So my car cant get aligned until i get some new struts/springs… Any help is welcome as this is pretty much top priority right now for the car. I told my dad to cancel the appt. w/ the shop to install OEM struts/springs for like $650 all expenses included. I want to go aftermarket this time. I work a little and cant really afford to put a 700 dollar setup on my car (if i were to get GCs) + my car pretty darn old itself. I’ll be getting my first paycheck this friday and i’ll see after tax how much it is.
I was thinking about getting this setup:
-Koni Yellow (low $400s)
-Eibach Pro-Kit ($205 shipped from tirerack)
i’ve searched and there arent many threads about it. I saw one but there were no replies, and the other was old and the person that wanted the setup never updated. Others suggest that i could be a good combo but dont have it themselves.
Konis have adjustable perches right (3 settings)? According to the site it has 3 spring perch heights, with a max. lowering on shock itself of 20mm.
well being cautious as he always is, my dad, an M. Engineer , is worried that a 1.4 front/1.0" rear drop from the Eibachs would make a difference in my suspension geometry and that realistically, the sagging springs i have now are probably dropping my car somewhat and causing the initial alignment problems.
My question is how do i solve this? I told my dad about adjusting the front toe but he says its a camber issue. Say i do get the toe fixed…what of the camber? Is it okay with a 1.4" drop? If anything i can put the spring on the highest perch on the koni to compensate.
what about the rears? Since its a 1" drop i read here about placing washers or spacers in the suspension to adjust the camber…is this a reliable and safe way to adjust it?
and i’m contemplating DIY strut install and getting an alignemnt at some place like discount tire afterwards.
personally I would save up a little more and get the ground controls. They are bit more expensive but is a great combo actually it is a great auto cross combo.
i’ll have to see my paycheck and decide. i’m earning around 11 an hour and i think it’ll take me a few weeks to get enough for a new suspension set up. I’ve been riding on the car as it is for a year without a rotation (i should probably do that) and i think i can wait a little more before i make a final decision and for more money. but right now the rear springs are sagging and it has some uneven wear on the inner sides as i’ve already mentioned in other threads. The Pro kit would save me around 100 instead of getting the GCs.
ANyone know where to get a good price on GCs in SoCal? I’ve been only looking on ebay so far because i dont know any local shops. I’m looking for a deal that is <$300-350.
and i still have to spend more money on new tires. (for my ls mesh rims)
I’d go with ground controls and the koni yellows. You can get them at a pretty good price, check the sponsor marketplace here and on honda tech and you can usually get great deals. With the GC’s you can put them on and adjust your car to the ride height you want it at. I have mine set at a decent drop and the alignment shop told me the camber was perfect (I think stock is -1 degree). It’s not low as I would like it, but it rides better than what I had it set at so thats why i brought it back up. It’s my daily driver so the ride quality is before how low it is.
its still more pricey than if i went through my friend that works at ITT (koni’s parent). He can get me the complete set of koni yellows in the low 400s (relatively 50% off retail) + shipping. GCs would add 300-350 to that so its around total of $700-750. Eibach Pro Kit is 205 shipped so it’ll be like 600-650… that 100 could be used for the alignment. Then again, not many people are running my planned setup…only 2 FS threads came up in Honda-tech.
Well some negative camber is fine, and it wont wear out your tires permaturely. Thats if it’s not excessive, and with the pro kit you shouldn’t have much negative camber.
However, as far as looks go; I’m not a fan of the the pro kit. I think it doesn’t lower are cars enough to look nice. Plus if you’re putting on koni yellows they can handle a decent drop no problem.
I have Eibach Sportlines and I really like how they ride/look. Plus I don’t use any camber correction (I did get an alignment however) and my tires/suspension seem fine. GC’s are also another good choice as some have monetioned.
camber is not the enemy, its your toe. i am lowered pretty low with my cusco coilovers and i have no camber kits. the car has been aligned with toe set to zero and i rotate my wheels every 4-5k miles. no inner wear what so ever so far.
well since the eibachs drop 1.4 front, the konis can go another .7" by adjusting the spring perch. So i can attain a 2" drop at least if i wanted to. The rears i can drop using spring perch to 1.7" as well. But 2" is already lower than i want. I dont want to go any lower i’ll have to watch my parking. (at my apt there is perpendicular parking with a curb, and my driveway at my house is an incline.)
