I just put some 16" konig zero's on my del sol (red)...they look sick! anyways I need to lower it, but I think I also need shocks (the ride is really rough even before rims) what do I get? my friend said coil overs but I don't know if that means shocks(I know it's springs) does this come together? any suggestions on what to buy?

 

use the search

 

Well for starters do you want to be able to adjust your ride height? If so get coilovers. If not get springs.

Most people as would I will recommend Ground Controls.

Now you wont be using shocks you will be using struts. Struts need to be purchased separately UNLESS you buy a full REAL coilover which comes with the coilover and strut all as one piece. The problem with this is that if a strut blows, you need to replace the whole unit not just the strut. Keep in mind the ride quality will be better, but for a daily driven car you will be fine with sleeves.

Struts come in non adjustable and adjustable, this will allow you to adjust the ride quality of your drop. If your looking to do coilovers I would suggest ground controls with either konis or tokico illuminas but expect to pay about 700 bux for the setup (new) hope this helps

 

yeah but do I search shocks or coil overs, I'm not 100% on if they go hand in hand...I am new to all this ****.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikeycivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well for starters do you want to be able to adjust your ride height? If so get coilovers. If not get springs.

Most people as would I will recommend Ground Controls.

Now you wont be using shocks you will be using struts. Struts need to be purchased separately UNLESS you buy a full REAL coilover which comes with the coilover and strut all as one piece. The problem with this is that if a strut blows, you need to replace the whole unit not just the strut. Keep in mind the ride quality will be better, but for a daily driven car you will be fine with sleeves.

Struts come in non adjustable and adjustable, this will allow you to adjust the ride quality of your drop. If your looking to do coilovers I would suggest ground controls with either konis or tokico illuminas but expect to pay about 700 bux for the setup (new) hope this helps </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

I just want to lower the car like 2 inches and not hurt my back everytime I hit a bump...like I said even before the rims the littlest bup was felt very hard

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikeycivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well for starters do you want to be able to adjust your ride height? If so get coilovers. If not get springs.

Most people as would I will recommend Ground Controls.

Now you wont be using shocks you will be using struts. Struts need to be purchased separately UNLESS you buy a full REAL coilover which comes with the coilover and strut all as one piece. The problem with this is that if a strut blows, you need to replace the whole unit not just the strut. Keep in mind the ride quality will be better, but for a daily driven car you will be fine with sleeves.

Struts come in non adjustable and adjustable, this will allow you to adjust the ride quality of your drop. If your looking to do coilovers I would suggest ground controls with either konis or tokico illuminas but expect to pay about 700 bux for the setup (new) hope this helps </TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikeycivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well for starters do you want to be able to adjust your ride height? If so get coilovers. If not get springs.

Most people as would I will recommend Ground Controls.

Now you wont be using shocks you will be using struts. Struts need to be purchased separately UNLESS you buy a full REAL coilover which comes with the coilover and strut all as one piece. The problem with this is that if a strut blows, you need to replace the whole unit not just the strut. Keep in mind the ride quality will be better, but for a daily driven car you will be fine with sleeves.

Struts come in non adjustable and adjustable, this will allow you to adjust the ride quality of your drop. If your looking to do coilovers I would suggest ground controls with either konis or tokico illuminas but expect to pay about 700 bux for the setup (new) hope this helps </TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikeycivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well for starters do you want to be able to adjust your ride height? If so get coilovers. If not get springs.

Most people as would I will recommend Ground Controls.

Now you wont be using shocks you will be using struts. Struts need to be purchased separately UNLESS you buy a full REAL coilover which comes with the coilover and strut all as one piece. The problem with this is that if a strut blows, you need to replace the whole unit not just the strut. Keep in mind the ride quality will be better, but for a daily driven car you will be fine with sleeves.

Struts come in non adjustable and adjustable, this will allow you to adjust the ride quality of your drop. If your looking to do coilovers I would suggest ground controls with either konis or tokico illuminas but expect to pay about 700 bux for the setup (new) hope this helps </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

so struts replace shocks? I think I got it... so I need struts and coil over? I think I would wanna be able to adjust the height so I can rasie the car when I put snow tires on in the winter

 

no struts replace struts, you dont have shocks. If you want to adjust it and have adjustability of your ride quality then get ground control coilovers with an adjustable strut like koni or tokico illumina,

 

OK I think I got it...thanks. sounds expensive though, but I'll gonna do it anyways. I t beats having a car payment and the car looks like a monster truck with the rims on it so it def. needs to be lowered.

