Suspenssion help

[rr1396]

Hi, i have a 99 civic Ex chasis. For starters, i am not very knowledable in suspenssion set-ups, i am trying to learn as i go by reading different articles and peoples opinions.

i was reading the thread titled "Information About EK Sway Bars *USEFULL INFORMATION*" and have a few questions.

I have a ground control sleeve kit w/eiback street springs and kyb agx shocks. Megan front and rear kit kit and rear lower control arms.

I'm looking into upgrading my suspension and some of the parts i had in mind were: sport springs, rear strut tower, front and rear anti-roll bars, roll center adjusters.

I have questions concerning the anti-roll bars.

My front LCA's are the EX/HX style so from my udnerstanding of the article, i can install a front integra type r anti-roll bar as is, in other words, with my current EX/HX style front LCA's and end links. Is this correct?

As for my rear LCA's, they are aftermarket (megan). I am planning on purchasing oem integra type r end links and anti roll bar. Will oem endlinks from an integra type R work with these LCA's?

As for the subframe brace, i was thinking of going with the ASR. Now, i have read that rear spring rates are a factor when choosing a rear anti-roll bar. I thought the subframe brace would do the job, but apperantly not. Would you recomend using my current street springs with the 22mm anti-toll bar of an integra type R?

Thanks in advance.

 

[blinx9900]

what are your current spring rates? what is the intended purpose of the car?

 

[rr1396]

The majority of the time, this car is going to drive me to school and home, or take my girlfriend and i out to places. I also have some fun with it on the street, mostly backroad twisties and on the highway. Also, i have been doing autocross atleast once every 2 months, and would like going to an actual racetrack atleast twice a year.

When i purchased the suspension, i did not give much importancr to the spring rates information and i disposed of the box which contained the information. I know that it is the 92-00 civic ground control street kit but i was unabele to find the spring rates on their web-site.

 

[AndyH]

i think for general usage mate you are better off sticking with the standard setup...1st of all its a perfectly balanced system for general and a bit of hard driving...hence why so many people rave about it.

i've done the uprated suspension on other cars and the stiffness just pissed me off in general day to day driving due to the harshness.

dont mess with perfection

 

[rr1396]

i'm not going to stick with the standard set up, i know and udnerstand it would be best for street use, but its just not going to happen... having said that. What are your comments on my questions?

 

[blinx9900]

i think for general usage mate you are better off sticking with the standard setup...1st of all its a perfectly balanced system for general and a bit of hard driving...hence why so many people rave about it.

i've done the uprated suspension on other cars and the stiffness just pissed me off in general day to day driving due to the harshness.

dont mess with perfection

AndyH this guy does not have an ek9, he has a us model ej which has crap suspension, i do understand what your saying, factory ek9 suspension would be great for this guy, unfortunately this is not what he has

The majority of the time, this car is going to drive me to school and home, or take my girlfriend and i out to places. I also have some fun with it on the street, mostly backroad twisties and on the highway. Also, i have been doing autocross atleast once every 2 months, and would like going to an actual racetrack atleast twice a year.

based on what your saying i would suggest you keep your current set up and purchase a stiffer set of springs from groundcontrol and swap them out when you plan to go RR or aurtoX, if you like the stiff set up you can just leave it in, but this gives you some flexibility, the AGX should be good enough for what you have in mind, as far as sway or tie bars i would recomend a rear upper strut bar and a front upper strut bar, i believe you have the factory front sway bar? if so keep it, its good enough. and keep the rear the way it is.

if after you upgrade your springs its not enough, then you can add a 22mm rear sway bar + asr brace.

the most important thing is going to be a good set of sticky tires, since your car is daily i suggest something like the hankook RS-2 or falken RT-615 both tires have excellent grip and decent life for a street car. i prefer the hankook over the falken though as its a little better in the wet, and slightly better in teh dry imo. im assuming you have 15" wheels? so a 205/50/15 or 195/50/15 would be great.

however my absolute favorite street tire is the potenza re01R you can get them from tirerack for $106 each which is pretty damn cheap and its better than both tires listed above and has about the same life. its only available in 195/50/15. if you can get these DO IT!

