My 2000 Civic EX Coupe has a stock 22mm front sway bar and a Comptech rear tie-bar/sway-bar combo (installed yesterday) set on the least stiff setting for now. My car also has Eibach Prokit springs and Koni yellow adjustable shocks.

I'm pretty sure I made some good picks when its comes to equipment, but I don't know a whole lot about suspension theory, so...

What do you guys recommend it terms of the Comptech/Koni settings?

[note: If you tell me to search and give me the search link, I will slay you. I'm lazy, ok?]

 

There is no 'correct' setting I or anyone here could give you, it all depends on your car and how you like to drive.

The situation you want to avoid is having the rear to stiff, the result is going to be nasty oversteer if you trail brake. In the snow or rain it is even more dangerous.

Start with the Koni's and adjust them to suit your ride quality tastes. Slightly stiffer in the front would probably work best.

Once you've got the ride quality straightened out work on the swaybar which will give you a small adjustment in body roll and turn in response. Soft is good but you can probably get by with the medium setting and not have any worries.

Then see if it all works together and adjust as necessary. Only trial and error will get you what you want.

Cheers,
Sean

 

Thanks for the info.

I know there is no correct setting, I was looking for a place to start. Like...what do other people have their similar setup set at?

You say slightly stiffer up front?
What's trail braking? Because there is plenty of snow around here now.

Explaining my driving habits would help: No track. Efficient but not fast. Spirited (read: pushing it) occasionally. This is my daily driver and I have a long commute.

 

uhhh...

 

bizump

 

c'mon now. anyone?

 

c'mon now

 

I would just say to experiment with the stiffness on the Koni's to where you like it. I tend to keep the rear Konis stiffer than the front, but I haven't really experimented with any other settings.

 

For the street, start both front and rear about 1/2 to 3/4 of a turn from full soft to get you in the ballpark with the Eibachs. This will put you in the 25-50% of the entire adjustment range. Drive like this for awhile to get a general feel and then feel free to play with it a bit more to tune to your ride, handling, raod, etc. preferences. Remember, firm can be good but firmest is not always the best.

For track events and autocross where you need more oversteer and you are less likely to get surprised, you can run the rears up to the max setting then back off half a turn as a badseline and adjust to taste.

Have fun.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The situation you want to avoid is having the rear to stiff, the result is going to be nasty oversteer if you trail brake. In the snow or rain it is even more dangerous.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, no kidding. I'm similar to your setup with a '99 Si with GC coilovers/Koni Yellow/Comptech rear bar (the bar is set on firm). At an autocross, I've wiped out in a slolam while decelerating with the rear Konis set on full firm. If you run full firm on the bar and the dampers, the *** CAN come out and it does so somewhat unpredictably.

 

So what do you suggest for setting just riding around on the street?

 

Middle setting on the bar... wait a second; if you're riding around town, what do you expect to gain from the Comptech bar?

Full soft to 1 turn on the Konis if you like it a little stiffer.

 

I expect less understear with spirited driving, less body roll, and better high speed stability, no?. I'm getting used to the lowest setting for now but I might bump it to the middle one. I've got my Konis at one half-turn for now.