 

its gonna be about 700 bux, but if you shop around you can get used stuff in good condition for less. Check the the for sale forum and the sponsor forum for good prices and good luck

 

my friend had said it'd be 100 buck to lower (labors free) but I dont think he knows his stuff...

 

Let's get some terms down really quick.

Technically his car DOES have shocks.

When you look them up at Honda, on the Honda parts catalog they are called shocks:



# 4/5 is the actual shock itself. The shock is basically what keeps the car from bouncing on the spring. I'm keeping this in really simple terms, so for any really techy guys out there bare with my simple break-downs albeit them not being perfectly technically "correct."

The spring in the pic is obviously #1. The spring is what determines the ride height. The stifness of the spring combined with the stiffness of the shock absorber is what determines if the car will be bouncy or not.

When you see lowered Civics bounce around it's because the shocks are too weak/soft to control the movement of the spring. The bouncing is literally like dropping a spring and watching it bounce off the ground.

Ideally what you want is to pair up new shocks with springs that match each other well. This is the "holy grail" of suspension tuning, and everyone has a different opinion on what works.

IMO based from installing a lot of different shock/spring combos there are some that stick out.

If you want ride height adjustability then get coil-over sleeves that slide over the shock. These have adjustable perches for the spring to sit on. Like others suggest I too say Ground Control are THE best overall choice.

Pairing Ground Controls with stock shocks or even shitty Monroe shocks will still give you a crappy ride because the shocks will be too weak to control the bounce of the springs.

I suggest KYB AGX adjustable shocks if you're on a budget, or Koni Yellows if you are not on a budget. Again others may disagree and recommend other brands, but IMO these two have been excellent over the years for me both personally and on customers' cars of mine.

If you want a really smooth ride try getting some soft lowering springs (non adjustable height) like Tein S-Tech or Eibach Pro kits and pair them with good old non-adjuatble shocks such as KYB GR-2 or Koni Reds.

If you are a baller then buy full threaded body coil-overs. These combine a shock body and matched adjustable ride height spring where the perches adjust on the shock bodies themselves rather than having a sleeve that slides over them.

Here's a nice pic of full threaded body coil-overs (these happen to be Eibach Pro Streets on my daily driver Civic wagon)



Eibachs like that run about $1,100.00, but offer a low ride height with an awesome, never bouncy ride quality. There are a lot of other full coil-overs to choose from for cheaper such as F2 (Form and Function) Skunk2, Omni Power, etc. etc. They all range in the $700.00ish range and are definately stiffer, but usually offer some limited stiffness adjustability so you can turn them to stiff when wanting to ride like a race car, and then softer so your date doesn't ask you why your car rides like a school bus when it hits bumps.

Really before we can give you much more help we need to know your budget - that will first and foremost limit us to what we can suggest for you.

 

BTW click HERE to see the Honda names and whatnot for this exploded diagram - they clearly call the dampeners "shock absorber."

"Struts" are found on the newer Honda/Acura vehicles such as the EP Civics, RSX, etc. IMO I don't like the Mac style struts on those cars as much as I do the old school double wishbone design we have on 2000-older Civics.

 

A strut and a shock do the same thing, but the strut has mounts for a spring around it, and a shock is only bolted to the frame and lower control arm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikeycivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A strut and a shock do the same thing, but the strut has mounts for a spring around it, and a shock is only bolted to the frame and lower control arm </TD></TR></TABLE>

If you want to argue the point then try contacting Honda and tell them that they list their shocks wrong on every parts catalog then.

I'm just telling you what Honda themselves calls their own suspension components. Evidently the parts pictured are shocks unless Honda is full of dumbasses.

You did click the link, right? I'm not trying to be a jerk by any means, but I like to go by Honda terminology since we're talking Hondas. No hard feelings, okay?

 

Well maybe thats what they CALL them but other sources will disagree. Im not here to argue but that was right from a ASE tech book. Can someone clarify this?????

As far as the internal workings of shocks and struts, there is very little difference. The main difference is that a shock only acts as a damper and is usually mounted between the lower control arm and the body. A strut not only acts as a shock, but it also becomes part of the suspension system.In most cases the front springs are also incorporated, making one complete unit.

This is stuff that I have found and Im not saying your right or wrong, but you and I both know that almost EVERYONE on HT calls them struts.