Right now i have about a 1" clearance from my oem 93 lip and the curb.
any more suggestions would be great.
i guess i’ll work 6 hours consistently this week. Im not exactly sure how much CA income tax takes, but i should be around 500 for 2 weeks. In 3 weeks i could potentially have enough for a GC setup. I can also ask my dad to chip in. (he was going to do the original 650 + some of my money)…my parents friend has a job for me doing computers for LA county and i can earn 500 in one week, but its only till August and i still have my temp job i’m working now…
unless someone can link me to a deal of koni/GC for about 700.
maverick: i guess you’re lowered at least 2"? i guess i dont really have to worry about camber…more about toe. My dad’s a real skeptic though. I dont blame him, though i personally think 1" lower wouldnt hurt anything.
edit: honda tech sponsor has a GC coilover set for 322, so potentially 425 (koni incl. shipping) + 322 = $747 + tax…which will raise it to 800…ahh so much money. Comon you guys convince me its cool to spend almost 900 on a 14 year old car!
actually, i’ve come up with a cheap solution. this whole day i’ve been debating with myself on how much more money i’ll spend on this car. I hope in the future to have an RSX so i would want to save money. There’s just so many needs demanding my paycheck (food, student loan, misc needs) so i cant spend money on something i wont have in the long term. My dad says i’ll use my money to buy new tires for the LS Mesh (and to replace the bad tires i have now) and partially pay for struts.
I’m thinking OEM spec/equivalent shock with H&R OE or Eibach prokit (as HT members say they arent bad with stock shocks). this will cut costs by near half if i DIY too. My dad wanted me to get a budget of $100 per strut/spring. Thats a little hard to achieve with yellows and GCs.
thanks for everyones help, sorry if i wasted any of your guys’ time.
Well KYB GR2 are a great shock to just keep a daily driver, not too low but comfortable ride. Thats what I’m running on my GC’s. You can pick up the GR2’s from Summit Racing for a great price. They might even have the spring kit your looking for.
I had the whole koni yellow and GC setup w/ upgraded spring rates and tophats at all 4 corners. Along with a BUNCH of other suspension stuff for the car. I changed my plans with the car and just decided to sell everything and leave the car as a daily driver.
I have kyb gr2’s for sale! a set of 4 used for 8k miles…i’ll sell it pretty cheap…let me know. it was used on some neuspeed race springs (mild drop, not too low). All city driving, mainly 10 miles from home everyday for about a year. They’re still in good condition. I was thinking $80 + shipping…about half price of new ones. Reason for sale, I’ve upgraded to koni yellows. Getting GC’s also so i can go lower.
I found a deal for tokico illuminas + tokico springs for about 445 shipped. Anyone have experience with this? Its on ebay actually. Its not that much more expensive than if i were to go OEM and i have adjustable shocks too.
Nothing but a can of worms IMO. (no offense to Ksport owners). These arent for me.
again, i’m looking for a complete 4 strut setup for about 400 or 100 a strut. 448 is a somewhat negligible difference. The tokicos should be good quality and plus the springs are paired so it should last a while. I might move up to H&R Sports in a few months.
not to mention the money saved is going into my tires. (due to the uneven wear on my current 14" steelies, and for my LS Mesh) I have another hookup that can get me a deal on Falkens for around 200 a set.
okay another update:
-ordered the tokico illuminas + springs and came out to 480 shipped, tax included SHould be coming later next week. Much better than spending 750+ on a koni/gc setup…but thats just me. In two weeks i’m getting new tires.
went out and took off one of my rear wheels to check out that LCA bolt that might give me some trouble (3-4 bolts i may need to take off. 3 according to the service manual, 4 according to the team-integra article…this bolt just might make it easier.). Using a 6 foot pole I annihilated it (broke it loose) so now it wont be a problem. I’m definitely doing my rears. :rockon: I sniff another How-To coming up.
fronts i still need to check out. A tad bit more involved on that side.
The rears should come out with just the lower shock bolt, and the 2 nuts up top. You might need someone to step or pull down in the trailing arm/hub assembly to create more room to get it out.
buy my springs if u want eibach! http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169619
ive had the pro kit on my old car (not an integ) and the ride comfort was pretty nice. idk. eibach has been around for a while im pretty sure. just helping out.
update: the shocks came in (pretty fast too, shipped on monday)
one concern my dad had upon opening the package (i am in my irvine apt, my dad is at my house. he sent me pictures of it) was the somewhat disheveled look of the packaging as if it had been opened. There is some dirt on one of the bump stops on a strut but everything else is immaculate despite the packaging. On the outside of the box someone scrawled “Refused- DIdn’t want” and what looks like to be a date 3-27 -xx (picture cut it off)
here’s the strut:
you can see a slight dark ring on the bumpstop and my dad said it felt kinda greasy. but other than that the strut seems more or less new.
here’s the spring with inconsistent packaging. One spring is in a bag, this one wasnt.
closer shot of the bump stop:
is that normal? the shaft looks pretty clean though.
i have a feeling the person opened it, realized he didnt want it and returned it. I’m kinda iffy on these kinds of things, but is a small amount of dirt on teh bumpstop normal? obviously the packaging has been tampered with…but the springs from the pictures look clean and untouched, and the baggie of parts there looks to be sealed.
i’m going to give them a call tomorrow and ask about it. It was advertised as “new in box” so what do you guys think i should do? how do struts come packaged from the factory?
i wouldn’t worry about it. seems like your a little paranoid haha. the shocks seem new. nothing looks wrong with them through the pics. you can give them a call like you said to make sure.
