I have looked and looked for a solid answer without luck. I am trying to find out if Buddy Club or MFactory RCAs will work with a DA. The car is lowered and it will be tracked at some point. Will factory replacement ball joints work fine? I have read that all Civics and Integras 90-01 use the same lower ball joint and I have heard people say they should fit. Thats an expensive purchase to make based on “should fit.” I cant find anywhere someone with an EF or DA say yes they fit and have pics.
RCA? You mean LCA right? I recall reading a long time ago, I believe someone on here used an extended ball joint from a 240. It was the right length and it didn’t cause any binding. And because of the extended ball joint, he had to use a bigger size rim for clearance. Sorry, really sleepy and not gonna search for a link right at this moment. Hope that helps somehow!
I’m running the Buddy Club extended ball joints on my car. No issues with fitment. I did so many changes to my suspension at once though I’m not entirely sure what change the ball joints made in how the car feels. For all I know they could be good or bad, lol. I’d probably just go with the stock pieces as I think they are slightly cheaper.
I meant RCA.
Exactly what I needed to know. Ideally, my car’s final setup will be 16" wheels with 225/40 for track use and the car will be lowered enough to have maybe an inch of wheel gap. With this setup, would the RCAs being worth buying or just buy replacement ball joints? Replacements are way cheaper but at the end of the day, money isn’t an issue.
Like I said, I changed so many things at once that I can’t tell what effect the extended ball joints had on how the car feels. But I don’t suspect that they made any serious improvement over stock. If I were to do it again I’d just go w/ OEM replacements since they’re more affordable. Or, better yet, get OEM replacements now, redo the suspension, drive it for a bit, then later swap in the extended ball joints so you have a side by side comparison with no other variables and would know for sure if they are an improvement or not. But by no means are they something that you need for a track car. Spherical TA bushings however… those I’d say are a must have for a track car. But they sure make the car a whole lot more uncomfortable to drive around.
Any reason why you’re going with 16" wheels? 15" is a much more financially sound route.
[QUOTE=Colin;2294064]Like I said, I changed so many things at once that I can’t tell what effect the extended ball joints had on how the car feels. But I don’t suspect that they made any serious improvement over stock. If I were to do it again I’d just go w/ OEM replacements since they’re more affordable. Or, better yet, get OEM replacements now, redo the suspension, drive it for a bit, then later swap in the extended ball joints so you have a side by side comparison with no other variables and would know for sure if they are an improvement or not. But by no means are they something that you need for a track car. Spherical TA bushings however… those I’d say are a must have for a track car. But they sure make the car a whole lot more uncomfortable to drive around.
Any reason why you’re going with 16" wheels? 15" is a much more financially sound route.[/QUOTE]
The car will see street driving as well as track ( come track days, the car will be towed to events ) and after ripping a $600 exhaust out from under the car, ground clearance is a big deal to me. I have my eyes on either TE37s or Spoon SW388s. Not necessarily being a brand whore but those are my two options that I will be picking from.
In the 15" world the Spoon selection kinda sucks, but in 16’s you have some better options, although I’m not sure if they ever made a 16x8 4x100 sw388. If you’re already liking the TE37’s then I’d look at some 15x8 +25 or +35 TE37SL’s. Probably the best 15x8 wheel currently available.
If you’re serious about tracking the car then plan on things breaking and plan on scraping up your exhaust from “offs”. If you want to protect your car, then don’t track it, or just go out there in the beginner group and cruise around at 7/10ths. If you get addicted to the track you’ll find yourself selling off your “bling” parts in favor of practical ones, and then you’ll just need to become OK with the fact that you will damage things, you will have to replace things, it just comes with the territory. Not that it’ll happen all the time or anything, because it doesn’t, but just be prepared. Expect the best, prepare for the worst. Personally I always keep it in the back of my head that on any given day I could total the car out there, need to pick up a new shell and start all over.
I’ve found that this ride height is pretty practical for track use so far. I’ve run it lower, where the tires are about to tuck and it does fine on track but ground clearance for getting there sucked. And it seems to handle better a little higher up, my shocks seem to like a little extra compression travel (and I’m running shortened shocks w/ extended top hats).
