I'm rocking K-Sports made for an Integra DA at the moment. My rear left shock is blown and would to just replace all 4 coilovers. I am on a budget. I don't have the money for coilovers or Koni/GC setup. I was thinking of Bilstein shocks and H&R race springs. I do autocross the car a lot and would like to start road racing next year. Anyone have any thoughts or opinions on this setup?? Would this satisfy my needs?? I don't wanna autocross on my blown shock anymore haha

 

Save up for good suspension stuff, or buy cheap stuff (again) and then buy a good set later when the cheap stuff has blown (again). Then add up all that you spent on "budget" suspension and realize you should have waited and done it right the first time.

 

Bilstein/H&R combo cheaper than GC/Koni combo? Show me that. For the $$ check out Progress. You can have them valve the shock to your needs and pick your spring rate!

 

I actually just looked at progress website. I think I might go with there sport spring kit made for b series. I just don't know what shock. I've heard a lot of good about everything: bilstein, koni, tokicko. I would like to get konis but I can't seem to find them cheap.

 

Why don't you just go with these

http://www.progressauto.com/products.../productID/595

It might be only a year warranty but the replacement shocks are cheap.

 

what kind of mods do you have on your car?? if your autoxing without engine mods or other suspension mods..go stock class and buy r comps. ;p

 

Alright, here we go: b18b engine with bolt ons, hasport race mounts, hasport cable-hydro conversion, k-sport da coilovers, da spec k-sports, ebay strut bars (front/rear upper, and rear lower), energy suspension master bushing kit, mugen rear trailing arms, omni rear lower control arms (don't see the point with this), and full-race traction bar. My K-sports really hold me back. I just bounce around everywhere with them now haha

 

Actually, I might just go with those. They seem like a good deal.

 

You're local so check out PIC. Proven on teh track which is probably what you want.

 

Why not just get your KSports rebuilt? That's probably your cheapest alternative out there.

 

I thought about that till I forgot how long it took them to get rebuilt. My friend sent all 4 of his out and didn't get them back for about 6 months. I don't wanna risk mine taking that long.

 

Holy ****!

I will be meeting with the owner later today and I'll ask him about the rebuild process and see what the expectation should be for customers. I'm working with him to improve the customer experience and general perception of KSport products. I do think their current products are on par with most of the competition out there but they do have some *history* with many of the early generation stuff when there was some quality issues.

 

Let us know what all you find out. I am contemplating buying K sport Kontrols for the EH2 hatch to "upgrade" from my skunk 2 Pro-s coilovers.

On another note, has anyone had experiences with :

BWR Suspension?

Godspeed suspension?

Blox?

D2?

Emotor?

Buddy club?

Out of all of the Budget suspensions, who has had any experiences with these?

 

Okay, here is the scoop!

#1 - KSport rebuilds cost $100 per shock. If you have a Kontrol Pro kit, a replacement shock is $100 so it's pointless to have a Kontrol Pro shock rebuilt. Rebuilds are really for the ballers with the RR or GT pro systems, etc. that are significantly more to replace.

#2 - KSport does all the rebuilds, not anyone else and they do all of them in 48 hours or less. If anyone has a horror story about a rebuild taking 6 months, they are either exaggerating, or didn't put their return address in teh box, or made up a fake receipt and they got caught or (most likely) the retailer sat on them for 5+ months before actually getting them to KSport.

#3 - KSport is a pretty big company, but this is a small world we live (esp. on the internet) in so if any of you guys have specifics and need help, let me know. I'm not an employee of KSport nor am I paid for writting this out, but they have been good to me in terms of sponsorship support and I want to do all I can to return the favor.

 

Thank You for the info. Thats very good to know.

 

Why rebuild when you can buy something with lifetime warranty?

 

That's a really good point! However, then someone could also say, why buy a Honda with a 3 year 36K mile warranty when a Kia is nearly 3x as good?

Additionally, don't forget that Koni's "lifetime warranty" is *suppose* to be if you're using them with stock springs not aftermarket ones or with the vehicle lowered. I know that I have had mine replaced under warranty before but just saying...

