I have a 2002 Accord SE 4-Door and have been thinking about the best mods to increase response and handling for a stock car. I suspect there are certain mods that should be performed first for immediate enhancement, and others that make things even better. You guys are the experts, so what are your suggestions? Lower the suspension? Get larger tires? What are your thoughts?

 

I know everybody's got their own taste but this is what I would do:

First would be to lower it with some decent brand springs/coilovers, get some ST or Tanabe sway bars(I got tanabe sways), Polyurethane endlinks, and Strut bars. Oh, and LSD handle corners pretty good.

My setup:
-Tanabe front & rear sway bars
-Ebay front & rear strut bars
-Red polyurethane bushings endlinks
-Dropped on S Tech springs and Blue Tokico shocks

 

I'd say the sway bars are the most important. I have my Accord dropped about 2.5 inches and it feels pretty loose still with a front ebay strut bar and rear lower tie bar.

 

^^ Very true. After I installed my Tanabe sways, I can totally feel the difference. Doing 90mph on a slight turn freeway feels like the car is glue'd onto the pavement with no body shifting left or right.

 

I no longer modify my cars; but, when I did before, this is how I rated them:

1. Tires (high performance tires even on stock rims give significant improvement and a comfortable ride). When I switch to larger wheels/tires and a different suspension, the ride was a little too harsh for my taste.

2. Shocks, struts, and spring combination.

3. Sway bars (somehow my ride didn't feel right with the larger wheels, shock and spring combination until I changed the sway bars). It did feel kind of loose without beefier sway bars.

4. Strut bar and tie bar (I didn't have a strut bar or tie bar in the Honda I modified; but, had one in my VW GTI before that and it felt great).

 

u better be careful about lowering your car my 98 accord LX V6 coupe could not clear a palet that fell off of a truck into the road and those are about 4.5" tall....smashed that sucker to peices when it hit the front lower cross member. thanflully I it it square otherwise some stuff could have gotten seriously messed up.

Lowerin ur car is not really an option if you have crappy pothole filled roads or lots of speed bumps or raise driveways.

The single biggest thing you can do to make your accord handle better is to switch to some lower profile tires (Ie change out the 15" rims for some 17"s........less sidewall = less tire flex when cornering. downside is ride gets a little firmer

next best thing is to change out ALL of your rubber bushings for poly ones. this will stiffen up the suspension by not allowing the parts to move around as much as the rubber ones do.

If you are still not satisfied then start messing with springs and strut combos going with an ajdustable setup with progressive rate springs....

you really do not want your car so stiff that it will start "hopping" around when you hit those nice expansion bumps in that there freeway......

 

or since you have a 6thgen accord. 6thgenaccord.com check it out.

 

True lowering a car does require added caution.

I am lowered ~2.5 inches and also have a polyurethane front lip. It is scraped up pretty bad, but is not surprising since it only have about 3 inches of clearance. I have to choose driveways carefully but sometimes you just cant avoid it.

 

You don't always need to lower your car for a more responsive suspension. It requires a good set of tires, coil springs with a stiffer spring rate, adjustable struts, larger diameter front and rear stabilizer bar (sway bar) and a complete energy suspension black polyurethane graphite bushing kit would be a good start

 

I would put on a fresh set of tires, a bit bigger then whats on there now. A rear sway bar, and leave the front one stock. A bigger front sway bar will increase understeer. Next you can go with a good set of shocks ( kyb, koni, tokico) and a lowering spring that doesnt slam the car. If you get it too low you loose all the stroke of the shock and it will blow out a fresh set of shocks. After you do this you will also want to look into some brake upgrades also...

 

Increasing oversteer doesn't necessarily mean it handles better. Quite a few of the aftermarket bars keep the same ratio but are thicker so there is less body roll.

 

This way of tuning isnt increasing oversteer at all. It helps the nose of the car transfer weight to the outside tire to give it more traction. As far as sway bars go, your not changing the ratio. You are increasing the roll tension, and this is why it will keep the car flater in turns. If you look at most fwd track cars they are tuned the same, but to the extreme.

 

I don't think you're getting quite what I'm saying.

By increasing the size of the rear sway bar to a stiffer design - you are in fact increasing the car's tendency to oversteer. And you are changing the ratio of the sizing of the front/rear bars.

Most aftermarket setups (front and rear) similar to ST's they keep the same size ratio (example 2:1) but are thicker in sizing.

*edit* Maybe you have some weird experience but everything I've read has stated very clearly that increasing your rear size with a stock front will increase oversteer tendency. Especially if your car doesn't have a rear bar to start with - which some Accords are like this.

And I do understand what you're saying, but by adding an aftermarket sway bar to a car that doesn't have one, or increasing it's size without increasing the front you are going to change the over/understeer of the car.

 

ya, What TheMuffinMan said

 

To each his own...

 

Sway bars on front and rear will help the body roll around corners. Also tiers are very important. You may have all the bells and whistles for your suspension but if your tires break free it makes no difference.

 

Tokio Blues the best struts for our rides?

 

They are good struts, but are more of an OEM replacement with a bit better performance.

If you are looking for a stiffer ride (or if you have a drop that's more than an inch) you may want to upgrade from that. They aren't recommended for larger drops because, like I said, they perform close to stock. You'll most likely end up blowing them out.

 

Muffin Man suggests Koni Yellows for performance per dollar

 

My car is bone stock so Blue should do, thanks guys. Whats your feeling on Monroe Sens-e-trac

 

Any thoughts or experience with Eibach sways, springs or dampers?

 

Coilovers&Cambers

 

What the hell are cambers?

Camber Kits? Entirely unncessary

 

Generally speaking, if you've heard of the name it's probably decent. Or if you've seen a sticker for it on Fast and the Furious it's probably ok too

Though I don't think I've seen an Eibach sway or strut for our car. Ground-control uses custom rated Eibach springs on their coil-sleeves.

If you search there is an incredibly detailed suspension thread for the 5th gens that has been posted several times by myself and other users on AccordinglyDone.com

 

X2... I came from Illuminas and H&R springs (Black) and switch to Koni Yellows and GC and I never looked back.