My car: 2000 Acura Integra GSR 2dr. Daily Driver and AutoX.

I have omni power full body coilovers street version. 10k/8k spring rates. non-adjustable.

I just bought Koni Yellows and was wondering what is a better setup?

Koni Yellows w/Ground Control Coilovers and Ground Control Top hats on the front or the omni suspension?

and what kind of spring rates if you think the ground control/koni setup.


Modified by 92integraVTECgsr at 8:47 PM 3/25/2008

 

It depends on what you are going to do with the car. DD, Road racing, autox?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tarmac Junkie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It depends on what you are going to do with the car. DD, Road racing, autox?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nonsense. The Konis are far superior to those Omni Power coilovers in every sense. Go with the Konis.

 

It's my daily Driver and autox.

It's a 2000 Acura Integra GSR 2dr.

 

I've had both. I think I only kept omnipower for 2 weeks before getting rid of them.

 

Koni no question. Think about it this way. Which one truly is a suspension company? Which one puts their money and focus into research for suspension to give you a better product?

Spring rates are personal preferance, no amount of research is going to substitute experience so start with something basic and go from there. Maybe a 500/400lb setup?

 

ok, so if I stick with the Koni's, would using Eibach Prokit Springs be ok?

 

ditch the omni's. go with the koni's. you will thank yourself later

 

Yes although they're on the softer side.

And just fyi, koni yellow sport handle up to 500lb springs. You could use 600lb springs but the life of the strut decreases and you'll have to get it rebuilt sooner.

 

Ya its just been a hard debate, but i know the koni's will be better.

So I Will be ok using Eibach Prokit/Koni Yellow setup if I don't go with the Ground Controls? (just depends on price of the ground control)

 

Yes, koni comes with all the proper hardware to use the prokit instead of the GCs. Koni/GC is just a popular combo.

 

fwiw i ran my koni gc setup with 650 fr 600 rr rates on a 96 RS to great effect.
a little underdampened i guess, but its KONi for god sakes

 

So lets continue with the unanimous trend.
Koni GC but why tophats????
why not get the race shortened?? then theres no need for the tophats really....
I know it's a dd but what the heck.. its only $$$$$$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dirty19 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So lets continue with the unanimous trend.
Koni GC but why tophats????
why not get the race shortened?? then theres no need for the tophats really....
I know it's a dd but what the heck.. its only $$$$$$</TD></TR></TABLE>

The extended top hats are used to allow more shock travel with the stock length dampers without having to resort to a shortened body. Do not run the top hats if you already have shortened bodies. I have the Konis with GC top hats, GC coilovers, and Eibach ERS springs on my 1994 Integra RS (HPDE to race car tech. build article). I think this system works very well for its intended purpose - which is a daily driver (firm of course) and race driver in training rig (HPDE levels 1 to 3). For the dedicated race car setup, I will upgrade the suspension (TBA) to fit much higher spring rates. BTW, I will be using a couple of different anti-roll bars on this car from the 22mm ITR bar to ASR-Progress 24mm bar to tune the chassis.

 

if you're serious about performance and want an upgrade; not only a lowered stannce; you'll stay away from any taiwanese crap.

 

Not sure about Omni's warranty - but this is what got me -

Koni - Lifetime Warranty - Proven History
Eibach - Lifetime Warranty - Proven History
Ground Control - Uses Eibach Springs and offers lifetime warranty as well

 

I would use the Skunk2 coilover kit. I prefer it to the GC kit because I hate the pinch bolt/collar thing that GC uses. It's nothing but a marketing device. I mean, you don't see Moton or Penske using those things right?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by glagola1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would use the Skunk2 coilover kit. I prefer it to the GC kit because I hate the pinch bolt/collar thing that GC uses. It's nothing but a marketing device. I mean, you don't see Moton or Penske using those things right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

should that really be the litmus test of whats "better"? innovation over "marketing device" perhaps?

its fine for you to prefer one over the other. i definately prefer the pinch bolt. much easier, dont need a spanner wrench either.

the quality of the GC over skunk2 sleeves and the provided springs make a clear choice of what id rather spend my money.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by glagola1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would use the Skunk2 coilover kit. I prefer it to the GC kit because I hate the pinch bolt/collar thing that GC uses. It's nothing but a marketing device. I mean, you don't see Moton or Penske using those things right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wouldn't say the GC kit is a marketing device per se. After all, there are a couple of ways that can used to fix the position of the spring perch once you figure out where you want to set each corner's ride height. For one, you can use two locking spanner nuts. This works okay, but it certainly isn't the only way. Secondly, you can use a pinch bolt. I think this works great as well with the benefits being you don't have to carry around two spanner wrenches that could get lost. You only need an allen wrench - which you probably already have in your toolbox. On the other hand, you can leave the allen bolt backed off if you like. My Koni 3011's have the Koni coilover kit, which is similar to GC's only without a pinch bolt. Even with this system I haven't noticed any change in ride height even though the perch can rotate freely. This is because once there is spring pressure on the perch, the friction between the sleeve threads and the perch threads resist loosening.

That is, I don't think GC put in the pinch bolt strictly to sell more product based on some marketing ploy. It is based on sound engineering principles - which to provide a mechanical friction locking of relative movement between perch and sleeve.

 

the GC's run a "square thread" I think the Koni sleeves on the 3011's are the same thread type. With this thread style the perch WILL NOT move up or down due to weight from a spring.


I ran GCs on all of my cars and never tightened the pinch bolt. Never had anything move. The allen on my 3011s is snug but not tight and it has also never moved.

 

my new advance designs have pinch bolts, as did my old konis.
i cant imagine having it any other way really. those silly spanners seem like a waste of time to me.

 

Pinch bolts are useless when:
the sleeve spins on the shock body
the collar doesnt want to turn and you dont have spanners to turn them, nor do you wanna beat up your $$$$$ shocks with a screw driver and mallet
u have a good ammount of tension on the spring

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Lo-Buck EF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pinch bolts are useless when:
the sleeve spins on the shock body
the collar doesnt want to turn and you dont have spanners to turn them, nor do you wanna beat up your $$$$$ shocks with a screw driver and mallet
u have a good ammount of tension on the spring</TD></TR></TABLE>

how does having a lock nut help in these situations?

 

oh and btw, skunk2 doesnt offer a koni specific sleeve option (this is a koni/gc topic). GC does. maybe because they dont sell the same sleeves and springs to fit every application from civics to subarus, but instead custom spec each kit for the car, and shock.

 

I've had both the GC sleeves and the Skunk2 sleeves. I prefer the Skunk2. I had thread binding issues with the GC. I don't understand how a variable thread tolerance (pinch bolt and cut collar) is a good idea. The slot allows for dirt to get directly into the path of the threads. The threads have an "edge" because the collar is split. The edge can cut and bind against the threads of the sleeve.

I've had no problems with my Skunks. Neither did I have a problem with the supplied o-rings that would space the sleeve of the konis.

Dirt would make it's way down into the threads on my GCs. This would cause friction and bind and it was a BITCH trying to rotate the collar around the sleeve.... especially when there was no way to hold the sleeve in place.

Anyway, two collars for me please.