I will be purchasing spring/shock combos in the near future. I want your expert advice on this combo:

H&R OE and KYB AGX

Will this be OK for autocrossing? I need to keep a near stock height as this car is my daily driver and I want to stay away from the "slammed" look...

Opinions please......

 

I autocross with H&R OESport springs and KYB AGX shocks.

The springs lower 3/4" and IMO are a good compromise between street comfort and performance.

If you are really trying to win autocrosses, this setup will not be your friend. It is not competitive with a lower, coilover setup with stiffer springs.

 

I just got H&R Sports and KYB AGX's.

It's wonderful on the street, no tucking of wheels or anything. Barely any rubbing or anything. I wish I had pics. And it'll be stiff enough for autocrossing. If I wanted to win, I'd probably need to go stiffer, but it'll be good for now.

Why do you need to remain at/near stock height? Bad roads or looks or both? Because IMO, this combo made my hatch look how it SHOULD have come from the factory.

 

For a street car, those are fine, and should be significantly better than stock. There's no way those springs would be competitive in autoX though. If you don't want to lower your car 2"+ with really stiff springs, you're better off staying in a stock category with stock springs. I think you'll have more fun that way.

 

I want to remain at near stock height because I live in MA and don't want to deal with winter driving headaches (snow/potholes, etc...)

hmmm, so if I do really start getting into autocrossing (haven't tried yet) maybe I should look into another spring...I have some thinking to do...thanks

 

you can get ground controls, and raise the car for the winter months. if you go with springs in the 300-400 lb range that will allow you to be competitive, but won't be too bad on the street.

there is a local sts driver with GCs on kyb agx shocks and he pretty much dominates the class. not saying this is the best setup, but it will be plenty competitive at most local events.

 

At my first autox, my instructor (who drives a vette) drove my non-vtec integra with H&R OE springs on stock shocks/ ITR rear sway bar/ Heliums with Azenis 205/50/15 to a time that would have won STS that particular day. I'm in San Diego Region. So, if you are a mega driver, you can be at competitive at the regional level at least. (The person that won STS that day is at Nationals right now in a 2.5 RS) (VWong was not present that day)

They are a great ride height for street- but as Philbert was saying coilovers can also afford you that luxury with more flexibility.
HTH, Nat

 

I raced over 2.5 seasons with H&R OEs, Koni Yellows & 19mm sway bar (Neuspeed) mostly in DSP with R tires. Very good combo and I was very competitive at the regional level and have almost 40 trophies in my house from racing with that setup. If you become a mediocre-to-good driver you can win races with this setup. Don't know about KYB AGX, but I 'd advise you to go with the better Koni shocks, because shocks are very important in auto-x, plus if you want to upgrade to lets say 400lb coilovers in the future, the Konis can handle it, but the KYBs will give out in a couple of months with those spring rates. The Konis are also more adjustable than the KYB. Spend the money now and do it right the first time. If you can afford GC coilovers, do it. You can always raise the car up in the winter time.
But remember, there will always be somone faster than you out there whether you 've done the max. mods or not in your class. I was doing well for a couple of years until others started showing up with LSD, lighter flywheels, 225-45 Hoosiers or 500lb GCs, so now I have a totally new suspension and shopping around for an LSD. I did reign with the H&R OE/Koni combo for a while though, even at non-ssca clubs were they only had 6 classes so you never know.
If you stick with the KYBs I wouldn't recommend spring rates higher than 325-350lbs/in.

 

good points. i have the koni sports, so don't know too much about the KYBs. just knew somone local runs them, likes them, and for half the money of the konis, might not be bad to start with. but wasn't aware they wouldn't handle the 400 range rates.

i'm currently running STS, but there is talk of bringing STR back to chicago/tri-state. if not, i'll probably run dsp next year as i'm anxious to get on race-rubber. some folks here have pretty much convinced me to go with 13s (panasport 13x8 or lenso 13x7.5) and i think i'll go with the kumho ecsta v700 235/45 or 215/50, respectively. i'm also thinking quaife. which LSD are you looking at?

