For the experienced hatch owners, do you see anything that can be holding back my suspension setup?

92 cx hatch - on 99 Si's ( 205/50/15 Azenis and es100s in the rear) - Jdm itr shocks on progress springs. Alignment is at 1/8 toe out front and neutral in the rear.

Front - Gsr control arms, gsr strut bar, gsr crossmember, gsr 24mm sway, spoon front lower tie

Rear - Itr control arms, itr strut tower bar, itr trunk brace, usdm 22mm itr sway, spoon rear lower tie.

what i use my car for is basically daily driving, spirited driving and soon autocross.

 

your setup sounds good, in my opinion, i would run some wider rims than the SIs. like some SSR type Cs or something like that. in my experience, i dont really like the feeling of the stock SI rims. you could do well in autocross, but imo you might want to seriously think about the wheels and tires a little bit more.

 

Get at least a 6.5" wide rim. The SI is only a 6" wide rim. The wider the rim, the bigger your contact patch is.

 

wow, i didnt know about the contact patch being better with a wider rim. i do know that the turn in response will be a lot better with a 7" rim.

thanks.

 

with the wider wheel ull ur tires will run a little stiffer in the sidewalls..important if ur using very low profile tires..with this in mind ull also be able to run a lower profile.

with this in mind get tires with the rim guard..they re a little heavier but it ll save ur rims in those damn pot holes

 

No one thinks he should get a better Spring/Strut Combo?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pho Real &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No one thinks he should get a better Spring/Strut Combo?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Whats the spring rate? A lot of people love the ITR struts.
Great for the price I guess.

Im waiting for someone to tell him to get a smaller front sway.

 

front sway may be too large, but you do have a large rear sway

it's all you man, only you know how your car feels. If I listed my suspension setup, people maybe think it's wack, but I love it and the way my car feels.

Are you having troubles with body roll, understeer, oversteer, etc

Get smaller wheels unless you have huge front brakes

 

thanks for the replies

i dont think 14's will be sufficient for clearing the calipers. anyone know of cheap good looking 15x7 inch rims?

I had the 21mm ex sway on before with the 22mm rear, and turn in response wasnt any better, the car actually felt better with the gsr sway.

the progress springs have a pretty low spring rate, ride quality is pretty good. the only way i can describe it is...a little softer then a stock 02' S2K.

The reason for this post is that, when im running tires other the azenis in the front my car understeers progressively as i turn the wheel in a tight med. speed turn. i actually thought my rear sway has come undone somehow.

well, lets see your suspension setups and what you recommend on getting.

 

Sounds like you didn't put any thought into the actual suspension setup of your car and just slapped as many bars and OEM under-parts on as possible. See, this is a large problem for most of the H-T people who don't actually understand the physics of auto suspension in front wheel drive cars.

I'll bet your car handles well at normal speeds and you can get decent exit speed out of a corner, but as far as safety and control: that setup will (i'm not even going to put a probably in that statement) plow/understeer like a ************. Civics are already bad, a huge front swaybar and tiebar make it worse. If you took the GSR front sway and Spoon front tiebar out of the equation, you'd have a much more neutral, input-friendly setup.

You've got good parts though.

Edit: by the way, this is my suspension setup:
Front: Tein SS coils on KYB AGX shocks set at the softest setting, 1.
Rear: Tein SS coils on KBB AGX shocks set at the firmest setting, 4, D2 performance LCAs, nameless tie bar.

Soon to have a rear sway as well, but for now it handles as close to neutral as I want it. The rear sway will make it a little more *** happy, and that's the way I want it.

 

good reply archidictus, but ive actually put some thought and experience into my suspension setup. HT has just found me many cheaper alternatives.

As for the front sway and bars, ive tried it without the gsr, with a ex 21mm and have found it to be best with the 24mm on due to the body roll factor. for the front lower tie, it simply doesnt do anything.

my car does not plow into a corner with the current setup, im thinking that the tires make all the difference.

 

i have a rear sway, strut, tie combo, with only a strut bar on the front, and have found the car has a horrible amount of understeer. far from being balanced. but its also on a coupe. so i dont know; i think you would have to drive the car to really say what to put on it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Edit: by the way, this is my suspension setup:
Front: Tein SS coils on KYB AGX shocks set at the softest setting, 1.
Rear: Tein SS coils on KBB AGX shocks set at the firmest setting, 4, D2 performance LCAs, nameless tie bar.

