Me and a friend are sort of in a competition to have the best handling street car. I drive a 2001 ITR with stock suspension and crap Nitto tires (yes I was stupid). He owns a 96 Integra SE with Ebach prokit, Koni Yellows, and Potenza SO-3's. Right now he definitely has the handling advantage. Here's the question. Will upgrading my tires to Yokohama Advan 60 treadwear tires give me the advantage, or will his stiffer shock/spring setup still keep him ahead? Although I have more body roll, I was thinking that I might actually still have him with the stock Potenzas, but it is hard to remember the feel.

I'm also going with the Mugen lowdowns and the 26mm rear sway bar. With the Yoko race tires and suspension is there any thing that could really give me competition on the street? I want to have the ultimate handling street car, so when I spend my money I don't want to be wasting it if there is something better in the long run. Thanks in advance.

Note: When I talk about having the best handling car on the street I'm not talking about street racing and taking corners. I want the best possible track car that can still be driven 500mi a week on the street.

 

sway bars will make a huge diference, and all the other things you mentioned will help, but tires are going to wear out, so If you want some help now that will last longer get some sway bars. springs and shocks should be done togeather to save time, if you do the work yourself or money, its either one install or two. also the sway bars can easily be done in an afternoon with basic tools

 

Yeah if your doing 500miles a week those Yoko A032R's will last you a whole 2 months, you said you don't want to waste your money but using race tires to go back and forth to work would be just that. Go with the suspension upgrades and a decent performance tire.

 

IMO, I believe tires make the single biggest handling difference.

 

You'd be suprised at how long the A032R's last, and they are the ultimate ON/OFF ramp tire, SSOOOOOOOOO much fun. Gotta remember, the car can only take you as far as the driver and tires will go, the tires are the ultimate connection to the road. I run A032R's on a daily basis and have no complaints, except that they are a kinda noisy. For a good suspension setup, talk to some autocrossers who drive their ITR's on a daily basis, the should have a good compromise worked out.

 

I don't know if in fact he does have such a definite handling advantage... The ITR has extremely good balance in stock form. By this I mean it behaves very neutral and can be driven quite fast this way. Just because your friend may have the stiffer ride does not mean he has better "handling". This balance comes from tunning the setup, and the Honda guys really got it right with the ITR. A set of shocks for your ITR will give you the option to adjust the balance of the car to better suit your needs as well as stiffen things up a little bit. A thicker rear sway bar will give you more rotation on top of what the ITR already has dialed in from the factory. Other than this, only an expensive coil over setup can potentially improve the handling. Other folks may know what works more specifically, but in general getting anything less than top quality suspension parts will most likely just degrade the type r's great stock handling.


[Modified by Hracer, 12:31 AM 10/15/2001]

 

I'll second that. Some good tires will be the best investement. The ITR swaybars are already pretty close to optimal for a performance street car (ever notice how many GSRs and Sis are sporting ITR swaybars?). Springs and shocks can make a difference on the track, but the spring rates would be very stiff for mostly street use. Just leave the car alone and be happy you have one of the best factory "hot-rods" ever produced.

 

Dude.. That's so funny! I actually did this the other night while I was heat-cycling my A032Rs for the track(VIR last weekend). I kinda felt sorry for the guy, cause I have no idea how he ended up.. The last thing I saw was his car exiting the off ramp and going into the weeds and who knows what else.. I kept going. I got about 1/4 mile away, and looked back and he still hadn't come off the exit ramp yet.. oh well. I forgot to tell anybody else about this until you reminded me.

 

koni's and a larger rear bar on an R go a very long way...in terms of $ spent per amont of difference.

 

For my Teg GSR I upgrated the rear sway bar (ITR), Tires (Kumho 712) and coilovers (Zeal Function B6). Of the three I have to say the coilovers have made the biggest difference but now the tires and thicker sway bar help out more with the coilovers then with the stock suspension. I can't imagine trying to drive with my coilovers on Stock V4 tires.