suspension upgrade

[tidyneil]

this may sound like a newbie question but....

I have a standard ek9 and although it handles very well I want to start to upgrade it, am I best to start with coilovers ( was thinking about meister r) or should I fully poly bush the car? was thinking about hardrace bushes, my car is a daily drive and I wouoldnt be using it on a track.

 

[simone]

It really depends on what you want out of the car.

I’ve gone through the following set up:-
OEM Honda EK9 Suspension
Honda Access 5-Way Adjustable with Honda Access -10mm Springs
Meister R Zeta S
OEM Honda shocks & Eibach Pro Kit Lowering Springs
Honda OEM EK9 Suspension

The best suited suspension for me were the Honda Access (made by Showa), as it was lowered just a tiny amount, had really nice level of damping, didn’t have to crawl over speed humps at a snails pace, 5 way damper adjustability that you could feel the difference straight away, just the prefect upgrade to the standard set-up. Wish I never sold them

Biggest improvements that I’ve noticed from driving back on OEM EK9 suspension, is that it’s light and day difference to the how the car drives/feels with a re-fresh, as I’ve had TGM change out all the suspension bushes with OEM Honda items. Just everything is nice and tight!

Start with getting new bushes, as with any rubber component, these all degrade/deteriorate over time. Then swop things around to suit

 

[Ellis]

Honestly dont see meister R or any like that as an UPGRADE on the road. If your not goig on track at all id honestly leave your oem shockers on and some stiffer springs. I found that set up to be far superior on the average uk road as any coilover ive had on my ek's in the past (meister r, d2, tein).

Found them all too stiff and too slow to react to the un-even road surfaces. There is far more R&D put into the oem dampers for daily road driving than any coilovers.

A fully hardrace bushed ek9 would also be rock hard on the road, id stick to Genuine OEM bushes. Imo there is just no benefit if your just going to be on the roads

 

[Kozy]

Honestly dont see meister R or any like that as an UPGRADE on the road. If your not goig on track at all id honestly leave your oem shockers on and some stiffer springs. I found that set up to be far superior on the average uk road as any coilover ive had on my ek's in the past (meister r, d2, tein).

Found them all too stiff and too slow to react to the un-even road surfaces. There is far more R&D put into the oem dampers for daily road driving than any coilovers.

A fully hardrace bushed ek9 would also be rock hard on the road, id stick to Genuine OEM bushes. Imo there is just no benefit if your just going to be on the roads

Why do you want to upgrade it? If it is for the sake of modifying, rather than actually improving certain aspects of the performance, then think very carefully about what you want to achieve. Honda spent god knows how many millions on R&D for their Type R models, they some of the best engineered 'common' road cars about. It is difficult genuinely improve on the OEM stuff, but very easy to make it heavily compromised in search of a single goal.

All these coilovers that you can buy, by and large come from the same couple of factories. They have no R&D specific on the EK9, they simply sell you the same thing that they put on Mazda's, Nissans, VWs, and everything else, then sell you 'adjustability' as a cover up for their cheapness so that you, the buyer, does the R&D in making it work on your car. Personally, I just like stuff that works, because it was engineered for the car. In terms of uprated, you're looking at Spoon and Mugen 'Showa' stuff. Some of the niche JDM companies that deal exclusively with Hondas may have decent R&D too, but they'll usually be track/race parts and not really suitable for road use.

If there is not a clear goal in upgrading parts and you are overall happy with the performance, the best thing you can do is a full refresh with all new OEM parts.

 

[tama666]

^^^yup! Spot on Kozy!

 

[muiris]

nice post kozy

 

[Dave.]

Get some good tyres if you havent already, best upgrade money can buy, i find Yokohama ad08s are as good as road tyres get.

 

[tidyneil]

thats certainly gave me some room for thought then, I think ill just replace any bushes etc that need doing, are oem honda the best or is it worth considering blueprint etc? as i get a massive discount on blueprint stuff.

 

[tidyneil]

I have parada spec 2 but i dont like them at all, next stop is ad08's

 

[simone]

I went for Honda OEM bushes, as I just wanted the ensure that it stayed as it intended from the factory.

for Yoko AD08's, as that is what I opted for my summer tyres.
Otherwise, I would have got another set of Bridgestone RE01R's if they were available for purchase in the UK (or current equivilent)...

 

[MeisterR]

Right, first of all... bush is a wear and tear item.
Before upgrade, make sure all parts on the car are functioning correctly first.
The best coilovers in the world will still drive rubbish if the alignment is out and all the bush are worn.

Onto the next and this is where some opinion get into it.
I always say suspension is a personal preference, it does depends on what you want.
Some people like suspension stiff, other doesn't. And of corse, ride height affect everything and different driver have different preference also.

Now, coilovers like MeisterR Zeta-S do have a wide range of adjustments as an entry level performance suspension.
The wide range of adjustments are mainly to compensate for different driver preference...
Most of the damper on full stiff will be over damped, because we don't expect you to go that hard... and the vice versa applies to full soft. But most owner will find a setting that they like within the suspension adjustments range.
The one advantage that aftermarket suspension has is that we are not bound by rules in the OEM industry.
So we have more freedom to design our suspension (such as ride height adjustments, damping adjustments range, etc) as we aren't bound by compromise that OEM manufacturer have to face..

