Rate your suspension set up


ijwhiteman

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Very simple list what you'd fitted and rate it.

I thought this may help a few users in deciding on a suspension set up.

Ok simply copy the spec and rate.

Make -
Model -
Anti roll bars
Comfort -
Handling -
Price -
Positives
Negatives -

Make - EK9
Model - Stock
Anti roll bars Stock 23mm front and 22mm rear
Comfort - 8/10
Handling - 9/10
Price - second hand sets going around £100 - £200
Positives Fantastic handling very nice set up for the road i have not used it on track though.
Faults? - Can only adjust the ride height with springs.

Make - D2
Model - Street
Anti roll bars Stock 23mm front and 22mm rear
Comfort - 6/10
Handling - 8/10
Price - Approx £550
Positives Can adjust ride hide to suit, can be dropped up to 100mm. Damping adjustment is nice and not complicated like some of the more expensive full race units.
Faults? - Damping on stiffest setting is too harsh on the road, i use it around half way but i'm convinced that certainly on the road EK9 suspension was better.
 
Make - Tokico / H&R
Model -Tokico Illumina 5 way adjustable shocks. H&R 50mm Springs for Si
Anti roll bars. OEM Honda for now
Comfort -Good if they shocks are on 3. If on 5 can be a hard ride
Handling - Great, Can fault them
Price - New they are aound £400 for shocks and £130 for springs
Positives. Adjustable dampers so I can have a smooth ride, or stiffen it up for play time.
Negatives - Only bad point is they are hard to get a hold of in the UK.
 
I have had a few setups, here they are:

Car: USDM 96 Civic CX 2260lbs

Make - Koni yellow shocks + Skunk2 Coilover sleeves
Model - Eibach ERS springs 446lb front 250lb rear
Anti roll bars- Suspension Techniques 22mm rear 24mm front
Comfort - 5/10
Handling - 8/10
Price - ~ $750-$850
Positives Koni shocks are friendly to spring rate changes so you can experiment and find what you like. Height and damping adjustable.
Negatives - Not as blingy as a full coilover setup

Make - Tockico Blue shocks
Model - Swift lowering springs
Anti roll bars- none
Comfort - 7/10
Handling - 5/10
Price - $330 for springs $250 for shocks, total: $580
Positives Handles better than stock USDM suspension
Negatives - **** ride for only minor increase in performance, uneaven ride height, springs are very expensive, shocks are not adjustable, no height adjusability either.
 
I have had two spring setups, same coilovers:

Car: EK9.

Make - Cusco
Model - Zero 2, comes with springs: 9 front/5 rear. Not sure how low they go but I didnt buy them to slam them..
Anti roll bars - oem
Comfort - 9/10
Handling - 8/10
Price - £900 to £1600 (depends on the piss taking supplier)
Positives - shocks are friendly to spring rate changes so you can experiment and find what you like. Height and damping adjustable. Easy 5 clicks of adjustability. Perfect for fast road & the odd trackday.
Negatives - You will want to change the springs for regular trackdays.

Make - Cusco
Model - Zero 2 now with Eibach springs: 10 front/8 rear (Firmer for the track but still not too hard for the road - good compromise)
Anti roll bars - oem
Comfort - 7/10
Handling - 9/10
Price - As above + £200 ish for the Eibach springs/fitting.
Positives - For regular track use these are much better than the 9/5 setup they come with.
Negatives - Comfort is sacrificed for the road, now a firm ride (road setting of 1 click front/3 clicks rear.
 
Civic Ej9
Make Buddy club N+ 10K F, 7K R
Model Energy Suspension Bushings, Front ek4 strut bar
Anti roll bars 26mm F 24mmR ASR
Comfort 7/10
Handling -9/10
Price -680$ +450$(swaybars)+150$(bushings)
Positives Very responsive and immediate, progressive at the limit, significant reduction of roll and understeer. Steady rear.
Negatives -Bouncy ride harder than i would want but more solid than ever.
 
Thanks For this Ian
I Fancy Putting the Ek9 Suspension in my Ej9
I think its a nice height and heard nothing but good reviews
You regret putting in coilovers ?
 
