suspension upgrade

[fatdudesurfin]

hey i'm new here, and i've got a question to start out with

i'm in the market for a relatively simple suspension upgrade on my 2000 civic ex sedan (upgrade from stock), and because i have very little knowledge on the basics of the car's suspension and what i should be looking for, im wondering if any of you could point me to some good information about upgrading suspension/springs (for a noob, yup).
basically, im just trying to learn what parts would need upgrading, and THEN which brands and parts i should go with. im interested in a setting mainly for daily driving, with a nice little drop, but without sacrificing too much stiffness/handling performance. cheapness is good, but if the best bang for the buck is expensive, ill have to go for that.

as of now, there are no mods on my car, so if you feel im beginning in the wrong area, let me know. thanks for the help tho

 

[Smonkeyboy]

1. welcome to HS
2. there is a horrid amount of info on stuff like this, and this a great place to have people help you sort through it.
3. everyone has differing opinions on stuff like this, but here goes my .02

from the sound of it your just looking for a nice drop, cause stock ride height is stupid. to stay as basic as possible the only thing you need to change are your springs, you will lose ride quality, and that all depends on which spring you get. personally if you just want to drop it, and arent goin to roadrace/auto-x then just your springs will be fine. if you are looking at getting into competing i would highly recommend changing your damper as well.

i would recommend EITHER

just springs (Eibach Sportline, Neuspeed Street) you can run those on stock dampers. stuff like Tein/Tanabe/Neuspeed Race/Eibach Prokit are gonna require new dampers, cause you will blow your stock ones.

or coilovers with new dampers. im not a fan of coilevers as you will be lucky to ever have all 4corners at the same height, plus they are a pain in the ass to adjust.

i HIGHLY recommend that if you drop over an inch you invest in camber plates, as you will wear through your tires extremely quickly without them. i dont have camber plates, and my rear camber is about -2 to -3 degrees, its horrible.

right now i am using the Neuspeed race springs, with stock dampers, ive had them in about 2months now, and im really really suprised i havent blown a damper yet. they are VERY stiff, but dont sag at all, plus the ride height is killer. if i wasnt broke and in college, i would probablly use these springs, but on Tokico Illuminas (5-way adjustable)

feel free to ask any more questions.

and a ballpark figure would be nice. on how much you want to spend.

 

[jwn7]

do you plan to track the car? if you don't right now, i bet you very well might later on. if you're just looking for a good setup for the street and no racing, i'd recommend some kyb agx shocks, or tokicos, and eibach springs having rates somewhere around 350F 250R.

if you want to track the car, how so?

drag: koni yellows with ground control coilovers & springs around 300F 600R
autox: same, but rates around 400 500
road racing: buddy club racing spec dampers 12K 16K

it really depends on what you want to do. i would avoid TEIN, despite what everybody will say. i've used the often recommended SS, and they aren't even close to being worth it. i would make sure to do a good bit of reading before i purchased anything, so you don't waste money; you may want nothing to do with anything i posted above, but those setups are tipically accepted as the best bang for the buck. however, there's so many other options that are good also. H&R neuspeed, bilstien, jic etc.

this is a good place to start, and i would get some wheels and tires next.

 

[fatdudesurfin]

thanks for all the help

ballpark, im thinkin of just goin with the spring upgrade like you recommended, and ideally spend 200-400 (quality over cheapness) or so. later on (maybe in 3-4 months), ill upgrade the rest of the stock suspension.

also, on a related topic, i would like to get some new wheels for the car. right now im thinking that anything bigger than 16" would be a bit ridiculous for me. so as for 16" wheels, are there any brands you would recommend? and which tires should i go with on these wheels? these will be for street use only. right now im considering the enkei rsf-2's but im unsure about tires to match.

 

[MikeBergy]

enkeis are nice, I'm a fan of the rpf-01 I think thats the model #. Rota makes good wheels, even if everyone thinks they are over played. My favorites by far are volk te37, but are WAAYYY out of my price range, and probably yours if you are on a budget. Rotas are probably the best bang for your buck, and they are inexpensive to replace if you dent em up. I like some of the motegi wheels and Racing Hart wheels and OZ superleggeras are cool too. Just depends on your tastes.