We have request to make custom suspension, and it is something we can do.
We have a technical parter who design vehicle dynamic base on a specific car by taking the corner weight, motion ratio, anti-roll bar, tyre compound, and desired wheel frequency and mathematically design a suspension (much like a tailor made suit) for that specific data.
It is how most race car suspension are developed.
Like a tailor made suit, these type of work aren't cheap so you won't expect to see any change from £2000.

Anyways, I don't doubt the OEM EK suspension are great.
But as an OEM suspension, there were compromise made and it depends on your preference to see if you like that compromise or not.
Like the newer FD2 Civic Type-R, the OEM suspension is so stiff that you actually have a hard time getting traction on uneven UK road surfaces.

We actually produce a coilovers that was much "softer" than the OEM dampers because that was what the owners need for the uneven roads.
The OEM suspension for FD2 are great on the track and Honda spends load developing it... but that is not what customers in the UK need.

Jerrick

 

[Edgar friendly]

Honestly dont see meister R or any like that as an UPGRADE on the road. If your not goig on track at all id honestly leave your oem shockers on and some stiffer springs. I found that set up to be far superior on the average uk road as any coilover ive had on my ek's in the past (meister r, d2, tein).

Found them all too stiff and too slow to react to the un-even road surfaces. There is far more R&D put into the oem dampers for daily road driving than any coilovers.

A fully hardrace bushed ek9 would also be rock hard on the road, id stick to Genuine OEM bushes. Imo there is just no benefit if your just going to be on the roads

I upgraded my CRX with a fully polybushed Energy kit because my bushes were knackered and I mean every bush. The kit cost me nearly £300 - £400 plus a further £500 odd for fitting and in my honest opinion it completely ruined the car.

The CRX was never right after that. It felt twitchy all the time and in a way it felt like driving on ice, the back end felt like it was lifting off it was not pleasant at all driving it. When I first had it it was a fantastic handling car, not the best I've had but certainly up there. The best car handling wise I've had was a Peugeot 306 GTI-6 - I had Skip Brown motors in Cheshire eliminate the rear wheel steer on the 306 and it improved what was already a great handling car.

In hindsight I'd have replaced the CRX with genuine (from Honda) OEM parts. If it ever comes down to it and the EK9 bushes need replacing they will only be getting done with OEM bushes, nothing else. Take the above advice when it comes to suspension.

As for dampers etc - I'd love OEM but the car just doesn't sit low and EK's look lovely, they're a very sexy pretty car and lowering them really suits the motor but you lose on comfort.

 

[tama666]

I upgraded my CRX with a fully polybushed Energy kit because my bushes were knackered and I mean every bush. The kit cost me nearly £300 - £400 plus a further £500 odd for fitting and in my honest opinion it completely ruined the car.

The CRX was never right after that. It felt twitchy all the time and in a way it felt like driving on ice, the back end felt like it was lifting off it was not pleasant at all driving it. When I first had it it was a fantastic handling car, not the best I've had but certainly up there. The best car handling wise I've had was a Peugeot 306 GTI-6 - I had Skip Brown motors in Cheshire eliminate the rear wheel steer on the 306 and it improved what was already a great handling car.

In hindsight I'd have replaced the CRX with genuine (from Honda) OEM parts. If it ever comes down to it and the EK9 bushes need replacing they will only be getting done with OEM bushes, nothing else. Take the above advice when it comes to suspension.

As for dampers etc - I'd love OEM but the car just doesn't sit low and EK's look lovely, they're a very sexy pretty car and lowering them really suits the motor but you lose on comfort.

Ouch.
Sorry about the issues...but great story to read and I am sure it will help others decide on any changes.

 

[Edgar friendly]

Ouch.
Sorry about the issues...but great story to read and I am sure it will help others decide on any changes.

Cheers bud.

Parts wear over time, there's not much we can do about that. It was a 21 year old car so the fact that the original bushes lasted that long in the first place tell you everything you need to know.

I'd never replace bushes with anything other than OEM ever again whether that's Energy or Hardrace, they really offer nothing to your car and quite frankly you'd be pissing your money away.

It may cost you more for OEM but you'd feel the difference between the two. I hope my post has been of some assistance to others before they decide to go and blow all their money on aftermarket bushes.

HTH

 

[R1PPU]

I've rebushed the front end of my car with Hardrace items, and my honest opinion is that they're fantastic. I was debating going OEM, poly, or Hardrace and the later seemed the best option for me.

As its been mentioned, the reviews I read and heard all said to me that for a road car, poly is not needed, and can make the car feel worse. I'll be honest, the problems that Edgar Friendly was describing sounds more like a geo issue rather than the bushes. But I agree with the fact that there isnt much point of going for poly bushes on the road.

Between OEM and Hardrace...personal preference. I wanted a slightly more feedback, thats why I went for Hardrace ones. They were actually cheaper than OEM too which surprised me.

End of the day, its down to you. Try to get out in a car thats got the different types installed and make a decision from there. No matter what, you'll feel the improvement over worn bushes. When the time comes to rebush the rear, im sticking with Hardrace