Pretty soon I am gonna add adjustable shocks to my 92 prelude 4ws. At the same time I wanna lower the car. I am just not sure of coilovers or regualr springs. It is nice to have coilovers, but it is a pain to adjust the springs so I would probably leave the height most of the time anyway.

Now my question, firstly will coilovers even fit on an adjustable shocks? And secondly what is the advantage of getting nonadjustable springs? Also, is it worth getting those coilovers on ebay for like $75, or should I go for skunk2s for like $300? Whats the difference?

Thanks, jordan

personally i love coilovers. I used to have progress sport springs and i liked them, but then i swapped to coilovers so that i could lower the car a bit more to fit my rims/tires a bit better. I not only like that its lower now, but also that the springs are stiffer, it helps handling a little, and helps traction when shifting (this was very noticable with the switch from progress springs to skunk coilovers).

they are not hard to adjust. To make an adjustment it'll probably take you 20-30 min. Most of the time is spent jacking up and then lowering the car back down. the actual adjusting is extremely quick to do.

also its not that most people adjust them regularly for some reason. Coilovers will allow you to tune the drop, some sets of springs don't do an even drop. I know h&r springs on g2's leave the front end looking too high. With coilovers you can make the drop look however you want. And one of the best benefits is if you change things in the future. What if you add a kit? what if you change rims/tires? those factors will change how low you want/need your car to be. With coilovers you can just make the adjustment, get an alignment and you're done. If you have springs you'll need to buy new springs, take apart the suspension, and get an alignment.

IMO there is really only one benefit to normal springs, and that is ride quality. Typically the ride will be a little harsher with coilovers. But i like a stiff ride, and many coilover/shock combos (such as GC/koni yellows) can give a very comfortable ride.

If you opt for coilovers i wouldn't buy some cheapy ones. You don't have to fork out $300+ for some ground controls, but i'd stay away from those really cheap ones on ebay. Also consider buying used. You can get some very good prices on used parts. And used doesn't mean its bad. Hell, some people lower their car, then 6 months later want to go back to stock. And its not like coilovers/springs go bad after 6 months. I bought my used skunks for a little under $200 and they've been working great for me for almost a year now.

hope that helps.

One concern is how can you assure sides are equal? They dont ahve any set measurements.

Are there any problems fitting coilovers of adjustable konis or tokicos?

What about the company Maxspeed or OBX? Where is agood place to find coilovers for my prelude?

Do REAL coilovers (not Skunkworks, GC, Weapon R) offer better ride quality than "performance springs" and coilovers (such as Skunkworks, GC, Weapon R)? I know they offer better performance, but what about street ride quality?

true, there is no marks on them to make it easier to make them all even. but in reality that wouldn't work anyway. When i first installed my coilovers i set them all the same (i measured how far down i put the collars---- you don't need to actualy measure in a given increment like inches or cm, you can even just draw a line on the spanner wrench, hold it up and make sure they all sit the same). the problem with this method is that your car's suspension might be a slightly different from corner to corner. I set my rear coilovers to the same height, but one side was nearly 1/3" lower. I believe its due to worn out bushings. So, i ended up measuring it all out. I measured with a measuring tape the distance from the ground to the wheel well, i then adjusted everything accordingly. It took a little while longer. But if i had had normal springs i wouldn't have been able to make this extra adjustment to even it all out---so its worth it.

no, coilovers will fit fine over your stock shocks, as well as koni's or tokico's. However i think that koni makes a special shock for GC coilovers, or maybe its GC makes a special fitting for koni shocks, i really don't remember. I've got skunk2 coilovers on my tokico illuminas and they fit just fine.

i know people who have maxspeed coilovers and they seem pretty good. Probably just as good as weaponR or skunk2. Ground controls are automatically better cause they use eibach springs, which you know can be trusted. Also they offer different spring rates depending on what you want, which is a huge plus---but you gotta pay an extra $40 for that.


as for real coilovers. They will give a better ride than "sleeve" type coilovers. This is because you won't bottom out as much. The shock body will most likely be shorter, and the spring will be longer, thus allowing more suspension travel. When you compare GC coilovers with koni yellow shocks vs some progress competition coilovers the prices really aren't that different, just $200-$300 more for real coilovers. Some people will say its worth it, others not, its up to you.

I just ask this b/c I have the Skunkworks coilovers (now Skunk2) on my 95 Accord w/ Koni adjustables (yellows)... and the rear is way too stiff... so stiff that the rear of the car rebounds so hard that it may require chiropractic therapy for my passengers...

that sounds very odd that it would rebound like that. I assume you've played with adjusting the shocks to get a more comfy ride? Also, are you sure you have the springs in right? cause if you have them switched (front to rear) the ride will be extremely harsh. Also, are you sure that the bump stops were cut to the right size? cause you could just be bottoming out and hitting the bump stops really hard, if so then you should either cut the bump stops or raise the car a bit, cause changine the spring rates won't help.

i know people with skunk2/koni yellows and the ride is very good, i have skunks and tokico illuminas (which are stiffer than koni yellows) and I think the ride is great.

You could upgrade to real coilovers, or you could sell your skunks and pick up some lowering springs or better yet get some GC's which should be a lot softer than the skunks.

Really i think it might just be your interpretation (or your passenger's interpretation) of the stiffness, cause skunk2's are stiff, but not that stiff.

If it so happens that I did mistakenly reverse the front and rear coilovers... how can I tell? I honestly can't remember when I installed them... were there certain codes on the coilover springs for front and rear? I'm 95% certain I had them correct upon installation, but with your mention on your friends' experiences with ride quality, I have to wonder...........

well, you have an accord so i can't say for sure about the codes (cause i've got an integra). do you know the spring rates for your coilovers? my spring rates are 500f/400r. on my springs there was a long code number on each spring: something like xxx-xx-10 and xxx-xx-08 the "10" translated into the 500spring rate and the "08" translated into the 400 spring rate (can you see the correlation in numbers?).

but the stiffer spring should go in the front. other than the number on the spring you won't be able to tell. I know all 4 of mine were the same height and looked the same gauge wise too, so i just went by the numbers on them.

hope that helps.