I am an "oldhead" minitrucker familiar with spindles, lowered shocks, torsion bars, etc... I have a couple of Hondas now and recently decided to "clean" up my '94 accord. I decied to start with the suspension. The car, when I got it, had totally beat lowered springs on stock struts - it road like brick coated with cement. After some coil-over research and financial analysis I ended buyting K-Sport coilovers with dampening adjustments. I have had the coilovers on the car for 4-5 months and have noticed that my ride has not improved - it still feels like I'm hammering all the holes in the road with a jackhammer.
After some investigation, I noticed that the suspension gear (control arms, steering knuckles, etc...) look as though there is no "spring" in the suspension - I'm suffering from some serious lag (for some reason or another). I can't think that my new coilovers are shot but I can't figure out why I've got no ride. Am I mistaken to think that you can just slap some coilovers on a car and maintain some type of ride?
I should clarify that I do not have a great deal of extra time on my hands, therefore, I had my buddy a mechanic install the coilovers. Are there particular mistake I should look for in his installation? The uppercontrol arms are riding up in the upper fender well and I know this can't be right. Are there other components that I should have purchased?
I need a knowledgable soul to lead me through my bumpy times... PLEASE, any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
BigC724

 

how high did you set the spring rate on the k sports? i have k-sports on my car and they are pretty stiff. they are stiffer than most coilover setups. i know for a fact that they are stiffer then tiens (tiens are too soft for me). but yeah, check your spring rate setting and get back to us.

plus how lowered is the car? if it's too low, that might be the reason your riding hard and your control arm is way too high. an if your car been through alot of miles, maybe the bushings are shot too.

 

I'm not sure about the spring rate. My buddy put the things on for me so I don't know. That's something I'll check. I'm guessing that's adjustable by the positioning of the bottom spring seat(?). The dampening is set at average.
The car isn't really slammed or anything. It's lowered modestly... maybe about an inch or so. There's about 94,000 mls on the car. I'll have to check the bushings but I don't see how that would affect any up and down travel but thanks for mentioning it - as said, I'm not used to any of this stuff, it's all new to me.

 

oh okie haha, well yeah, haha. my car sometimes seems very rough most of the time, let the car ride alittle longer, the first few hundred miles seemed a little rough to me but now it's pretty decent ride.

 

I'm guessing I should have bit the bullet and put the coilovers on myself... at least I'd have a working knowledge of them then. I suppose I'll be out there pulling things apart now... guess I'll learn the hard way.

 

dont pull things out yet ha, have some one else look at it the way it is, go to a shop or something. see what others say first

 

10-4, thanks for your insight. I'm sure I could figure things out it's just agravating the p*ss out of me at the moment. I'm getting imatient. Coilover don't seem to complicated.

 

I am obviously having problems typing, as well, now. Thanks again.

 

oh hey, i just looked at my car and my upper control arms are by the upper fender too, so i guess thats the way it is.

 

I appreciate you looking! I'm going to slightly adjust my springs and see if it helps a little. I've got no ride, what so ever, at the moment.

 

Couple of things to check :

Tire pressure (actually plays a bit into it)

Spring Rates (HUGE affect on it)

Camber kit (can cause the UCA to hit the upper fender well)

etc

 

10-4 MuffinMan, I plan on pulling the wheels and checking/adjusting the spring rate. I think I will start there first. Tire Pressure? Never would have thought, but I try to keep that in adjustment all of the time. I'm not running with camber kits at the moment (I didn't totally slam the car, just lowered a little).

Thanks for your input, very helpful.

 

Yep, I usually have mine stiffer than the recommended like 32 psi because I track it, so the soft sidewalls are lame .

Double check and make sure all 4 corners are good on pressure