Before I start this post, please consider the fact that I am in now way an expert in anything automotive ( or anything at all for that matter ). I designed this setup with a lot of research from multiple online forums, as well as a lot of questions and considerations. Basically, this these are some general concepts as I understood them:

1. stiffening-up the rear suspension components reduces understeer and/or increase oversteer
2. Koni dampers are awesome
3. the Koni/Ground Control setup is generally a well-accepted combination
4. dampers should be selected on the basis of what spring rate you are riding on

That's what I have learned. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Secondly, I know that it is pretty much impossible for you guys to help me out without telling you what my goals are for this suspension setup, so here they are. The things that I want to accomplish with this setup are as follows:

1. I want to reduce understeer ( I have pushed my car to the limits and I really
would like it to oversteer a little more )
2. I want the car to handle extremely well, and I want exceptional cornering ability
3. I don't mind a stiff ride, but I don't want anything completely outrageous. A
little bumpiness is okay, but I want to be able to go over bumps without fear
that my wheels are going to be bent or that I am going to blow-out my tires.

With my goals and the above-mentioned concepts understood, I basically came to this conclusion:

1. springs with progressive rates are great for comfort on the street, but may not
provide the handling that I am looking for
2. a full coilover setup doesn't necessarily provide better handling than a
spring/strut combo, but it just makes adjustment easier and takes-away the
headache of matching a damper and a spring

Now with all of that said, here are the three different setups thatI am considering:


1. Tanabe Sustec rear anti-sway bar with Tanabe Sustec S-S adjustable coilover
suspension ( I'm assuming that these products were engineered to compliment
each other )... I really really like this setup unless you guys tell me otherwise

2. Progress Competition rear anti-sway bar with Koni dampers and Ground
Control coilovers... it seems that this setup may possibly provide the best
handling for the car ( based on what I have read )

3. a predesigned kit such as the Eibach Pro System
... this kit has progressive spring rates, so it would be poretty comfortable. However, it may not provide the handling improvement that I am expecting.

Please chime in if you aren't an idiot.

 

If you're looking for something with a high level of performance, I don't think any of the current Tein, Tanabe, or other JDM offerings will give you what you want. Not because those companies don't offer high performance suspension pieces, but because they don't offer them for the Prelude.

IMHO, your best bet is to find a set of used (yes used) Koni Sport shocks and send them to Koni to be revalved. You can have them shortened, but since you're not looking for all out performance, this isn't 100% necessary. I'd have them revalved just a tad softer than SPSS3 specs if you still want the car to ride well on the street.

With the Konis, I'd suggest a Ground Control kit, but I'd have some custom upper spring isolators made out of aluminum instead of the ones sent with the GC kit.

You can't go wrong with the Progress rear sway bar and a stock front bar on a street car. If you want something better, you'll have to go custom, like the 3 piece sway bar I use on my car (which might be for sale soon ).

If you really want to take your car to another level, having it corner balanced will do wonders, however the ride height will NOT be even on all 4 corners.

When you have the Konis rebuilt, you can have them add droop stops on the shocks internally so you can limit the amount of droop so the springs won't lose contact with the upper and lower perches.

As for my setup, I'm using custom Koni race shocks (not the yellow Koni Sports), Hypercoil springs (750 lb/in front and 950 lb/in rear), stock front sway, custom rear sway, adjustable end links, and spherical bearings throughout.

 

Thanks for the advice. Keep in mind that this car is still a daily driver, so the corner-balancing thing is kind of out the window ( it would look a little awkward with differentride heights on all four corners ).

The reason that I decided to go with the Progress bar is because it is adjustable, so, the way I see it, I can match it to work well with whatever suspension system I go with. If you sel that custom rear bar, let me know... I might be interested. And I agree with you on the front sway bar ( leaving it stock ). I think that going with a beefier front bar would kind of conflict with my goal to reduce understeer.

The thing that I'm still a bit confused with is deciding which spring rates to go with. By the way, did you ever get your brake kit situation settles, or do you still need to see those wheels?

 

The ride height differences aren't great (probably 1/4" or less), so it's not really noticeable.

You can do more than change sway bars to adjust the over/understeer bias. I also use rear biased spring rates to help reduce some understeer.

For a street car, 450f/450r works well with OTS Konis. With revalved Konis, you could try 550f/550r and see how that feels.

 

I used the search function bump