When fitting coilovers what else should I consider replacing?


C

CrouchingWayne

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Apr 25, 2009
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Hi folks,

Still very much loving my EK9, I can understand why people rate the handling so highly as I absolutely love threading it neatly through corners. I love the power delivery too, makes the quick 'blast' into an event which is nice :nice:

What has been bothering me a little is the unknown lowering springs that are fitted to my 9. These apparently were fitted on import and I know very little about them other than they are green! I have therefore decided to uprate the whole setup (as I'm not sure if they are putting strain ont he standard dampers) by buying a set of BC Racing coilovers, these should be arriving soon :bow:

Now I'm not going to fit until after the winter and the roads are a bit better so over this period is the perfect time to build up parts to be fitted, so what else should I replace while doing the coilovers? From what I have read aftermarket LCA's will replace the bushes at the rear and perhaps lose some weight, I take it this is advisable and if so what ones should I go for?

Would I need to get new bushes for the front separately and if so is 'poly-bushing' advised and can someone recommend a set?

I've got the standard EK9 wheels with Hankook RS2's for tracking and some other alloys for daily/show activities so any help on the suspension setup side of things would be excellent.

Cheers,
Wayne
 
You can get camber adjusters for front and rear, probably worth getting depending how low you are to keep yout tyres even. Ive got buddy club all round on mine.
 
PaulJ said:
You can get camber adjusters for front and rear, probably worth getting depending how low you are to keep yout tyres even. Ive got buddy club all round on mine.
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Exactly what I was going to suggest. It depends on how low you intend on going but if you feel like your going to slam the car this modification is a must. The LCA's are a good upgrade, I bought Function7 ones and they are a good bit lighted then the OEM ones, they look awesome too. :nice:
 
I had thought about camber arms but totally forgot about them! Are any of them better than others and what sort of prices should i be looking to pay for them? I assume the likes of FunkyPower etc. are the best places to look?
 
well it depends how much your going to lower your car. i would camber adjusters front and back so you can set your suspension up. i would recommend buddy club for the front as they are really well made and not too expensive, you can get eibach ones well which allow you to adjust the caster as well. for the back i'd say the D2 ones as they're cheap and purple, lol. for the lca's i would avoid the ebay types as they have poor quality bushes that fail fairly quickly, if i had the tin it would be function 7 all the way as they have good quality bushes and look amazing. there is a few retailers on here who can sort you out with prices and more info. hope that helps
 
You stay in Aberdeen right? Gimme a shout and I could easy help with fitting/set up the suspension for you, I do all my own alignment as tbh there isn't anyone local i would trust with it

LCAs the only ones i would ever run would be Function 7. Alot of cheaper alternatives use very poor bushes and won't last long at all, you will need to budget for aftermarket drop links though if you choose to get different LCAs though

Poly bushes there are various arguements about weather these are worthwhile on a honda or not, I would favour harder oem style bushes such as Hardrace ones, yes the poly bushes are easier to fit but don't last as long at all, poly bushes are worthwhile for the ARB mount bushes though, bit of extra free stiffness, would always advise replacing the RTA bushes with OEM though as the rear suspension is designed for some movement to help stability under heavy braking, the RTA bushes are one of the first you should replace as they tend to wear quicker than other bushes

As for extras, camber arms are deffinately worthwhile, although would normally advise just to start off with rear ones. As soon as you start lowering EK9's the rear wheels get mega negative camber which will accelerate tyre wear and reduce stability/handling characteristics
 
So how difficult is it to fit the RTA bushes?

I looked at mine the other day and they have started to crack so thats my next purchase!

As for the rear Lower Arms I would highly recommend the Skunk2 ones. I bought some of the limited edition black ones with red bushes and they are extremely well made!

Also as Steven said above you may need to get some aftermarket drop links with some rear lower arms but the Skunk2 ones I have came with 3 holes to choose from so the OEM drop links fitted nicely.

Josh..
 
Thanks guys, I will look into the rear camber arms over the winter.

StevenEK9 - yea any help fitting or aligning would be great mate! Are you on JDMtas?

So would a set of OEM bushings be advised over polybushing? Would they even need replaced would you think? I figured they would be worth doing regardless but I may be wrong :D
 
I am on tas but rarely post, same username as on here

FULL set of bushes may not be needed, have a squint under the car at the bushes, visually check the condition for any sort of cracking/perishing

Josh - RTA bushes are easy enough to change, undo the toe link so you can drop the RTA down, support the outside of the RTA with a block of wood and then should be able to knock them out with a big hammer, they should be knocked out from the middle of the car out the way if you know what i mean....

Installation, just carefully knock them in evenly so the new ones are in the same position/angle of rotation as the originals, have the rear toe checked afterwards also

If the RTA bushes are worn it can make the back end feel a bit loose and promote passive rear steering :)
 
make this a sticky cos its very useful info and im sure i'll need to refer to it again very soon
 
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