 

I 'm looking at the Quaife too. Just a matter of time before I convince my wife or do it behind her back

 

Here is a link to some pics of my 98 ls with h&r oe's and agx's. You need to create a user name to view them but it's free. It lowered mine about 1.25"f/0.8"r. It looks ok since the front was .75" higher that the rear before. That is quite a bit lower than advertised. It handles nicely but like said before will not be as competitive as a full coilover or gc setup. I might switch to gc's soon because I want a stiffer spring and the ride height adjustability since mine came out so low. Keep in mind that the AGX warranty is void if the car is lowered more than 1.5 inches or adjustable sleves are used! This is true, I called KYB to be sure. That means that gs's woid the warranty. That would be ok but the waranty is lifetime which is nice. The oe's ride really nice are an awsome deal for $160 at my door from King motorsports. Oops forgot the link http://www.imagestation.com/member/i...=blingin&c=201


[Modified by sfr4dr, 7:44 PM 9/12/2002]


[Modified by sfr4dr, 8:05 PM 9/12/2002]


[Modified by sfr4dr, 8:06 PM 9/12/2002]

 

True. My drop initially was .75" with the OEs. Then a few weeks later, the drop was almost 1" which I didn't mind. A year later and many auto-xes the drop was almost 1.25" in the front and almost 1" in the rear. It remained like that for another year of relentless autocrossing (21-22 events/yr) until a month ago when I swapped them for GCs.
BTW, my times only dropped about .2-.3sec with the 475lb GCs. You won't notice a big difference like you think. I 'm still getting used to driving with the GCs because it changed the handling characteristics of the car (not too much for the better), but I need to have the Konis revalved before I can tell for sure how much the higher spring rates really help. It also seems that the more I lower it, the worse I do which goes to tell you that off the shelf shocks don't do well with too much lowering. I too keep the car around 1.5" drop because that's where it seems to handle the best. I tried 2" drop and handling sucked.
Don't think more spring rate is always better! Look at the ITR that has 246lb rates. It's a great auto-x car. Of course it has an LSD and weighs almost 100lbs less but it does pretty darn well with its "weak" springs. That's because good shocks is more important than springs when it comes to auto-xing. All the ITRs racing at the Nationals in DS have revalved Konis and they do great. They don't need heavier springs (not that they 're allowed anyway).
The secret in auto-x is in the shocks. They 're more important than springs & sway bars. Of course you need all 3 to make things work well but without the right shocks or correct shock adjustments, you high spring rates will be almost useless. I speak from experience.

 

I have H&R sports on stock shocks (for now). The car feels a lot less likely to understeer. The reason I got the H&R sports was that the rear spring rates were stiffer relative to the fronts when compared to other springs soft enough to use the stock shocks.
I also drove a 3 day event at VIR full a few weeks ago, and I had heard so much bad stuff about H&R sports that I had my stock springs with me incase I needed to swap them. I really found them a lot more fun to drive then the stock springs I had there in febuary.

 

tecnic1: I did the same thing. Installed the H&R OEs at first and kept the stock shocks. The ride was pretty bouncy because the shocks could no longer dampen the springs properly, but the car felt and handled better.
Then after about 2mos of auto-xing one of the front shocks went bad even though I only had 15k mi. on the car. I guess that was because of the higher spring rates and the pounding they got from auto-x. So I went with the Koni Yellows and what a difference they made! Handling was like night & day! and no more bouncy ride. My times in auto-x improved immediately by 1-1.5sec. with the Konis, and all of a sudden I was winning DSP at a local club (WSCC in NY).
I 've made a lot of mistakes in the beginning (and still do) setting up the car, so I want to advise people never to put springs on your car unless they 're accompanied by aftermarket shocks. Don't make the same mistake I made..
BTW, I don't know what "bad" things you 've heard about H&R, but there are dozens of people I race with that have H&R Sports and I haven't heard any complaints. Like I said, they rewarded me with almost 40 trophies so they hold a special place in my garage
Anyone want to buy some used H&R OEs for $40? Use the $100+ you 'll save for installation.


[Modified by VTEConly, 12:11 PM 9/13/2002]