I’d like to go lower, and I might go a little lower, but much lower than you see here and ground clearance starts to suffer, especially if you have a traction bar. DEFINITELY go with a header that has lots of clearance. The Toda (or replica) is probably the best option for power and ground clearance.
what rims are those ^^^^^^???
CE28N 15x7 +43 (20mm spacer in front, 10mm spacer + DC2 TA’s in rear)
Oh I fully expect to break things once its tracking as thats part of life with any car tracked or not. The pics above would be perfect for me honestly. Im not too concerned about the traction bar hanging too low as it doesnt really. Im not a huge fan of 15" SLs or many 15" wheels for that matter. Bigger brakes may also be ideal later on so thats where the 16" wheels would come in handy. I know I wont find an 8" wide SW388 so 7" may do me well. I do love how your car sits though.
Are you planning on building a beast? You can go a LONG way without going to brakes larger than ITR sized rotors. I recently upgraded to ITR sized rotors to get ahead of the game a little since I needed replacement calipers anyway. But really I could easily still be using the stock sized brakes. Of course it depends on how much power you have and what your tracks are like. And if you don’t plan on running race pads then there could be a benefit to larger brakes since it’ll help keep temps down.
No telling where the build is going to take me. No boost for sure. Maybe a build enough for over 200hp later on. The ITR brakes don’t need 16" wheels to clear?
It depends on the wheels really, but many 15’s will clear. My CE28’s have TONS of room. My GRN’s have 2-4mm, just barely enough for the wheel weights. Slipstreams (and I’d imagine sw388’s) have plenty of room. 949 6UL’s will clear. Pretty sure RE30’s clear. TE37SL’s clear. RNR’s will clear (may require 10mm spacer). But RPF1’s won’t clear (I ran a 15x7 +35 with a 15mm spacer and still had to grind some of the caliper in order to have 1-2mm of clearance). That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. It depends somewhat on offset too, but in general I think most good 15’s will clear, the exception being the RPF1 which is a great wheel, light, and durable, but the design is such that the barrel gets really narrow right where you need the most clearance for calipers. I was really bummed when I found this out the night before an event and had to break out the grinder on my newly painted calipers :mad: Likely a lot of the 2 and 3 piece riveted wheels would also not clear due too the extra material in that area where you need clearance for the calipers.
You might even get S2000 brakes to fit under 15’s. I didn’t think you could originally but a quick search showed some people have done it, so maybe it’s not an issue. If I had to do it again I’d seriously look into the s2000 setup. The rotors are bigger and the calipers are lighter. Win + Win!
[QUOTE=Colin;2294111]It depends on the wheels really, but many 15’s will clear. My CE28’s have TONS of room. My GRN’s have 2-4mm, just barely enough for the wheel weights. Slipstreams (and I’d imagine sw388’s) have plenty of room. 949 6UL’s will clear. Pretty sure RE30’s clear. TE37SL’s clear. RNR’s will clear (may require 10mm spacer). But RPF1’s won’t clear (I ran a 15x7 +35 with a 15mm spacer and still had to grind some of the caliper in order to have 1-2mm of clearance). That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. It depends somewhat on offset too, but in general I think most good 15’s will clear, the exception being the RPF1 which is a great wheel, light, and durable, but the design is such that the barrel gets really narrow right where you need the most clearance for calipers. I was really bummed when I found this out the night before an event and had to break out the grinder on my newly painted calipers :mad: Likely a lot of the 2 and 3 piece riveted wheels would also not clear due too the extra material in that area where you need clearance for the calipers.
You might even get S2000 brakes to fit under 15’s. I didn’t think you could originally but a quick search showed some people have done it, so maybe it’s not an issue. If I had to do it again I’d seriously look into the s2000 setup. The rotors are bigger and the calipers are lighter. Win + Win![/QUOTE]
I may look into S2K brakes. I will just have to see how things go. Thanks for the info though. It gets me going in the direction I want.
Off topic, but what size tires are those?
205-50-15