 

My ideal budget would be 300-500 bucks max...if I have to pay more I will but I really don't want to as I am also trying to get this baby painted(the paint is faded) I want to make it a head turner and the my tires were dry rotted so the rims and tires were the obvious first choice(and a bargain)...the car looked instantly better but right off the rip you can see it needs to be lowered there is a huge gap between the rims and fenders it looks like I raised the car.

So this or the paint job will be my next step, then the carbon fiber top, then I'll change the headlights, by then it should be a beautiful little machine, and after all of that I will swap the motor out (maybe for next spring) when I bought this car I wasn't sure if I would keep it but I see so much potential, I have decided not to buy a new car and invest a few bucks in the del sol since I don't really ever plan on getting rid of it, after it is all the way hooked up I will probably lease a daily driver and keep the sol for a summer ride.

I will eventually post pics of before and after.

 

$300.00-$500.00 is actually a pretty big range.

Is it $300.00, or $500.00?

Either way I think you'll end up with some cheap coil-over sleeves and either be on stock shocks or possibly cheap shocks.

If that's the case then do what many people do for their first suspension set-up, and just buy coil-over sleeves and toss them on your stock shocks. It will likely ride like **** until you can afford to get new, better shocks.

Spend the $300.00 or so on good Ground Control coil-overs and run them bouncy on stock socks until you buy new shocks.

I'm not kidding or being an *******. You might as well at least go ahead and get the good coil-over sleeve set, and then later just add the good shocks to the mix so it will ride well and handle well.

Good luck man.

 

I guess 500 bucks WAS my max but that actually sounds like a good idea. I might just piece it together like that, the car already rides like **** anyways so I gues I won't be missing much...and the ride will be that much better later.

Thank you Honda Wizards

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mikeycivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well maybe thats what they CALL them but other sources will disagree. Im not here to argue but that was right from a ASE tech book. Can someone clarify this?????

As far as the internal workings of shocks and struts, there is very little difference. The main difference is that a shock only acts as a damper and is usually mounted between the lower control arm and the body. A strut not only acts as a shock, but it also becomes part of the suspension system.In most cases the front springs are also incorporated, making one complete unit.

This is stuff that I have found and Im not saying your right or wrong, but you and I both know that almost EVERYONE on HT calls them struts. </TD></TR></TABLE>

92-95 Civics and Del Sol's have both struts and shocks. Struts are in the front and shocks are in the back. There is a difference between them, but OP you have both struts and shocks on your car. MikeyCivic please know your info before you post especially if you are going to sound like an ******* to the OP and others. Thank you.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spivt11 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

92-95 Civics and Del Sol's have both struts and shocks. Struts are in the front and shocks are in the back. There is a difference between them, but OP you have both struts and shocks on your car. MikeyCivic please know your info before you post especially if you are going to sound like an ******* to the OP and others. Thank you.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wasnt being an ******* to the OP. I was the only one trying to help him. I was partially right anyway. Aside from what I said, there seems to be confusion anyway as to what a shock is and what a strut is and which one goes on what car. Have a great day.

 

I still point to Honda themselves and merely ask that you see what they call their own parts. They call them "shock absorber" and not "strut." Having said that the 92-95 Civic/Del Sol does not employ both shocks and struts, but simply "shock absorbers" or "shocks" as Honda themselves calls them. Like I said earlier if you disagree then I can't see how when I even linked Honda's own catalog to look the shocks up.

ANYWAYS...

Shock, strut, dampener - at this point call them whatever you want to. We're all trying to help the OP decide what he needs to replace.

Chances are if he goes to puchase the parts if he says "shocks" or "struts" the person on the other side of the counter will know what he is looking for.

We're on the same team here. Besides I don't think mikeycivic was particularly being an "*******" by any means.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18C5-EH2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I still point to Honda themselves and merely ask that you see what they call their own parts. They call them "shock absorber" and not "strut." Having said that the 92-95 Civic/Del Sol does not employ both shocks and struts, but simply "shock absorbers" or "shocks" as Honda themselves calls them. Like I said earlier if you disagree then I can't see how when I even linked Honda's own catalog to look the shocks up.

ANYWAYS...

Shock, strut, dampener - at this point call them whatever you want to. We're all trying to help the OP decide what he needs to replace.

Chances are if he goes to puchase the parts if he says "shocks" or "struts" the person on the other side of the counter will know what he is looking for.

We're on the same team here. Besides I don't think mikeycivic was particularly being an "*******" by any means.</TD></TR></TABLE>

x2 problem solved now lets all have a