I got an Integra with a Koni/GC setup and extended top hats in front. 500lb front springs and 450lb rear. The fronts are raised as high as possible considering the top hats do not let me raise the ride height to factory since it takes away from the spring's original upper seat. When I hit big enough bumps, which doesn't take much, the tires bottom out to the pinched frame under the fenders. It shreds my tires down the middle. And for those who are about to tell me don't lower my car so much, read again and I'll say it is as high as it will go.

 

Hammer that part flat. Set the dampening stiffer. Get lower profile tires

 

How long are your front springs? They should be at least 8". I had 380 lb/in 8" front GC springs on Konis, with 205/45-16 tires tucking just a hair, and it did not bottom out during normal driving like you're describing.

Changing the damping on the Koni shocks will not make any difference, as the Koni adjusts rebound only, not compression.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How long are your front springs? They should be at least 8". I had 380 lb/in 8" front GC springs on Konis, with 205/45-16 tires tucking just a hair, and it did not bottom out during normal driving like you're describing.

Changing the damping on the Koni shocks will not make any difference, as the Koni adjusts rebound only, not compression.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Spring length is irrelevant because the piston is at full stroke, but the seat is obviously lowered by about ~2 at the top. Whether I have an 8in or 6in spring, the lower spring seat is raised as high as possible. It does not reach the top of the sleeve because there is already as much preload as i can get because the piston is maxed out.

Tires are 215-45-16 (which are stock size on the JDM ITR 98) on +45 (which offset doesn't even matter)

 

I think the problem lies within your spring rates. You have about a 9k spring rate on your DC2 which is a little too soft in my opinion.

I had an 8k on my DC2 and had the same problem but then again i was lower than you. When I stepped it up to 10k, I still had that problem but not as much. When I went up to 12k, it got rid of it. It still bottoms out now and then only if i hit some really uneven pavement so im probably going to go up to 14k and be done with it. I am also still running the stock 195/55/15 and the car is tucking a little tread.

Im leaning towards the DC2 being an overweight pig because in my EG, I never had this problem with 10k rates and its a little lower than my DC2.

Then again, PatrickGSR94 has a 7k spring rate which minds [freak]s me on how he doesn't have this problem.

 

i figure this shouldn't have been a problem in the first place considering these are stiffer than an OTS set of GCs

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ultraspeed DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got an Integra with a Koni/GC setup and extended top hats in front. 500lb front springs and 450lb rear. The fronts are raised as high as possible considering the top hats do not let me raise the ride height to factory since it takes away from the spring's original upper seat. When I hit big enough bumps, which doesn't take much, the tires bottom out to the pinched frame under the fenders. It shreds my tires down the middle. And for those who are about to tell me don't lower my car so much, read again and I'll say it is as high as it will go.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm at about the same height.

00 GSR, GC extended upper mounts, OTS Konis, 400/400 rates.
Front raised up to the point of preload.

However, my tires have never hit that seam, and my spring rates are significantly softer.

 

Yea 380 is what comes in front on the OTS Integra setup, I believe. A stiffer spring should not be necessary for street driving.

Now I understand that because of the GC top hat (which I did not have), you end up with the perch lower on the sleeve than you would with stock top hats. So with your perch as high as it will go (touching the bottom of the spring at full droop), how does your ride height compare with mine? When I had GC's my front tires were like so:

 

I don't understand what you mean when you say you can't raise the car any more. Do you mean that at static ride height you have no droop travel left? What prevents you from raising the lower spring perch any more? If the perch is as high as it will go, then you need longer springs to raise the car further. What length of spring are you running?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beanbag &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't understand what you mean when you say you can't raise the car any more. Do you mean that at static ride height you have no droop travel left? What prevents you from raising the lower spring perch any more? If the perch is as high as it will go, then you need longer springs to raise the car further. What length of spring are you running?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Pretend I have the shock out of the car and the top hat. I put the top hat on the piston WITHOUT A SPRING and let it decompress till its at full droop. THAT is where my car sits. It is irrelevant where the circlip is, blah blah, point is the piston is full extended and that's why I can't raise it any more. With the extended hat it brings the point where the top of the piston mounts to the hat 2 inches higher than stock, thus in reference the upper spring seat forces itself 2 inches LOWER than stock. But yet I still have a much bigger wheel gap than that guy posted a pic of, almost a finger gap. Yet, nobody else has this tire bottoming problem but me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ultraspeed DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yet, nobody else has this tire bottoming problem but me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What is your current tire size?

I think the comments in this thread are all assuming the correct tire size (I was at least). However, with the stock tire size you'll hit the UCA into the shock tower at the same time as the tire contacts the fender seam.

In addition to that, just because you have raised the perch to the point of preload, does not mean the car is as high as it could go. Additional preload will raise the loaded chassis height. Alternatively, you can pull the extended upper mounts if you want the car higher.

 

I think theres a misconception where the GC top hats make your car lower. They do not. They increase shock travel by an inch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by donut. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think theres a misconception where the GC top hats make your car lower. They do not. They increase shock travel by an inch.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Do you have a set yourself? Show me a car that can go stock height with these.

I mentioned tire size a few posts back, 215-45-16

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by donut. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think theres a misconception where the GC top hats make your car lower. They do not. They increase shock travel by an inch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

They do not make the car lower. But they do reduce the droop travel, thereby reducing how HIGH the car can go, which seems to be the problem the OP is having.

Despite 215/45-16 tires being the stock size on JDM R's, they're still about 1/4" larger in diameter than the stock USDM tire size of 195/55-15.

I know one thing, my 195/55 tires on my stock wheels rub my fender liner ALOT more on driveways than my 205/45-16 tires do. Why not change to that size or maybe 215/40-16?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ultraspeed DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It is irrelevant where the circlip is, blah blah, point is the piston is full extended and that's why I can't raise it any more. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So then your claim must be that at static ride height, you have no droop travel at all. In other words, even if you lift the front of the car by an inch, the wheels lift off the ground. I don't believe you, but fine, whatever. In that case, you need to get top hats that are extended by less or not at all to raise the car. Or you can get stiffer springs. Or you can get your koni's revalved to have more compression damping.

Edit: re-reading some of your replies, I think you don't understand the difference between spring preload when the strut assembly is off the car, and static spring compression when it is holding up the weight of the car. I think you can raise your spring perch higher, even if it means preloading your springs by more. This should raise your car.


Modified by beanbag at 2:35 AM 8/12/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

They do not make the car lower. But they do reduce the droop travel, thereby reducing how HIGH the car can go, which seems to be the problem the OP is having.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ohh okay, I see what he's saying. Im was thinking about lowering not raising.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ultraspeed DC2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Do you have a set yourself? Show me a car that can go stock height with these.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, I have Zeals and JIC's. I use to have a set of these tophats and custom ones. BTW, the context of your reply is unecessary Im trying to figure out the problem too since im curious.


Modified by donut. at 7:23 AM 8/12/2008

 

My guess is that he figured it out by now

 

so why bring the thread back up again?

 

to rub it in