Civic EJ8

Make -Tein
Model - Basic
Anti roll bars stock
Comfort - 8/10
Handling - 6/10
Price - £500 ish
Positives Good budget coilover with relative ride height adjustment, although they don't go very low. Build quality is fantastic, never experienced any problems. Good compromise between ride comfort and handling.
Negatives - Not dampening adjustable, ride hieght is limited, overpriced in my opinion. Better to go for EK9 suspension.


Make - BC Racing
Model - BR series
Anti roll bars stock, but with Buddyclub camber arms front and rear.
Comfort - 8/10
Handling - 8/10
Price - £500-600
Positives Absolutely excellent product for the price. Dampening adjustment is wide, full hard is too stiff for the road, but I imagine would perform well on a smooth track. I run them around 20/30 turns for road use and it is slightly stiffer than stock EK9 suspension. Full soft they are softer than the TEIN Basics :nice: Ride hieght adjustment is great, and they are fully threaded. Build quality is impressive, visually, the welds look better than on the TEIN Basics. Montube design, extra large cylinder to keep temperatures low. Each damper is individually dyno'd and inspected and comes with inspection sticker. Well respected coilovers in Hong Kong/Taiwan/US and eastern Asia, they are manufactured by the same people who manufacture Megan Racing and Apexi.
Negatives - Factory spring rates are quite hard, 12 front / 10 rear, but you can specify on ordering. Fairly new to the UK, yet to see how they hold up over a long period of time. No leaks so far though :)
 
2000 EJ8

Ground control adjustable springs
koni yellow shocks & struts
skunk 2 front pro series camber kit
some Energy Suspension Bushings
rear washer trix
23 mm front sway bar
ASR sub frame brace
24mm rear sway bar
omin lower control arms

Comfort - 8/10
Handling - 8/10
Price- (shocks & springs ) $850/$900
Positives- love the ride eazy dampening adjustment ,and ride hieght
Negatives - none
 
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standard suspension

10/10 for road and track

Please follow the format, i highly doubt OEM suspension is better than after market suspension on a track... but if thats your opinion at least follow the format of the thread.
 
Please follow the format, i highly doubt OEM suspension is better than after market suspension on a track... but if thats your opinion at least follow the format of the thread.

Sorry about that , my post warrants further explanation:

Make - EK9
Model - Stock
Anti roll bars - Stock 23mm front and 22mm rear
Comfort - 10/10
Handling - 10/10
Price - N/A
Positives : Fantastic handling and good spring / damper rate relationship, although the stock suspension is really quite hard it is not crashy or bouncy over bumps and very comfortable. Honda have worked hard here. Car is very predictable at all times and feels safe and planted.
Faults? - not adjustable in any shape or form.

I have used my car now for over a year including mixed road driving and also trackdays at castlecombe and a summer trip to the nurburgring. On the nurburgring the handling of the car was nothing short of Amazing. Only modifications handling wise were Toyo R888 rubber on 50 series profile.
The circuit offers everything from fast sweeping bends, camber changes, compression bombholes, rough surfaces (carousel) and the car felt 100% planted round there everywhere. For a stock car I am very very impressed and have no desire to change the springs or dampers.

If I were to upgrade I think I would seriously need to get the wallet out and go for Ohlins or something of that kind of standard as the stock suspension is so good.

Think people are too quick to abandon the stock suspension and stick a set of coilovers on their cars when lots of other work needs doing which affects the behaviour of the car more so than the shocks and springs. All our Hondas are 10 years or so old now, Rubber deteriorates with age, before changing anything at all I think the suspension bushings should be the first point of call. Personally I avoid polyurethane bushings like the plague and would go for standard or Hardrace rubber bushings. I have a set of Hardrace Rear trailing arm bushes to go in mine when I get time to install them; all my other bushes visually appear to be in good order at the moment. The rear trailing arm bushings have a huge effect on the stability of the car and general handling once they have been renewed. I installed a new set on my brothers’ DC2 (albeit had done 110000 miles) and the difference was night and day.

hope my post has been useful
:drive:
 
Last edited:
Sorry about that , my post warrants further explanation:

Make - EK9
Model - Stock
Anti roll bars - Stock 23mm front and 22mm rear
Comfort - 10/10
Handling - 10/10
Price - N/A
Positives : Fantastic handling and good spring / damper rate relationship, although the stock suspension is really quite hard it is not crashy or bouncy over bumps and very comfortable. Honda have worked hard here. Car is very predictable at all times and feels safe and planted.
Faults? - not adjustable in any shape or form.