Soon to have a rear sway as well, but for now it handles as close to neutral as I want it. The rear sway will make it a little more *** happy, and that's the way I want it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How do you have TEIN SS coils on KYB AGX shocks?? I'm just confused by your statemenet?

K back on Topic: Your set up seems good, I'm just learning about suspension and my thoughts would be you'd need that bigger seay up front. I have a 22mm sway in the rear with no front sway, and my car is a lil too *** happy!

And I agree tires to make the difference, those Azenis are adding alot to the front, I went from Azenis to my nittos, can you say roll over?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Archidictus &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Edit: by the way, this is my suspension setup:
Front: Tein SS coils on KYB AGX shocks set at the softest setting, 1.
Rear: Tein SS coils on KBB AGX shocks set at the firmest setting, 4, D2 performance LCAs, nameless tie bar.

.</TD></TR></TABLE>
How did you pull that off?
Huh? Tein SS Coils on kyb agx shocks?

I have the Tein SS coil overs on my car and I could imagine using just the coil spirngs from those on a standard sized strut...

 

suspension bushings will make it ride and handle so much better.


i just put some in mine, great deal of difference.

 

How low is the car? My concern is even as good as Progress is the car is probably too low and will not have enough front suspension travel. The ITR shock is not designed to work with a lowering spring.

Other than that, leave the front sway bar connected for street use and disconnect it on the Solo track. Asshappy (loose in the rear) is dangerous on the street.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by brian g &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How low is the car? My concern is even as good as Progress is the car is probably too low and will not have enough front suspension travel. The ITR shock is not designed to work with a lowering spring.

Other than that, leave the front sway bar connected for street use and disconnect it on the Solo track. Asshappy (loose in the rear) is dangerous on the street.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah it is dangerous on the street... Ihave the 22mm progress bar in the back and nothing up front.....I squeeel my tires at like 20mph around a small curve road........*** feels like it was to fly out from under me..

 

hmm, i think ive made up my mind about what to do next.

im sure that all my bushings are shot, so im going to try a ES master kit. hopefully i could find a shop to do it for a reasonable price.

second, instead of investing in a new shock/spring or coilover, how about i give the ground control shock top hat extending thing? i think it's supposed to like make your car ride like its 2" higher. ( my car is slammed, front has tire 1/2" in fender and rear has no gap )

edit: *** happy isnt dangerous on the street unless you cant keep it under control IMO. If you are smooth, the tail shouldnt swing out, also watch your speed in a corner. many cars come *** happy from the factory. take the S2K for example, really tail happy

 

Sounds like a good start.

brian g

 

double post

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1slowcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a rear sway, strut, tie combo, with only a strut bar on the front, and have found the car has a horrible amount of understeer. far from being balanced. but its also on a coupe. so i dont know; i think you would have to drive the car to really say what to put on it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have gotten rid of my upper frontstrut bar a long time ago and don't think I'll go back anytime soon.

I would lose the front strut bar. That should help balance the car out more.

Experiment with your shock settings also. Softer in front/stiffer in rear will generally help get that rear end out a little bit

 

hmm, i think ill try the car with the front strut off for a little bit. do you really notice it when its on and off? i mean mines is only a weak gsr one that bolts to the body.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I have gotten rid of my upper frontstrut bar a long time ago and don't think I'll go back anytime soon. I would lose the front strut bar. That should help balance the car out more. Experiment with your shock settings also. Softer in front/stiffer in rear will generally help get that rear end out a little bit </TD></TR></TABLE>

Took the words right out of my mouth. There's much less danger in oversteering if you're a skilled, responsible driver than there is in understeering as a noobie. Watch your entrance speeds and learn about apex and when to throttle out of a corner and you should be fine .

I'm sorry: I meant Tein S-Tech coils, not the SS's. My bad . I was just looking at some SS coilovers online.

 

Archidictus, one question.

Slow in fast out seems to be the answer to autocrossing our cars, but unlike you i dont have a swap.

if i come into a turn slow, my 2nd gear isnt strong enough to exit me out of the corner at desired speeds.

so my question is, seems like my only way to be quick is "fast in and faster out".
how would you change my setup to allow quick entrance speeds? dont worry, oversteer is natural to me.

 

Instead of getting the crown from ground control you could see how much it'd cost to get your shocks shortened and revalved to your spring rates.

That's the next big step for my suspension, getting my Yellows shock body shortened the rear made externally adjustable and all of 'em revalved to my ground control spring rates.

if you just went for shortening I don't think it'd be too much more than buying those Ground control crown's.

Your $$ though.