What’s up fellas. I have a question. Im looking to set up a nice smooth sturdy track and daily suspension. I do love canyon cruises. Any tips on some set ups? Cs2 are my first choice. I haven’t messed with suspensions my last 91 Gs was sitting on Tokicho Whites. I want quality for my GsR. Thanks in advanced brothers.
Ha, that’s funny Carlos, I was thinking the exact same thing earlier. I think social media is ruining the ability of people to network and learn about cars online since forums are dying, but if you could add tagging to forums it’d be a best of both worlds. I think the ship may have sailed though.
I actually thought I responded to this thread already, I must have gotten distracted.
Carlos hit the nail on the head - Koni Yellows + Ground Control, they aren’t going to be the best at anything but if they don’t do it best they do it 2nd best. Whereas a lot of other options do one thing really well and suck at everything else.
Pros
Yellows + GC’s won’t be the cheapest but it’s gonna be your best bang for your buck.
Resale value is really good on these unlike most everything else in the same pricing range.
I wouldn’t be wary of buying a used set either.
Track tested and approved.
Fully rebuildable - this could be the last set of shocks you ever buy for the car.
Customizable - get them shortened & revalved and you’ve got a set of raceworthy shocks. Did I mention this could be the last set of shocks you ever buy for the car?
Very durable.
Cons
Don’t look as good as and a bit more finicky to work with than a true threaded body coil over.
No provision for brake line brackets other than cutting off your old ones or using zip ties.
Shocks are yellow. GC’s are red and gold.
GC’s use SAE sized set screws, not metric
Yellows use 15mm (iirc) nuts for the top hats which is not a standard size used on Hondas
With all that said, don’t expect any big upgrades or anything. The Tokico Illuminas you had previously are GREAT shocks. In terms of valving and handling they’re neck and neck with the Koni Yellows. I only give the advantage to the Yellows because they’re rebuildable and allow for more shock travel for a couple different reasons I won’t go into. I ran the Illuminas for 5+ yrs on 10k/5k Skunkworks coilovers and they were great. I was dumpped for a lot of these miles but the shocks took the abuse without any complaints. If you want better performance than the Illuminas or Yellows you’re gonna need to start forking over $$. And honestly, you don’t need more than these shocks unless you’re just looking for ways to throw money away or you’re seriously tracking the car a few times a month.
Colin basically nailed it.
Another recommendation before even messing with the struts which ALOT of people neglect is to refreshen up all the bushings on the car. From rear trailing arms, control arms, and etc. Also don’t forget other chassis parts too such as the ball joints, endlinks and etc. Remember these are 20+ year cars so I highly doubt anyone before you did so. Changing these will make a night and day difference (it’ll make the car more responsive/“tighter”)…and will compliment new aftermarket suspension even better… And if you truly want quality be prepared to spend upwards of $3k to start for real “quality” ( bilstein, motons, koni and etc.). Most of the coilovers you see on most vendors online are merely entry level which is more than adequate for most people…
[QUOTE=AV turn’d DA;2324971]Colin basically nailed it.
Another recommendation before even messing with the struts which ALOT of people neglect is to refreshen up all the bushings on the car. From rear trailing arms, control arms, and etc. Also don’t forget other chassis parts too such as the ball joints, endlinks and etc. Remember these are 20+ year cars so I highly doubt anyone before you did so. Changing these will make a night and day difference (it’ll make the car more responsive/“tighter”)…and will compliment new aftermarket suspension even better… And if you truly want quality be prepared to spend upwards of $3k to start for real “quality” ( bilstein, motons, koni and etc.). Most of the coilovers you see on most vendors online are merely entry level which is more than adequate for most people…[/QUOTE]
^100% correct. You’re wasting your time upgrading your shocks/springs if you don’t make sure all the other components are up to the task.
I feel like this question comes up about every other month and the recommendation is usually Koni + GC for the most part. It’s funny though most people don’t listen. Most of the coilovers you see people running for the DA are complete garbage. I’ve had a few different setups and my latest is 10k/8k ground control + Koni + Front Extended Hats. I can actually feel a huge difference from my other setups. It’s a great street/track setup. If I was doing track only, I might go to 12k/10k. If you replace your old suspension components and upgrade bushings your car will benefit a lot as well. A lot of people vouch for Skunk 2, Yonaka etc but I think spending the extra money to get Koni/GC is worth it. You will end up spending around a ground. There are definitely more expensive setups that may perform better, but it’s a great bang for your buck for most people’s need’s since these cars are converted grocery getters not race bred beasts (skyline, nsx etc). Both companies actively race and you can call and get a human being on the phone if you need to.
And part of the problem is that most of the guys running the cheap suspension setups don’t have anything to compare to. The car looks good because it’s low and feels fast because it’s stiffer but they have absolutely nothing to compare it to and don’t have actual laptimes to compare vs stock or other setups.
Hmm, just thought of another con to the GC’s - they use SAE sized set screws, oh how I hate having non-metric parts on my car :mad: Same for the Koni’s I think they use 15mm nuts on the top hats instead of the standard Honda 14mm or 17mm. (yes, I’m absolutely crazy, haha!)
I wouldn’t even consider any mods before buying a bushing kit. I replaced all of mine with the Energy Suspension kit. Currently, I am running on Tein Super Street coilovers. I like them but there are better setups for the same price.
I love my CS2 coilovers on my DA. They’re for a DC though so I’m probably not getting even close to the performance I should be (rears are wound all the way up to get it to a drivable height, and the front are spun down about half way to match the rears).