 

[rr1396]

i was planning on doing what you recomened as far as springs.

i am also planning on getting front and rear srut towers as you recomend.

As far as the anti-roll bars, the front is the OE EX 22mm which should, as you said, be enough, but i was really planning on upgrading to a rear anti-roll bar aswell. Maybe going with a 22mm type R is exagerated, but i would like to go with something, maybe an OE si which is 13mm, or a gsr which is 14mm. I believe this will improve the handling characteristics of the car, and not harm handling in daily driving.

To do this though, and as stated previosuly, having aftermarket megan racing lower control arms, will i be able to use OE SI or GSR end links to connect the OE SI or GSR anti-roll bar onto the aftermarket LCA's? For safety, should i also invest in a subframe brace?

If decide to go with the OE type R rear anti-roll bar, could this bar also be conected to the OE endlinks and onto the aftermarket Megan LCA's?

Would 22mm in the front and 22m in the rear be too unpredicatble/uncontrolable on the street? (this is why if i went with the OE type r rear anti-roll bar, i was planning on getting a thicker front anti-roll bar)

I do have 15x7 inch raye gram light wheels, they are wrapped in Kumho Ecsta ASX 205/50/15. i was planning on when this set wears out, to purchase hankook ventus. I will look into you tyre recomendations.

 

[blinx9900]

maybe an OE si which is 13mm, or a gsr which is 14mm. I believe this will improve the handling characteristics of the car, and not harm handling in daily driving.

from what ive heard from autoX people, its a worthless mod, such a small bar wont make a difference unless your going below 20mph.

If decide to go with the OE type R rear anti-roll bar, could this bar also be conected to the OE endlinks and onto the aftermarket Megan LCA's?

yes the ITR will bolt to megan lca. but honestly try to get something better like function 7. megan/blox/skunk/omni are all garbage and there bushings crack very easily, mine cracked in 3 months.

Would 22mm in the front and 22m in the rear be too unpredicatble/uncontrolable on the street?

NO, i have 24mm front and 22mm rear, i roll on nitto nt01 tires and i have too much understeer. 22mm up front should be perfect.

 

[rr1396]

wonderfull, then the plan is 22F 22 R, And thanks for the heads up on megan/skunk 2/omni/blox. I did not know their quality was questionable. This is also good because i was being convinced into purchasing many more megan racing suspension parts.

Do you have a link to function 7?

I know this is the wrong section, butnow that i have you here, and you seam to know your stuff, how is the quality of skunk 2 parts in the engine department (valve train components, cams, cam gears, and intake manifold and throtle body?) i was planning on purchasing these components from skunk 2.

i heard that omni and skunk 2 products are made in the same facility, and that blox was created by an engineer who use to work for skunk , so it is not strange that they all have similar characteristics.

Once i have these components (and my car back for that matter, it is getting an engine transplant) i will be corner weiging and balancing the car, and adjusting all the parameters for a street friendly/track car, these being caster, camber, toe, height, damping, tire pressures, etc.

 

[AndyH]

my apologys..grabbed the wrong end of the shitty stick lol

 

[blinx9900]

Do you have a link to function 7?

i failed to mention they are VERY expensive, you'd be better off with a set of stock 99-SI or EK9 OEM rear LCA's, a lot of RR guys sware by the stock rear lca claiming its better than aftermarket.

I know this is the wrong section, butnow that i have you here, and you seam to know your stuff, how is the quality of skunk 2 parts in the engine department (valve train components, cams, cam gears, and intake manifold and throtle body?) i was planning on purchasing these components from skunk 2.

i heard that omni and skunk 2 products are made in the same facility, and that blox was created by an engineer who use to work for skunk , so it is not strange that they all have similar characteristics.

Once i have these components (and my car back for that matter, it is getting an engine transplant) i will be corner weiging and balancing the car, and adjusting all the parameters for a street friendly/track car, these being caster, camber, toe, height, damping, tire pressures, etc.

as far as skunk2 engine components (manos is going to kill me for saying this) i feel skunk/blox/omni are all on the same level, they are not the best, they are not the worse, they are good if you can get them for a good price. skunk2 has been known in the past for cam failure (there cams used to break a lot), but i dont know if there quality has improved, im sure it has. as far as what facility there made in, im really not sure.