Ok so I've got some no-name coilovers on my ride. After purchasing them I noticed no real difference between them and the Arospeed ones I bought a few years ago. The spring rate is a bit high on these causing bounces. The reason why I got them is because I rather have the ability to adjust my ride height at my will (winter and summer). But is the ride better on lowering springs? Does anyone else have bounce issues with their coilovers? And those of you with springs, do you have bounce issues or is your ride similar to your stock setup?

its hard to say... if you plan on getting lowering springs are they going to be no-name brand also?

most if not all no-name brand springs or coilovers is going to have a harsh ride. aftermarket lowering springs & coilovers all have springs that are shorter than stock... lowering springs one one hand usually only drop the car about 1-2 inches... coilovers offer adjustability... but the problem with the no-name brands is that they tend to be very short therefore they use a very stiff spring rate...

also did you upgrade the shocks?

lesson be learned, i think whichever way you go.. you should invest in a quality set of coilovers or lowering springs...

if you dont want to spend the dough on a full coilover system, you could settle for sleeves like the ground controls and upgrade to better shocks

Do you think I can still keep the no-name coilovers I've got and just upgrade the shocks to maybe adjustable ones? Like AGX or Koni Yellows?

What you said was good points, and now I do know its better to spend the extra doe on good stuff. I'm still learning this stuff as I go.

depends... you might still feel some bounciness due to the coilovers being really stiff...

i mean it would help if they had springs rates listed but... rarely do they even go through the effort to do so... and they might not even be true.

if you shop around you might even be able to find some skunk2 sleeves or ground controls.. used... of course you should take a look at them... make sure all the springs are good... the sleeve threads are good...etc

This post was last modified: 06-27-2008 09:45 PM by tilegend.

i think that has a lot to do with them being no-name coilovers, and not having upgraded your shocks. The advantages of coilovers over lowering springs have been listed, adjustability and you can drop them much further than lowering springs. I don't know about you but for the little extra you pay for coilovers (sleeves that is) you get much more for your money than lowering springs as far as I can tell. Definitly upgrade your shocks though, I've heard bad things about AGX though, that they don't last long. Best options are Koni Yellows or Tokico Illuminas, i'm still deciding between the two for my setup, and i'm gonna use GC coilovers.

I was just at a car show this weekend and someone was telling me about the Tokico's. I think I may go that route to match the existing coilovers I've got now. Its really getting old though having to bounce my way around these messed up New England streets. Its much better now that I've lowered them considerably, but its still a pretty stiff ride.

Word to the wise for everyone else out there... Don't be cheap like me, BUY THE GOOD STUFF!!

i'd say get a 1 pc. coilovers like f2's,ksport or maybe d2's....and dont get tokicos!!!they dont last long!!!my shit is blown!

Oh word? How long did your tokicos last after you installed them? Are the roads pretty bumpy where you live? Its crazy up here in the North East.

i heard horror stories about ksports and d2 also...

Function/Form F2 i've heard good things about... their type II is the latest ones but it cost a little more than the regular lineup.

im surprised that you say that about the tokicos. they generally considered one of the better ones out there.

Skip all those garbage brands and buy something worth while like PIC or Koni

Good coilovers won't be bouncy like that. Get some with adjustable damper so you can can make the ride soft.

Good coilovers that have dampers that last a long time, etc are EXPENSIVE. I've come to find that out. I used to have Tein Flexes on my S13. Back then, the flexes were hot shit. The old flex design for most cars wasn't that great.

There are way too many full coilover companies with SKY HIGH spring rates and not enough damping or too much damping.

The whole "lower for the summer, raise for the winter" idea is also only good if you have a lifetime alignment. The 88-00 civic and 90-01 integra chassis share general geometry. By this I mean that if you lower the car, the front toes out and the rear toes in. The inverse is also true...which is what causes the issue. Let me explain:

If you lower your car in the summer, the rear tires will toe in. If you have the toe corrected so that your tires dont scrub and wear out on the inside, the shop will hopefully return the car to factory numbers (near 0).

Now when you go to raise the car up in the winter, the rear tires will be toed out. Toe out in the rear causes over steer. Couple that with ice and snow, and you have a snowy, icy civic in a ditch.

If you raise and lower seasonally, a summer and winter alignment should be done.

Dont get fooled into buying coilovers that are too agressive. Cheap coilovers are usually way too agressive. You get fooled into thinking that the car handles good because body roll is sometimes reduced and the car feels tighter. The sacrifice in ride quality is usually not worth it.

The KW V3s on my S2000 feel almost like stock...till I turn the wheel. That's the beauty of an expensive ass coilover. If you're not ready to get REAL REAL expensive, the tein line up has come up a few notches.

I've heard good things about the monoflex coilovers. You can get those for around $1500-1600ish, IIRC. That's not bad at all considering what you get.

You just have to look for a coilover that is practical as well as sporty. Something that says "race" on it should really not go on a street car. Some manufacturers put "race" on their shitty coilovers just to sell them. These should be avoided like the plague.

I think the best bang for your buck would be a well matched ground control and koni kit. I've ridden on GCs before and I was pretty impressed.

