Hey guys. I'm pretty new to this forum and to cars so excuse my stupidity. Didn't really know where to post this question so I posted it in this forum since I drive a civic too.

Anyways, I hear/read about shocks, coil overs, and stuff like that.

What are the diff between them? I know that you can adjust your ride height with coil overs. Ummm..am I right? Shocks are the springs right?

Errr...yeah...so can you guys explain to me about these stuff and any other related stuff I missed. Thanks.

 

Sping hold up the weight of ur car ..
damper (shock) absorb the bump and slow down the up down motion of the spring ....
so the spring wont bounce when over a bump ....
that is why u use a better damper when using a stiffer spring ....
and many OEM damper is insufficient for stiffer spring .. because they have a low dampering rate ....

coil over is just a shock with groove on the body ... with a collar ... when u adjust the collar ... u adjust ur ride height ......

and one more thing ... those adjustable coilover ... (those with ***** on top) ..

adjust ur damping rate .. (the speed of the up and down motion) ....
many thinks they adjust the stiffness of the spring rate ... wrong ... u might feel like the suspension is stiffer but that because the speed of the whole damper slow down.... they just usually adjust the speed of the up motion (bound) some will do rebound as well ...


LONG STORY SHORT .......
stiffer spring = get better damper(shocks)
dampering rate = the higher it is ... the harder it is for the damper to move up or down ....
damper bound = how fast the damper goes up ( hit a bump )
damper rebound = how fast the damper goes down ( hit a pothhole ) ....
damper = shocks


excuse my spelling mistake ... typed this out very fast ....

REMEMBER I COULD BE WRONG ... others are welcome to correct me !!!


[Modified by BAR-F1, 6:37 PM 10/19/2001]

 

Thanks a lot for responding guys. Really appreciate the help.

So let see...if I were to lower my car then it would be best for me to get new springs and shocks right?

I'm assuming the spring wrap around the outside of the shock?

Do you buy the spring and shock separately or do they come in a set?

 

I'd reccomend new shocks and springs to keep a decent ride.
The spring does wrap around the shock.
You can guy springs/shocks as a set or seperately. It's really going to depend how low you want to go/how much you want to spend. HTH.

 

you put the shocks inside the springs/coilovers. My preference: Koni Yellows for shocks and H&R for springs.


[Modified by maxim_force, 7:42 PM 10/20/2001]

 

I have them Bilstien shocks on my EG with WS Apexi springs. Gonna get the GT springs, higher spring rates.