Alright suspension gurus, I've searched and searched and read and read and can't seem to get a straight answer. I'm wanting to run H& R Race springs on my 00 Civic coupe but I'm curious on style of shock to run. A: standard size aftermarket shock or B: Short aftermarket shock?! The the whole extended top hats come in to play if I go with a standard length shock but wouldn't that be nearly the same thing as running a short shock?! Also either running a short shock or extended top hats may put too much preload on the spring and make the ride quality suffer?! Need some input please!! Thanks!!

 

IMO, Koni sport or tokico illumina

 

That but that doesn't exactly answer my question, not looking for brands of shocks, types and setups with the H&R Race springs. Thanks though

 

Maybe you're looking in the wrong place. What is the spring designed for? Standard body or short body shock? If one or the other, then you have your answer.

 

This is the suspension and brake section correct?! I'm not sure exactly what they are designed for...hence the reasoning for this post

 

I wasn't talking about what section you're in.
A quick look on Google shows that these have normally been paired up with Bilsteins, AGX & Konis. In other words, full bodied shocks.

ETH have nothing to do with "preload" on springs. They only allow normal shock travel on slammed cars.

 

I seen these springs used with both shocks, and my buddy had them on Illumnia's. That's the reason why i said them... you don't need shortened shocks. and IIRC, you can't use extended top hats on lowering springs.

 

Ahh I see. Well I have done a few google searches and yes I've read the same as you but I've also read some of these companies void the warranty of you pair there shocks with H&R Race Springs due to the aggressive drop.

 

I would double check that personally and get that verified about the warranty info.

 

I'm running them on my daily bucket. They are pretty low. I would really suggest some shocks with a shorter shaft, or extended top hats could be an option too.

Just make sure that, in your quest for short shocks, that you don't end up with short bodies instead of shafts.

 

So tell him what shocks you're running.

 

+1

 

H&R race should be paired with Bilsteins or Konis. There is no reason you can't run extended hats. The springs wont/barely touch the hats when your assembling the shocks. Extended hats will cause you to have to compress the springs a bit to install the nut on the shock shaft, but extended hats wont have the springs "preloaded" once the cars weight is on them.

 

My bad, I forgot to add that. Skunk2 sport. I need to replace them, not sure what I'm going with next.

They were actually better than expected... a touch underdamped on the high speed, but great on the highway. They've started going downhill lately but they've got 3.5 years and about 65,000 on them now, so I'm not complaining. The bumpstops that come with them are garbage though, and fell apart in about 30,000 miles.

I've been craving Bilsteins B8's, but by the time I get into something like that I'm down the river for a set of progress CS2's or similar, which would be more Auto-X friendly. We'll see what happens next...