Suspension & Brakes Theory, alignment, spring rates....

Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside...

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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 04:54 PM
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Default Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside...

Haha, I bet thats what you all wanted to hear. Too bad, I actually have nothing but good things to say about my RS Racing (Arospeed) coilovers.

Today, after 2 years of riding on Arospeed coilovers with stock struts, I finally installed a set of Skunk2's and AGX shocks, and I wanted to examine how the Arospeeds held up after 2+ years of usage on the stock struts. Since the initial install in October of 2002, I've driven the car daily and racked up about 50,000 miles, in all kinds of weather.

I have been highly impressed with them. Even with the stock struts, the coilovers reduced my body roll by a significant amount, and the car handled waaay better than any civic with stock suspension i'd ever driven. The stock struts actually made the ride softer on the highway. The shocks never blew, so the ride was actually soft, never bouncy or erratic.

Here's a picture of how low the car was, just for reference:


Alright, well enough nonsense, lets see how they held up:

The Arospeed's after I pulled them off this afternoon (in road salt guise):


What most of you all would think Arospeed perches would look like after 2+ years:




What they actually look like...I don't see any bowing on the perch, do you?


And the springs...I remember you all saying that shitty no-name springs sag after a little while:


I don't see any sagging:


None in the rear either:


Only noticeable wear was the paint on the back spring, which is to be expected:


I did have a problem trying to get the rear LCA's off though...you can see here I actually pulled the bushing out of the LCA trying to get the bolt out:


And the bolt snapped on me anyways:


And, on the other side, I snapped the head off of the rear LCA bolt:


Go honda for your excellent LCA's

So, all in all, I cannot be happier with the way the Arospeeds held up over the 50,000 miles I put on them. At only $119, I was able to give my car a lower, more aggressive stance and even with the stock struts the car handled infinitely better than with the stock springs. And now, they have been proven reliable as well. I'm not saying that they are as good as ground controls, or even belong in the same sentence, i'm just saying that they are very good for what they are...an inexpensive alternative.

So, next time you want to badmouth "no name" coilovers, remember that not everyone has had a shitty experience with them.
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:03 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

seems like a great product and i can't wait to see what others have to say
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:08 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (slowdx9585)

Haha,
sweet,
I too love my Arospeeds,
had them about as long as bauley has had his.

I think mine are in BETTER condition though
also the perches are in tiptop shape, springs havent sagged or anything,
ride is good. But I've seen no chipping or cracking of the paint on mine.

Must be a product of Bauleys snowey/salty roads..

cali weather
I'll try and get some pics
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:10 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

thanks for sharing your experience. happen to know the spring rates?


btw, happen to know what that blue spring is from? and the sleeve thats spreading out?

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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:11 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (slowdx9585)

So Dustin, whats the car lookin like now on the Skunk2's? I personally think you will enjoy them no matter what height your at, I drove my friends hatchback that was dropped all the way(3" or more) and it still felt like a nice comfy ride, and my girlfriend didnt even complain Its nice to see an inexpensive product such as your Arospeeds hold up after so long, and after reading this I will request that anyone looking for a cheap, good spring to look into these.

As for hondas schw33t LCA's, its nice to have a spare set of GSR LCA's lyin around so when you bend a bolt then snap another one off you can just remove the whole LCA and just assemble your shocks and struts on the new ones. All in all, good writeup, and get some pics up of the car on the new suspension and tell everyone how you like it. I'll be looking into Skunk 2's this summer sometime
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:13 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (Tyson)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for sharing your experience. happen to know the spring rates?


btw, happen to know what that blue spring is from? and the sleeve thats spreading out?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

The blue spring is essentially an "ebay" coilover after maybe a year of riding. I remember reading that thread and just laughing my *** off, but good thing the guy noticed this **** when he did.
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:13 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (turtlecx92)

I tell ya, one dab of grease on the assembly line would save alot of people alot of headaches.

-s
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:19 PM
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Odd. Good for you .
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:19 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (sander)

springrates are 450lb/350lb
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:52 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

You don`t measure for sag with your eyeballs. Even 5mm could be a big difference. You won`t see springs lose an inch or anything . I`d like to check the springs rates to see how they held up. Everything looks pretty decent for $100.
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 05:55 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (Tad)

wheres pics of the skunk2's and agx?
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 07:26 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (vtecvoodoo)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turtlecx92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

The blue spring is essentially an "ebay" coilover after maybe a year of riding. I remember reading that thread and just laughing my *** off, but good thing the guy noticed this **** when he did.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Blue springs are from APC coilovers...see this thread: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=383621

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtecvoodoo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I`d like to check the springs rates to see how they held up. Everything looks pretty decent for $100.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'd be glad to send them to you. Can I have a free set of ERS springs in return
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 07:29 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BauleyCivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I'd be glad to send them to you. Can I have a free set of ERS springs in return </TD></TR></TABLE>

quit stalling and post up pics of the car on the new suspension dammit
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 08:02 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BauleyCivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'd be glad to send them to you. Can I have a free set of ERS springs in return </TD></TR></TABLE>

a set of ers springs is worth more than your kit
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 08:26 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (vtecvoodoo)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vtecvoodoo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
a set of ers springs is worth more than your kit </TD></TR></TABLE>

HAH...funny guy

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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 09:10 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

eibach is saggin too? or is just the slant...
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Old Jan 25, 2005 | 09:20 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (toda4ek)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by toda4ek &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">eibach is saggin too? </TD></TR></TABLE>

No.
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 05:49 AM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

I've sold several of the Arospeed coilover kits back in the day, and had a set on my first car before removing them in exchange for H&R OE sports. They rode pretty good, I never had a problem with them on the stock struts. I just removed them because I did my entire suspension over and hardly ever adjusted them anyway. I'd say they were good for the money, but loved the H&R's more.
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 10:24 AM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (BauleyCivic)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BauleyCivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


was able to give my car a lower, more aggressive stance
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I sure would be scared if I saw your car out on the roads..
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 11:10 AM
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you obviously need to drive harder.
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 11:14 AM
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this might be a stupid question.. but what LCA are those? cuz my lca on the eg hatch dont loo like em .. tnx
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 11:23 AM
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<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by acid-burn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this might be a stupid question.. but what LCA are those? cuz my lca on the eg hatch dont loo like em .. tnx </TD></TR></TABLE>
They look like stock 5th gen civic lca's, what do yours look like?
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 11:25 AM
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Default Re: (acid-burn)

Those are civic LCAs for cars without a rear swaybar. EX 4 doors were the only 92-95 civics that came with rear sways (funny how my helms manual doesn't mention that though).
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 03:46 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (tgreaves)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tgreaves &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I sure would be scared if I saw your car out on the roads.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah he needs more carbon fiber,
and an aluminum wing REAL BAD!!
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Old Jan 26, 2005 | 05:59 PM
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Default Re: Arospeed Coilovers Suck...See Inside... (tgreaves)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you obviously need to drive harder.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I do drive hard...oh wait...



<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tgreaves &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I sure would be scared if I saw your car out on the roads.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Shut up! Go back to texas!
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