I am some what new to the Honda seen, bought a 2000 civic hatch a couple months ago. Right now I'm riding on skunk 2 coilover sleeves with stock strut (miserable). I'm looking to some autocross and road course with the car as well it be my daily driver. I've had some friends tell me a strut spring combo will work great and I've had others tell me coilovers are the way to go. So right now im looking for a setup that best fits my application. Also any other suspension add ons that will help the car handle (such has sway bars and lca) will be much appreciayed, any help would be great thanks!

 

You already have a coilover. A coil spring encircling a shock/strut = a coilover.

Why are you miserable? Ride? Handling? A problem could be due to a valving/spring rate mismatch. Buying a sportier strut would probably help. What are the rates on the SK2 coils?

 

It's not a coil over, its a coil over sleeve on a stock strut, the problem is the valving is for a stock spring so i have alot of bounce and I it has half the spring travel and it bottoms the spring out a lot

 

I'm looking to ditch my shock setup all together. my question is, would it be better to do a strut spring combo or go with a coilover. I've seen a lot of people tracking a nice strut spring combo. I want a nice entry level setup, I don't want to fork out $1500 to $2000 on a coilover if I can get a nice combo that handles and rides the same for $800 to $1000

 

A coilover sleeve on a stock strut is still a coilover suspension design, in contrast to designs where the coils are separate from the shock/strut or the spring is not coil-type. There is no functional difference between your suspension and a 'true coilover' with your given spring rate and shock valving, just like there is no functional difference between what you mean when you say 'strut/spring combos' or 'coilovers.' Unless you switch to leaf springs or air suspension, you'll be riding on coilovers. Get whatever system matches your personal preferences for cost, reliability, adjustability, etc. and don't worry about the market-speak.

 

That was very unhelpful... I want to hear about what people are using in there setup, I'm not interested in you babol on and on about your definition of coilover. I'll figure it out on my own, just figured there was experienced track and auto cross people on here.

 

You're wrong. I am being helpful, you just seem to be having trouble understanding what I'm telling you. That's your problem, not mine, because I can tell that I'm communicating clearly.

Your premise, that there is a difference between types of coilover systems is wrong. It's not something you should be paying attention to. THAT is good information. I also told you that you could probably solve whatever problem you are apparently having by replacing the strut/shock and not the entire assembly. Of course, it's hard to know because you haven't given very much information at all about your setup, your problem, or your goals.

If you search you'll find that people recommend different setups according to price. I shouldn't have to give you the list, but I will anyways because I'm a nice guy: Progress Comp2 is best for ~$600. You'll have to check applications with that one. The most widely used is Koni yellow/GC, which you can get for $800. You can also use Bilstein or Illumina shocks/struts. I imagine they make products for your application. After that, there are a lot of legitimate options for more expensive shocks. As my penultimate helpful comment suggested, it all depends upon your personal preferences for cost, reliability, adjustability, etc.

 

Once again I'm not keeping the coilover sleeve because it only has half of the spring travel as a regular spring and stock struts are not very good for racing application, and yet again I want to auto cross the car as well as track it and daily drive it. And you don't got to play dumb with me, I said this was my first time with a Honda but not my first time around cars. I am a mechanic at a hot rod speed shop, I race circle track and I co-pilot a 12 car in off road racing, I know the difference between a strut and coilover. Just because a strut is basically a coil over a shock doesn't make it a coil over... its still just a strut! Once again I don't care what your definition of a coilover is because it doesn't help me out in any way. I do appreciate the little help you do give me on the shocks, but is very vague. Thanks for the help but i will figure it out on my own, thanks for being a helpful technical forum.

 

Regardless of how you define coilover, what's important ultimately important is quality of the individual components, there's no benefit to a coilover being one piece. A well matched, good quality, strut/spring or sleeve combo will outperform a one piece BWR coilover any day.

Telling us what your budget is would be very helpful, but since you haven't, I'll assume your on a budget. On a budget, the advice given here answers your question.

 

Reading my suspension guide thread in my signature might prove to be useful for you.

 

I am not necessarilly on a budget, although i dont want to spend a fortune on this. id probably looking to spend maybe 1800 on it.

 

https://honda-tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes-54/click-here-all-you-curious-about-suspension-setups-their-costs-reliability-2967499/

 

Dude, STFU you know exactly what hes talking about. Hes asking about coil overs which are known as a full bodied aftermarket shock with a spring. Its no biggie. If you dont want people calling them coil overs then get off line.
People like you are so ignorant.


OP get function and form type 2 COIL OVERS. They are great for the price and have adjustable dampening. Also their customer service is great should you need any warranty work.

 

LOLOLOLOL no retort necessary!

 

 

Thanks for the help, im down to deciding which i should go with. my choices ive come down to our koni/gc or amr. i dont know where to start with on spring rate though... im lost in that area. I have scales and can wiegh my car and the wieght of each corner, if i gave you guys that would it help you know what spring rate to get?

 

450f/450r. Maybe a 450f/380r with a swaybar.

 

I'm guessing a 380r be ideal for a 19-22mm swaybar, and you'd drop the spring rates a bit more for a larger, stiffer sway bar like the ASR 32mm?

 

wow! that much huh? itll be daily driven down bumpy roads, so would a 450f/450r with a 19mm swaybar be better or would it be over kill? also which is better koni sports or tokico illumina? or does it just come down to preference at that point?

 

If you're on bumpy roads a lot I would guess that it would be better to stiffen up the sway bar and soften the springs. I've got an ITR sway bar and it's great. You could also get a fancy adjustable sway bar and if you were willing to spend 5 minutes adjusting your sway bar on track days, have the best of both worlds.

 

I think the adjustable would be unnecessary, probably a 22mm sway bar will be good. any recommendations on swaybars?

 

Depends how how much oversteer you're looking to induce.
Loved the 450/450 combo I had. Not to stiff (for me) and stuck to the road like glue.

 

Yeah that'd be the spring rate I want with a hollow 32mm sway bar, I think itd handle great! Just comes down too choice I guess. Anybody have any feed back on the koni sports vs. Tokico illumina?

 

i took a peak at my sk2 coilover sleeves and this is the code on the coil. (0700.2.50.008) i looked it up on sk2 site but couldnt find anything on the spring rate. does anyone know the spring rate of this? i would have to guess its 250lbs.

 

If its labeled like an eibach...which it probably isn't, that would translate to a 7" tall spring, 2.5" in diameter and the .008 part is anyones guess. Maybe its something like a 700lb 2.5" diameter 8" tall spring? Honestly just guessing. I'm not overly familar with junk2 parts.