Cgdelsol

So im new to the honda game, im building a 250hp del sol and will be daily driving it. What is the best suspension that you guys would recommend?
* 1994 Del sol
* Wheels on car will be 15x8 949 racing 6UL's with 195-50-15 or 225-45-15. Still undecided
* the roads in my area can be real bumpy
* Im an experienced driver
* I dont plan on lowering it MUCH 1.5inch max
* Comfort & Quality is top priority, i know it wont be lexus comfort but I hate a bumpy ride, and I also wont be going to track or anything so I need something that gives me comfort, stability and good cornering.
* Budget 2500 max in suspension.
* I also want to replace everything suspension related with new parts like bushings, control arms, sway bar, tie rods, etc so please lead me in the right path.
* thank you all.

KoRn_vIRuZ

This thread isn't making a whole lot of sense but I'll bite...

Replacing all bushings is a good place to start.
For comfort you'll want a narrower wheel and a taller tire. 195/55 R15 on a 15x6 or 15x6.5 wheel is what I would recommend.
KW V3 is a good choice for a street coilover, they are soft and well damped. But they still won't ride as well as stock on broken pavement. Nothing will, basically.

Cgdelsol

thanks man I will look into Kw v3
what do you think about AMR engineering?

KoRn_vIRuZ

Sorry, I never used them so can't say too much. They sound good on paper, but even if they have great damping they are short stroke performance-oriented dampers. If comfort is your priority it may not the best choice.

Andy@AMR

Rest assured, ride quality is never an issue with our product as we've had a lot of clients come from many different brands from Koni/GC, PIC, D2, Ksport, Skunk2, Fortune Auto, KW, Stance, Bilsten and have always been happy with our setups..soo much so we've got a number of clients with AMR setups on all their chassis...some up to 4. We've been providing members on Honda-tech the most reliable dampers in the world for a decade. I believe we have a client that posted a review recently, and I'm sure we'll have a few people chime in that who run our dampers personally. Our setups have been covered with a lifetime warranty since day 1, and we can easily build you a setup for both your budget, and needs. It is what we do! Feel free to pm us with any questions, we'd love to get your del sol dialed, and your suspension overhauled. H-T members of course receive a discount. Thanks for your time!

B serious

iTrader: (1)

V3's have too many compromises (IMO) for the civic/Integra chassis. They're TUV approved...so they aren't shortened as much as you think. The rear springs need to lower the car...but also never have the ability to come loose...so they're soft, long springs. Softer than stock ITR springs.

Fronts are starved for travel on these chassis'...so you need to run the heights fairly high.

If they are set up correctly, though, they will likely be more comfy than stock. Any good street or "road and track" suspension should be more or as comfortable than stock (if properly set up).

V3's are also double adjustables. So...they're fairly complex in terms of getting the dampers set. Dunno why you'd want a double adjustable street setup...and dunno why you'd want 180LB rear springs on a track car.

Upside: they're built like tanks and they're made from stainless steel and plastic. So rust isn't an issue. And they'll last and last.

For S2000's, they're a great setup (I had them on my S2000). But for a civic that DOESN'T need to pass TUV inspection?.....meh. nah.

Tein has some decent setups for street use.

I've not yet run an AMR setup, but the philosophy behind them sounds solid. Seems a lot of people are happy with them.

KoRn_vIRuZ

I can tell you the KW are nowhere near as comfortable as stock on rough roads. But still the "less bad" I've experienced in terms of aftermarket suspension. On good roads they can be more comfortable than stock due to less pitch and roll, but that's not the point really, as anything is comfortable if the road is smooth.

As for the short-stroke suspension, you'll notice I was referring to AMR.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

How low was the KW car you drove? And which chassis?

KoRn_vIRuZ

EK Civic. A functional height, maybe a 1.5" or so. I tried many heights though. The KWs become softer the more you lower the car, as the preload on the springs decreases. But then you loose travel so you hit the bump stops on big bumps.

That is the fundamental limit to the comfort of a lowered suspension. Even if you have great damping you'll run out of travel.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Preload makes springs react slightly differently...but it does not make them harder.

In fact, my Öhlins ride significantly softer with 13mm of preload because springs are softer than bumpstops. The before-bumpstop travel, however, did not change in stiffness.

I found that KW's like taller heights.

With 180LB rear springs, I'd imagine they'd be very comfortable if the dampers were tuned correctly.

The first thing people reach for when the ride is harsh is to turn down the damper. *If the shocks were bouncing off of bumpstops, however, turning down the damper stiffness would make the ride worse.

Base model (non type R) civics have marshmallow suspensions, though. So maybe they're not as pillow-feeling as stock. I can't imagine KW's to be harsh. *Un-necessary, maybe. *

1.5" drop may have been just outside the realm of what KW's like to see. One thing about KW is that their manual states a height "recommended" that's always effing DUMPED. They must have some sort of wild aspirations.

KoRn_vIRuZ

Preload does make the suspension harder. Imagine you have a 250 lb/in spring compressed by 1/2 in through preload. In order to make the spring move you will need to exert a force in excess of 350 * 1/2 = 175 lb. So it will feel noticeably harder when the wheel becomes unloaded and is then loaded again. When going through a cobblestone road for instance, the wheel will just skip from cobble to cobble. When the weight come onto the wheel the spring doesn't move at all until the first 175 lb of weight are transferred.

It feels harsh. Been there, done that! I can tell you it makes a lot of difference with the KWs, at all levels, from ride comfort to turn in response.
They can (or rather, must) be set to a compromise setting, and they're not as harsh as other coilovers I've tried. But they aren't as comfortable as stock either.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

When does the spring become fully unloaded? Almost never, bruv. Unless you're jumping off cliffs.

Not on cobblestone streets. Look at the amount of droop you have.

KoRn_vIRuZ

When the suspension is dropping into a cobble that happens to sit lower than the previous one you have very little load on that wheel. Same when a wheel is falling into a pothole. The car effectively becomes a bit of a tripod for a brief moment, until the wheel in question hits the lower cobble or bottom of the pothole. Also remember the effect of the sway bar, which makes the unloaded wheel resist droop.

Theory and practice both agree. What I felt in practice matches this exactly.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

None of this is relevant to OP...but he's not coming back.

If the swaybar prevents droop, the springs stay coiled.

For preload to make a difference in ride harshness, the suspension would have to completely unload...and the wheel would have to leave the ground long enough for the shock/spring to fully extend til the suspension tops out. Cliffs and rally jumps come to mind.

My experience is the opposite of yours. Adding preload created a much nicer ride on at least 4 different cars with 3 different brands/types of suspension.

Your stock springs have tons of preload.

KW's come with 180LB rear springs. Softer than stock ITR springs. To get rid of droop travel enough for the wheel to come fully extended on bumps would take an IMMENSE amount of preload.

BUT....I haven't used KW's on a civic and you have. So maybe the damping is just wack, as is the case on some KW setups. Or maybe it was just not optimized.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Nope. The car's static weight on the spring already compresses the spring more than the preloaded amount. As B said, preload makes no difference in ride quality unless the spring is becoming fully unloaded in a full droop position, which means you're getting airborne somehow, somewhere.