...And what a difference that stuff made on my car!

First of all I wanted to thank Wheel Source of Marietta, Georgia and especially the manager Doug Greenup for all of the help.

My old Koni coil-overs were blown to hell, so I opted to buy new OTS Konis and I also neede new springs, so I went with 425FR and 550RR Eibach ERS springs for the hell of it.

Threw in some 205-50-15 Azenis that the shop I work at had in stock and the car has been transformed.

First of all, what did I do differently?

After installing the springs I had to set the ride height. Before the height was like barely tucking my 195-50-15 tires and it rode like **** on the blown to hell Konis with soft/cut Koni red springs.

I set the car up a little higher (about a good finger gap between top of tire and fender well) and although it might not *look* as good/sporty, the extra travel has already come in handy after one night of trouncing some local twisty roads.

My impressions?

Such a drastic change all at once, but I'm pretty sure I can tell what each new part is doing.

Tires: VERY grippy. Hard to get the things to squeal, and I have the feeling that even *if* I get them to squeal I might be in trouble soon afterwards anyways. I love the tires. A tad noisy, but who cares, right?

Springs: 425FR and 550RR are making the car nice and tight. I expected to need a kidney belt to cruise around town but after riding in the car for a while I think it's really nice. Noit take your grandma for a ride nice, but still civil.

The car seems to rotate a tad more than before (okay, a good deal more) and I don't bottom out even when hitting a really harsh bump.



Struts?

Excellent. What more can I say? Ride great and seem to control the harsh-*** spring rates I am throwing at them. NO bounciness at all.

Of course after only one day of driving on them I can't get a good grasp on it all yet, but after some hard running on some twisty backraods here in my area I can tell that there will be MUCH higher limits than I've ever had on my other Civics.

I'm completely STOKED.

I'll see for sure how good it all works together come Sunday - Solo II here in the Atlanta region!




[Modified by B18C5-EH2, 1:27 AM 6/29/2002]

 

More feedback on the suspension would be excellent. I am wondering about the spring rates and how you feel the car is handling on the street vs. competition. Good to see things are back in order for you,those pics of the bumber incident were brutal so soon after you got everything together finally.

 

Be careful, the Azenis DON'T squeal. I was running them at Summit Point last weekend and could not get them to make a peep. My instructor was suprised that a "street" tire was so quiet at their limit. So just to let you know, they will let give very little warning. So feel out the tires before you go crazy on them.

Congrats on the new setup, that is what I'm running except for different spring rates.


[Modified by 6ghatch, 7:06 AM 6/29/2002]

 

Sorry that I'm not really detailed about the set-up yet, but I only drove on it for a few hours last night on some twisty roads.

I'm sure I'll know more about the stuff once I auto-X it tomorrow.



I'll update you guys and post pics on this thread as well. I wanted to take pics of the install in progress, but my pal's diggy camera wasn't available.

 

Hhmm.....my friend tracked his car about a month ago with Azenis and he said his tires were squeeling all over the place on the tight curves.


B18C5, sounds like you have quite a ride there now. I have Koni Yellows as well, and while I don't have any experience with any other shocks out there, thusfar I have been quite impressed with the Koni's.

What part of Georgia are you from?

 

Just south of Atlanta in Jonesboro.

You coming out to the Auto-X on Sunday? I know Atlanta's quite a drive from Statesboro though. Isn't that near GA Southern?

I'm going driving today just to get all the packing greasy crap off of the tires before tomorrow's event.

 

Nah, I might come up there sometime though. How much is it to auto-X your car? Any special requirements?

Georiga Southern IS in Statesboro. That is where I go to college. It is about 3 1/2-4hrs to my home in Duluth.




[Modified by 96 SOHC VTEC, 6:17 PM 6/29/2002]

 

I was REAL suprised how well my Azenis performed Autoxing only 20(!) miles after I put them on. Not slippery at all and was amazed at the overall grip of the tire. I got no noise out of them on the tight, relativly slow course. However, I ran at an Autox the next week on the back stretch @ Sebring and got them to scream a little once I got some speed up.

BTW im running the Azenis, yellows, and GC's! Nice setup

 

I just ordered my GC's yesterday, 350f/400r. A little more civil than yours. How much did you pay for your konis? Im buying the yellows but i havent found a good price yet.

Either way congrats on the set-up!

Mike D

 

The funny thing about the spring rate is that it doesn't seem nearly as bad as everyone was making it out to be.

Perhaps I'm desensitized to a rougher ride because of my prior set-up being blown to hell, but I also drive my fiancee's hatch with like 280FR 250 RR and it honestly doesn't seem much harsher than hers does.

Maybe I haven't hit enough bumps yet, or perhaps a freeway ride will change my view on it, but thus far around town I'm loving 425FR 550RR with the Konis all the way firm (but backed off 1/4 turn as to avoid damaging the adjuster) and I can't wait to drive the **** out of the car tomorrow.

 

i have skunk2 coils 500r, 400f and tokico illuminas and the ride is harsh very harsh but i am running the azenis as well and love it
good luck sunday let us know how it goes
thanks
chris

 

So does anyone know what spring rate the KONI yellow can handle up to?
I thought it was 500lbs max.
Thanks

 

600lbs is approaching the limit. i'm surprised by how hard you guys are working to get your cars to rotate. i have my stiffer springs on the front and with a stock front bar and 22mm rear bar i don't have any problems with her pushing. i've been forced to increase rear toe just to tame my car in the slaloms and such!

the azenis will make noise, you just have to push them harder to do it. i keep being surprised by how much grip the tires have. i took a 20 pace slalom yesterday flat out for the hell of it and didn't have a problem till i unexpectedly hit the rev limiter half way out and spun. 60 ft slalom, 60 mph. ha ha! i wish i had some in-car footage of that!

 

hey solo-x, im from mass also. where do you auto-x. Ive heard Devens get real crowded and have seen some other spots in framingham but never gone.

Mike D

 

i'm at devens almost every single weekend. it does get crowded but its the best site around right now. occasionally i travel all the way up to NHIS, but not very often.

 

He needs to slow down. He's scrubbing speed and wasting tire like that.

RJ

 

not true. the azenis will make noise if you push them hard enough. the will make more noise at a different pitch if you push too hard. they make nearly no noise at all if you spin into the dirt. don't ask me how i know that last one.

 

i also gotta say that they do squeel. well, how can one say a tire doesnt squeel? and they do get greasy after 20-25 mins of track driving.

what are "OTS" koni? and what were the previous konis? were they not rebuildable? just curious.


[Modified by Tyson, 5:33 PM 7/1/2002]

 

"off the shelf"...

And yes, anyone who heard me sliding through turn 7 this past weekend knows an Azenis will most definitely squeal....

 

Yep. OTS = Off the Shelf meaning nothing more than the normal Koni Yellows.

My old ones were OTS Koins as well, and custom re-valving, shortening, and of course rebuilding was going to be an option, BUT:

It was $200 per shock
The wait was 6 weeks!

That was enough to spend the $500 and get brand new ones. I will have the old ones re-valved to handle stiffer spring rates like, say, 700-800 or so just in case I ever gets nutsy.



Then I'll either put my new ones in my fiancee's 1992 Si hatch or simply sell them for a decent price to recoup SOME money.