Yes the Koni's have the best warranty in the business but I personally think an OTS twin tube Koni is not as good as an OTS Monotube KSport shock. The ride quality will be comparable but the performance of the KSport will be better IMHO.

A similar comparison would be a Quaife LSD vs a Kaaz LSD. The Quaife has a lifetime warranty and no maintenance ever required and drives like a stock open diff around town and there is a performance increase at the track. The Kaaz costs slightly less but requires really expensive LSD oil that has to be changed more frequentyly and is annoying to drive around town, but the performance at the track will blow away a Quaife!

One is not better than the other overall, it just depends on what they're trying to accomplish. Since the topic is "budget" maybe Koni's are the way to go since they could be the last time he ever has to replace them???

 

1. You are comparing apples to oranges.

2. Koni OTS yellow is covered by warranty when used with lowering springs. Call (859) 586-4100 ask for Lee he will set you straight.

3. Ride quality? You can't be serious. Look at the shock dyno's.

4. Apples anyone?

Which company has been turning quality longer? I have worked sales at a speed shop before and seen the headache for the warranty on Ksport. While I never got a return for Koni's the 3 years I worked there.

 

I don't think the difference is quite that drastic since we've talking about "budget suspension", I think both fit that description quite well. Since cost is similar this is really now a discussion of warranty, ride quality and performance.

Ah snap! I have no problem admiting when I am wrong. It didn't used to be this way before from what I recall. Very cool that they warranty a lowered setup!

I will also admit that I don't how a shock dyno relates to ride or feel. I am not an expert in that area. I just drive fast and I know what my butt dyno "feels" both on and off the track. I think I am likely one of the few who have driven a Koni OTS, Koni SPSS & "Race OTS", custom Koni valved shock and KSports so I have an actual basis for comparison. I think *most* people who give an opinion on shocks are brand loyal and are giving a 1 sided opinion.

I do plan on opening up several shocks to compare construction especially since what I've heard is the internals are extremely similar to Tein monotube shocks. I also plan on putting multiple shocks on the shock dyno to compare dampening rates between a Koni, Tein, KSport and others. Like I said, if one has a different ramp up rate or more high/low speed dampening, I'm not sure if I can translate that into what it will feel like or how it will perform but I'm hopeful that others can enlighten us all.

Yes Koni has a much longer history and has more experience at figuring out how to make a more reliable shock. KSports for the Civic came out around 04 or 05 and were absolute crap. They made improvements around 07. However, sometime around 07 a bad batch (i.e. defect) of shock seals from the manufacturer were distributed which is most people remember. This was the same manufacturer that did the seals for Tein's (and probably many others) so they were likely to have the same seal failures. In Oct 08 KSport addressed the manufacturer seal quality issues and went one step further by adding a second seal. Since Oct 08 there have been a fraction of the leaking shocks and warranty claims since then. KSport sells litterally thousands of coilovers per year and the only returns for leaking shocks have been pre Oct 08 models. Yes, that was only a year ago so it's too soon to tell if the improvements have resolved the issues but the point is, don't compare obsolete models to what is being sold today. No different than when Kia first came out, I'm sure everyone considered them a joke if you compared it to a Honda but the latest stuff they have actually isn't too far off and it will continue to improve.

P.S. I still like Koni's and I am not bashing them. I'm just trying to educate people that they're not the only value oriented shock out there.

 

People need to read this as it one of the smarter things said on this board. Shock dyno's have alot of good data but if the "butt" dyno doesn't agree then the ride pretty much fails!

As for your car being fast, I think if you ran other set ups it might have been just as good if not faster, as I myself have driven on both set ups also but prefer Koni/Skunk2 or GC over Ksport. At the moment I own neither set ups so my brand loyalty doesn't really take into account but my opinion is based on what I have ridden on in the past until now. From my very first set up Tokico blues on Lightspeed linear springs to my newest set up AMR(yet to be installed) I can give you an honest opinion on any of these.

 

something that a butt dyno cant show is if the dampers are matched up. the "overseas" brands have a tendancy to have nonmatched dampers per sets as well do many ots models too. that is one great benefit to a shock dyno. i also agree to stock_dx..i think tage would be fast on any or mostly all decent setups.