I have used my car now for over a year including mixed road driving and also trackdays at castlecombe and a summer trip to the nurburgring. On the nurburgring the handling of the car was nothing short of Amazing. Only modifications handling wise were Toyo R888 rubber on 50 series profile.
The circuit offers everything from fast sweeping bends, camber changes, compression bombholes, rough surfaces (carousel) and the car felt 100% planted round there everywhere. For a stock car I am very very impressed and have no desire to change the springs or dampers.

If I were to upgrade I think I would seriously need to get the wallet out and go for Ohlins or something of that kind of standard as the stock suspension is so good.

Think people are too quick to abandon the stock suspension and stick a set of coilovers on their cars when lots of other work needs doing which affects the behaviour of the car more so than the shocks and springs. All our Hondas are 10 years or so old now, Rubber deteriorates with age, before changing anything at all I think the suspension bushings should be the first point of call. Personally I avoid polyurethane bushings like the plague and would go for standard or Hardrace rubber bushings. I have a set of Hardrace Rear trailing arm bushes to go in mine when I get time to install them; all my other bushes visually appear to be in good order at the moment. The rear trailing arm bushings have a huge effect on the stability of the car and general handling once they have been renewed. I installed a new set on my brothers’ DC2 (albeit had done 110000 miles) and the difference was night and day.

hope my post has been useful
:drive:


Im not going to follow the format with this one as i basically agree 100% with everything OLLY has said.

I find stock set up with R888 Rubber is bloody fantastic!!! I also use the 15/50 profile. There hasnt been one road now that i have lacked confidance, and i do alot of driving in different places. under steer is not an issue and tire/steering response is superb even on the OEM suspension.

On another tire such as the good years i had on yesterday for instance the car will promote understeer on some fairly sharp/steep long sweepers like you get off the motorway slips after around 95MPH.
 
wow, i hope one day to feel what OEM ek9 suspension is like :angry2: Thanks for expanding on that so much olly, it makes me feel like i am really missing out though :(
 
wow, i hope one day to feel what OEM ek9 suspension is like :angry2: Thanks for expanding on that so much olly, it makes me feel like i am really missing out though :(

no problem, my first post was a bit pointless!! :shocked:
 
It is great and make me seriously contemplate taking the coilys off and refitting the standard shocks with some spoon springs to lower a little!!!
 
oem is great however, there is definately a limit you will find that you will need something stiffer.
i had mine in standard form when i first bought mine and i must say, it was excellent, especially on really bumpy surfaces. however, there are limits.
 
oem is great however, there is definately a limit you will find that you will need something stiffer.
i had mine in standard form when i first bought mine and i must say, it was excellent, especially on really bumpy surfaces. however, there are limits.

I am no slouch when driving around a good bend, and with the R888 tires on i am yet to find the limit. With the Eagle F1's there was a limit and could find it fairly easily, although it could still fire around corners. I think i will be keeping the OEM set up for a long time whole replacing bushes/engine mounts etc. Work around whats there and see how it goes.

I want Chris(Hiatch) to take me on a longer drive in his. I could feel the potential there. Felt lovely, although i didnt push at all around the corners, he gave a little and felt great. I NEED TO GET OUT ON TRACK!!!
 
You will find the limit a lot quicker on track, my first TD in the EK9 start of last year was with Tmus & Bluehelixperformance @ Brands. Tmus was running Spoon springs & damper setup, not a full on kit but the difference was fairly large. Coming into a corner it felt tighter, on exit was the most noticeable, the car didnt rock & roll as much, and settled much quicker, allowing for faster exit, it was a smother more settled ride over the rumble strips at full pace also. Some stick with the oem, Olly for example, driving skill is also a big factor in getting the best out of it.
Hope to hook up at some point Dan, car has finally gone in for its downforce adjustments :D
 
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