Try like a 350Front and 450rear (or vice versa if you're scared of that oversteer flavor) setup with some Koni Yellows. That shoul be around $850ish.

Otherwise, stick to BIG name brand lowering springs.

Wow, thanks for dropping some knowledge on me B serious! I really do feel bad for buying some cheap coilovers and being impressed with the improved handling. But the bounce and hard ride that I've been dealing with is really getting old. I'm going to look into the Koni Yellows hopefully soon!

I'm rockin' Koni Yellows but w/ Ractive coilovers. No matter how much I play w/ the dampning on the Konis' the ride could be better. That's why I'm gonna upgrade to GC. That combination should be way better.

^ make sure you get more conservative spring rates. Ebay sleeve over spring rates are usually sky high because they figure that you're just going to SLAM your car anyway. Plus, like I said before, an overly hard spring gives you the illusion that your car is handling better.

Koni SP3 and Ground Control is an incredible combination for both street and track. Do it and you will never regret it.

Just bought an Ingalls camber kit for my CRV! I'm super hype about it. Next project is the springs...

In my experience Tokicos are really good to ride on and to track on as well. Mine are at least 4 years old and I DD them on my lude for the longest of all the cars I've owned. I had Teins before, but they were the basic coilovers so I cannot say much about their impressiveness and handling. Just like B serious stated earlier, if you ever drop or lower your car, always set your Toe properly to avoid oversteer, also premature tire wear due to positive/negative toe angles.
I think Ground Controls/Tokico setups are great as an entry-level suspension combo. KYB's aren't that bad, it just depends on your tastes and what you look for from your suspension. If you want even better chassis performance, install a rear sway bar. I assume this is for your CRV, so you should try to brace your chassis and make it stiffer than it already is. I hope this all helps you a little bit and sheds some light on things. Good job gettin the Ingalls ball joints too, it'll help ya some.

Thanks R1chmi3n for the advice. I have already installed a front strut bar and a rear top mount strut bar. I really didn't notice a difference with the rear one till I lowered the car. The top made a nice diff too once added after the fact. Once I get the camber kit in the mail and install it, I'm going to bring the car back to the shop for another alignment to correct my camber and toe. Then I'll be able to get some good new tires that won't wear out in 3months!

I know this thread is like a month old but there is some I would like to add. I dropped my car on Eibach springs with stock struts, granted the stocks will go soon but they are doing the trick for now. Once they blow I have already found a company that modifies my stock suspension to hold Koni yellows of a VW Corrado. Oddly enough the Corrado has the same suspension characteristics as my model Civic.

Once I switched from my GC/Tokico HP setup to the TEIN Flex Damper, I knew I would never go back to a shock/spring combo ever again.

Yea my stock shocks/struts are holding up just fine with my coilovers. I'm happy about it, even though I know I'll need some better aftermarket shocks at some point.

Im currently running k-sport i love them they are bouncy if you tighten them up. there are 32way adj and have dampening knobs, hard or soft at a twist of the wrist very easy to adj. they feel bouncy cuase there stiff , the way i drive is aggressive and spirited im willing to sacrifice comfort and bounciness to out handle most cars on the road. it all comes down to personal pref and money i got my ks for 700 used you can spend 3g or more bottom line the 89.99 springs dont cut for me or most others in search of response and other handling characteristics. coil overs

I just have H&R Sport springs and the ride is amazing. It's not stiff and it's not bouncy. It feels like a lighter stock setup. I'm not a huge fan of super stiff rides and this is perfect. I'd offer more words but I'm not too sure on suspension stuff :]

.....??

What kind of car? That may be important....

If you're going to buy full coilovers, you're going to need to spend some money for quality. Some people say that their D2s, K sports or (insert sweatshop coilover name here) ride just fine.

I disagree. I've ridden in cars where owners say "it rides good". Apparently, they like the sensation of riding on a skateboard that bounces??

I like coilovers that damp very well yet control body roll very well...and the dampers are high quality enought o damp high spring rates for a LOOOOOOOONG period of time before they wear out. That means, however, that you'll be spending some money money. Since you didn't mention the car, I can't make any suggestions.

Id rather have a nice set of lowering springs than a cheap set of coilovers. Consider that a nice set of lowering springs is around $200 and a cheap set of coilovers is around $800.

I have Eibach sportlines on my Si with tokico blues and stock front shocks. It rides F'ing great. I use swaybars to control roll but keep the ride good. A lot of your ride quality and handling will have to do with tuning. I have KW V3s on my S2000. They ride very very well but the car doesn't roll at all. It's planted at the track and rides good on my way home. But I paid a considerable sum for those (even though I paid like $600 under retail). My civic and my S2000 are different cars that are used for different things. Which brings me to my next point:

Buying the right parts for the right application is key. You could buy $5k coilovers and they may be worse for your application than a $200 set of lowering springs.

I've also driven my friend's car with ground controls and stock shocks. If you use the GC OTS rates and the car is your daily driver, you can use stock shocks or tokico blues or something. It will ride great. No bouncing, no undue harshness.

You never mentioned what you're using the car for either...so it's a very vague question. Try to include more details.

This post was last modified: Yesterday 09:43 AM by B serious.