i have a 94 ls turbo and i dont know much about suspension but i do know that its probably time to get some of it taken care of. I have goldline lowering springs but that is it. My stock shocks are blown and the car rides like crap. So i guess my question is what all do i need for suspension and what does each product do. Minus shocks and springs i know what they do but like lower a arms and strut bars and stuff like that. Im not exatcly sure what that kind of stuff does so if you guys can help me out and give me a few ideas for suspension that would be great.

 

Lower cnotrol arms: If you have a car that didnt come with a rear sway bar stock, they give you a way to mount one. If your car did come with a bar stock, then they sit under the car and look blingy.

Strut bars: On macpherson strut equipped cars (not yours), where the strut is subject to multidirectional loads and not just linear, they provide a measure of stiffness by keeping the strut towers from flexing under load. But since your car is a double wishbone car, where the the strut towers arent subjected to horizontal loads, they sit and look blingy. Some people say they help front end feel, but i never found that true.

Tie bars: Mount between two points on the chassis, usually B or C pillars, or between the lca mounts on the rear subframe, and "prevent flex". The pillar bars add a hinged joint portion to a ladder frame and keep the walls of the unibody from flexing towards each other (in theory but that seems very far fetched that these unibodies are so poorly contructed that they have appriciable flex in that area under street driving.) The lower rear tie bar keeps the subframe from flexing by bolting a piece of metal directly over it. Mostly serves as bling.

Sway bars: Effectively function to add spring rate in cornering situations by having a torsion beam spring mounted to the chassis and having the center twisted by arms mounted perpendicular to the bar, attached to the lower control arms. When one wheel moves asymmetrically with the other, the bar twists to add spring rate, controlling body lean keeping the tires in a more capable camber range. They come in various thicknesses, the thicker bar the higher the rate, and are a very effective tol for tuning the handling balance of the car without being overly detrimental to ride quality.

Springs and shocks you should know by now.


As for what you need, get shocks first. Then decide what handling characteristics you want to change, if the car pushes or is twitchy, where in the corner it exhibits said behavior etc and go from there.

Hope that helps

 

Voyage pretty much got it. Most of my experience stems from owning a 2000 Civic.

Aftermarket lower control arms are also typically lighter than the factory pieces, correct me if I'm wrong, this also raises spring rate due to less unsprung mass (not sure by how much). They also typically provide stiffer poly bushings which helps get rid of slop in hard cornering situations. Bling is nice as well.

Depending on where they are placed, upgrading bushings also help maintain proper suspension geometry under hard cornering loads at the expense of some ride comfort.

In my experience strut bars were an effective piece at adding to the stiffness of the front end. I don't know if this is just a perceived benefit, but turn-in was noticibly sharpened by adding a front upper bar. I feel confident based on various reviews that 3-point front upper bar's, such as Carbing and Password JDM, effect would definitely be more pronounced. If you are just looking for a 2-point one I'd go with a solid one such as Neuspeed or Password JDM, even stock ITR/Si. The ones with threaded hinges do have a little slop which will take away some of the benefit of adding one.

I'm not sure how effective rear ones are, although I know that according to Comptech, the rear chassis of 94-01 Integras was pretty stiff that is the reason they didn't make one.

The same benefit was perceived even moreso than a front upper bar with a front lower H-brace. These are of different contruction than the standard 2-point front lower tie-brace. They connect 2 points of the front lower control arm with 2 points on the chassis. I can definitely recommend this piece.

I've read Goldline are a good suspension company, definitely invest in some shocks. A recommended replacement would be Tokico Illumina's.

Good luck with your build.

 

thanks guys thats a lot of help i will check out some shocks shortly along with camber because man mine is horrible. Also while i am asking questions a friend of mine use to own a integra and instead of buying a camber kit he went and paid someone 150 to bend a arm or something like that in order to fix his camber being off, is there a benefit in doing that or would it be better to buy a kit. To me it makes more scence to have a kit that i can adjust, what do you guys think.

 

ahh the old camber kit arguement. There's plenty of topics on that, but the general concensus is that get your toe aligned to 0 and you'll be fine. When I had an alignment done the 1st time around on my 1st setup they bent the part of the knuckle that connects to the upper ball joint to correct camber, so yes this is a technique that is used by alignment shops. Currently I have an SPC camber kit and I'm maxed out on negative camber with it being slightly less than 2 degrees, I want more. I got them with the interest of adjustable camber, beefier construction, and poly bushings.