're cornerweighting the car.

 

flame me if you wish...what do you mean by cornerweighting?

 

cornerweighting should mean balancing the car. add weight to the corners and take some away to even them out. you will need struts (not shocks) for your car. do not get the coil-overs unless you can miraculously find adjustable suspension for your prelude. koni has discontinued making the adjustable for the 3rd gen, so they are out. kyb never made them. tokico doesn't make them. i would just go with lowering springs and a good set of struts. that will be your best bet.

 

No one would flame you for asking a question, how else would you find out? Cornerweighting is when you adjust the heights of the springs at each corner to balance the cross weights (Left front+rear right=right front+rear left). The reason is to make the car behave the same way in left or right turns.
You do not have struts, you have a double wishbone suspension. A strut is when the damper is used as a suspension member, replacing the upper control arm. The top mounts to the body with a bearing to allow it to move. A double wishbone has an upper control arm and thus is not a strut.
I agree with crxplus, just get a good set of lowering springs and shocks. You can actually make your handling worse if you get adjustable systems and don't corner weight.

 

how intense/hard would it be to cornerweight my car? costs?
thanks for the advice

 

Cornerweighting can be a real pain in the butt. You have to get the car weighed at each corner (with the driver sitting in the car), then adjust the coilover's height for each wheel. I don't know what the costs would be, I don't know anyone in my area who does it. I figure around 150 or so.