stock suspension on track


B

big_joe

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
68
Evening all. I'm currently considering swapping my Bc coilovers out and sourcing some stock ek9 suspension. The BCs are a bit of a pain in the ass on the road......but I will be doing a few track days this year too and wondered how standard suspension would cope? Anyone any experience of stock suspension combined with decent track based tyres such as R888s? Cheers
 
Standard suspension is not to be underestimated, a standard 9 can do sub 9 minute ring laps.
 
You'll get a bit of roll for sure, but that's not bad necessarily. Give your car a fair amount of negative camber to compensate and it will be fine, you'll probably be impressed with just how good the stock suspension actually is.
 
I think I would source an aftermarket spring/shock combo if I was you using the money from the BC's, however 888's are a sticky tyre when up to temp, I had Tein HA's on my old SiR Civic, F10 R 7 and I would have liked a bit less body roll with the 888's.

I think stock suspension would would benefit more from a more street based performance tyre like the AD08's or Federal RSR's to allow that bit of "give" between the tyres and the road taking some of the stress off the suspension and making a more enjoyable experience, because that's what a trackday is about :nice:

Although if your serious/interested in track work, after your first track day in it you will be back to drawing board looking at coilovers I reckon :p
 
Last edited:
I'd agree that AD08s would be a better option. No need to be the fastest thing on the track on a trackday, it's all about fun and AD08s will allow you to be on the limit more, at lower speed and at much less cost as they wear so much better than R888s.
 
I had RSRs on my old DC2 and was impressed. I've done 10 or so track days in various cars so I'm fairly competent.....though no Michael Schumacher by any stretch. There is barely any roll with the BCs and it has had a full alignment/setup done for them by automek, The handling is impressive for sure but the ride not great.....on a bumpy country road it's effectively slowing me down because of the harshness. Ultimately it's a road car that will venture on track a few times a year.....maybe there's a better compromise out there?
 
big_joe said:
I had RSRs on my old DC2 and was impressed. I've done 10 or so track days in various cars so I'm fairly competent.....though no Michael Schumacher by any stretch. There is barely any roll with the BCs and it has had a full alignment/setup done for them by automek, The handling is impressive for sure but the ride not great.....on a bumpy country road it's effectively slowing me down because of the harshness. Ultimately it's a road car that will venture on track a few times a year.....maybe there's a better compromise out there?
Click to expand...

Standard ek9 suspension with spoon springs would probably be a good compromise :nice:
 
Yea, the Spoon springs and dampers were perfect. About 50% stiffer than stock and perfectly damped, keeps a sensible ride height too.

Brilliant down back roads which is where mine spent most of it's life.
 
Kozy my ek9 is standard suspension wise, but i have front and rear camber arms and 595 rsr. Taking it to the ring again august. Whats a safe geo setup to work on..

Was thinking
Front 2 degree, rear 1.5, 0 toe, and adjust from there?

I have a cusco lsd, baffled sump, dixcel brakes and blackworks rad so ive got everything else covered
 
big_joe said:
I had RSRs on my old DC2 and was impressed. I've done 10 or so track days in various cars so I'm fairly competent.....though no Michael Schumacher by any stretch. There is barely any roll with the BCs and it has had a full alignment/setup done for them by automek, The handling is impressive for sure but the ride not great.....on a bumpy country road it's effectively slowing me down because of the harshness. Ultimately it's a road car that will venture on track a few times a year.....maybe there's a better compromise out there?
Click to expand...

I agree and stand by that a softer more forgiving setup is much faster on most roads than a stiff, crashy setup which often skips along, not forgetting a lot safer. Bit like a Touge setup :p.

I have recently got a DC2 brought over which has came with the Mugen 5way damping adjustable suspension, spring rates are a bit stiffer than OEM F5 R4.6 vs F4 R3.6 or around that anyway. Normally I would be straight on the hunt for coilovers but after hearing good things about this setup I am going to try it on the track and see what I think of it as the car will see 2k miles of the roads a year aswell.

I'll do a review when I get them tested :nice:.
 
Last edited:
I'd go with more camber to be honest mate, I was running -2.5 up front with stiffer suspension and less grippy tyres. I'd be looking for at least -2.5, maybe -3 up front and around -2 in the rear. Toe is a personal choice really, but I stopped using toe out on the front of my MX5 as a bit of toe in gives more grip at the expense of turn in.
 
So standard dampers with spoon springs could be the way to go then. Does anyone want to buy some BCS? :)
 
I run standard shocks with spoon springs, its perfect on the road and for track it feels great, I was unsure if I should go down the coilover route, but I would never be able to hit the limit on track of the standard suspension, as much as we think we can all drive we cant.

In the end I compared track miles to road miles, road miles won, I fitted spoon springs and now enjoy every minute driving both on and off the track. Dont get me wrong coilovers would be quicker on track, but then again so would my car now with the stig driving it.
 
The B12 kit would be worth a look in too, hopefully going to get a set of my Accord later this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top