Honda has done a very nice job with the car. Critics of the engine will say that the power potential isn't there, and while it certainly isn't a fast car, it is a well balanced car with decent braking and very neutral handling characteristics.

Mine is probably never going to be modified. I have another car for that. In stock form, on stock rubber the car is close to flawless in street conditions. I can outdrive the brakes even with 160 brake hp but under most on/off conditions the suspension and brakes are more than adequate.

I'm curious, those who track the car (not drag "track") at the limit does the car still maintain neutrality? (I have an 04 and I guess that it has a larger sway bar in the rear than the O2, 03) The ABS seems to work against any effort at left foot braking, in fact I think it comes on a little early in most cases for my taste. Has anyone modified the suspension so it's actually better? I don't mean just stiffer, but noticeably faster in most conditions?

Anyway, it's been about 4 months and I'm very happy with the car.

 

decent braking

I agree with you on the "solid" part, but the main thing our cars lack is brakes.

 

I've done lots of suspension and alignment mods to mine. Its definietly a good handler especially considering its weight.

Tire and brake pad upgrades will go a long way towards shorter stopping power and cutting the ABS chatter.

Glad you like the EP3, its a fun, comfortable, reliable car.

 

I tried to post on AEM rotor upgrades a few weeks ago but there were no answers.
Will the AEM RSX brake upgrade kit fit? (the one that includes the caliper brackets and rotors) AEM doesn't advertise the diameter of their own kit anywhere. That's pretty lame.

What pads do you recommend? I use EBC RED in my race car and I like those.

I was considering disabling the ABS as well, at least to try it that way.

 

Well, it depends on what kind of driving you want to do.

 

Street, as my previous post suggested. Probably a hotter pad than you use for autocross.

 

in many ways i didn't want to modify the suspension at all but at the same time the mugen sport suspnension set up drew me in showa designed, mugen engineered maintains the stock comfortability while being much more responsive in the turns as well as during braking. i love it, with a 22m rear sway u turn on a dime

whoring this picture as much as i can:

 

I autocross almost every weekend and I daily drive my EP3 to work.

I'm using Hawk HP+ pads up front and great for stopping power. I've also upgraded my fluid to ATE Super-Blue, (which is something like a high-quality DOT 4). Its a dusty and squeaky setup that has excellent stopping power.

The HP+ is a "trackable" compound (though not the most hard-core), and the HPS is the next step down... a very good street compound. The HPS should dust less and not squeak the way HP+s do, but still be a solid improvement over stock pads.

I haven't worried about upgrading the rear pads.

Its true that changes to the suspension will effect the front-to-rear bias of brakes, and can improve or harm braking distances. Tires also play a huge role, especially in terms of subtle slippage that kicks the ABS on.

As for big brake upgrades, I cant say I know much at all about them, I dont think I ever build up enough heat to get the endurance benefits from large rotors, and I have to keep stock-size rotors to stay in my auto-x classification.

 

It was inconclusively discussed at one time that the ABS is not neccarily the problem as much as the EBD, that somehow decides to bias the braking power from corner to corner that really causes the "push".

EBD (electronic brake distribution) essentially tries to stablilize you when you are trying to force the rears to lose some traction and rotate. (through LFB)

I believe nobody has figured out yet how to disable EBD and keep the ABS at the same time.

That said, the EBD is not nearly as intrusive as some other stability control systems out there from what I've heard.

 

do you guys feel that te mugen sports sus will handle better than a full race coilover?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by johnkimble &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">with a 22m rear sway u turn on a dime </TD></TR></TABLE>

What front bar are you using?

Did you keep the thicker EP3 or switch to the thinner Type S for more rotation?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spoondc5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do you guys feel that te mugen sports sus will handle better than a full race coilover?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No.

The Mugen Sport Suspension is an enthusiast's street suspension, but it still might be the best thing for your purposes, depending on what you mean by "better."

I know that Spoon has developed and used a full race coilover when it was racing the EP3; however, I think that they are concentrating more on the CL7 these days.