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Mild suspension upgrade(s)?

4K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  teggydude93 
#1 ·
Does there exist a suspension setup that adds a noticeable amount of cornering performance and stability that doesn't also completely ruin the ride? It'd be nice to have a little more fun around town in the corners but I make fairly regular (at least 1x/mo) ~2 hour highway trips, which are pretty tolerable with the stock suspension. I wouldn't want that to change

Can I have my cake and eat it, too?
 
#2 ·
Kinda. If you want better cornering performance, which usually translates into less body roll, you need stiffer springs and more aggressive dampers. 'Ruin the ride' is purely subjective, but if you want better cornering, the ride will get more harsh. Not a ton more, but noticeably.

That said, you want Koni/GC with off the shelf rates. Do a little searching. You'll find out everything you want to know.
 
#3 ·
It's very easy. Oem ITR shocks and springs. These are cheap and can be found anywhere. Buy an asr subframe brace with a 22mm rear sway bar to help the car rotate. The ITR spring rates are 250f 250r (rear is progressive I believe) so they are firm but completely daily drivable. I've had many daily drivers with itr springs and loved them. The factory shock makes the car feel very planted and in control. I have used a koni str.t shock and it was a softer ride, almost too soft.
 
#4 ·
If you do ITR shocks, you'll need to switch to ITR rear lower control arms. Depending on your car, that could be a major undertaking.

I've got the Koni Str.t right now, with stock springs, and yep, it's soft. Body roll city.

The Koni Yellow/Ground Control coilover combo gives you the adjustability to get from roughly where the ITR setup is to something much more appropriate for an autocross.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I did ITR springs + Bilstein sports and the change over to ITR LCAs since I was at the mileage where I might as well change the LCAs to have fresh bushings. I also added the 22mm rear sway bar. Its a nice sorta stiffish ride, but still dailyable, and unless I parked next to my old 97 integra, it looks like a stock integra LS. Being a Florida car, my LCAs came out nice and easy...

The only issues with ITR shocks is most are going to be 15+ years old and who knows how they have been driven. You could always pair them up with koni yellows or bilsteins. Koni yellows are available in both ITR LCAs and gsr/ls LCA fittment. Bilsteins are only ITR LCAs unless you get HDs.

Depending how much you pay for the springs, it can get close to buying OTS GC/Koni kit, but I've had the setup for a 1.5 years and love it. Eventually I'll add GC's to my shocks, but the setup works and honestly I still haven't really hit its limits and want to do an HPDE on the current setup before going further. My tire and wheel selection being the narrow stock tires and me being slow is limiting the car and not the suspension setup. So wider wheels and tires are on my list before stiffer rates

If you are ever in Tampa and want to see how my setup rides and handles, hit me up.
 
#7 ·
I'll add another thing. A big rear bar (23 or 24mm on mine, with the ASR brace) and a soft suspension (srt.t./stock DB8 springs) makes for a very tail-happy car. In the rain on my way to work this morning I had a few instances of...um...rotation. Not tail-out stuff, just bits of time around 20 or 30mph where it felt more like when I was divebombing into a corner on a racetrack at 85mph. Keep the rear bar stock unless you're going to be doing track days, or are willing to accept bigger changes in handling.
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
I went with Koni Yellows with ITR springs. As soon as the car turns into more of a track car, I'll be swapping out the ITR springs for some ~400 ground controls. It's a nice balance of handling and comfort for a daily driver though. And ITR springs are pretty cheap and still have a decent resale so you can use them for a year or two without losing much money when/if you sell them.
 
#13 ·
Ok I'm coming around back to this because my left rear shock is now seeping fluid, figure I need to make a move soon as I've got a road trip in the near future...

To try and keep costs down, but avoid the possibility of buying bad shocks, I'm thinking ITR springs + Koni Yellows or Bilsteins, a-la aw614's setup. Which control arms will need replacing in this scenario, and where do I need to be looking for this stuff? I can't seem to find the springs by themselves on eBay, either that or I'm using the wrong search terms
 
#14 ·
You'll need to type R rear lower control arms because they mount to the strut differently. You might be able to find the struts and lca from rock auto, and get new bolts while you're at it because yours might be frozen in there. As far as the springs go you might find them on rock auto or parts geek but craigslist and ebay are your friends. If you just search integra type r springs you should find some. Or password jdm but they're more on the expensive side.
 
#15 ·
you can probably get used LCAs plus itr springs/shocks from hmmotors, not sure on the cost, but I believe its reasonable.

If you plan on using just the springs with Koni yellows you can use the non ITR LCAs Konis and it should pair up nicely.

If you do want to go bilstein sports they do require the ITR LCAs. Bilstein HDs are available and do work with the non ITR LCAs. However I am not sure how much the valving differs from the sport to HD.

I believe Bilstein renamed them B6 (HD) and B8 (Sport)
 
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