Coil over question: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Dec. 23, 2009 8:42 p.m. cxhb Reader

I have had koni yellows paired with H&R progressive rate springs installed on my civic for about three years now and im thinking that its about time I switch to adjustable ride heigth. So i have a couple questions for anyone who would like to throw in an answer or anything that may help.

-Does anyone know of any other threaded body that works in conjunction with konis other than ground control?

-For those with FWD: Spring rates higher in the front? Or the rear? (im switching to linear rate springs) im thinking this one is a preferance question....

-Should i look into tender or helper springs?

Thats all I have right now. Thanks in advance!
Dec. 23, 2009 10:24 p.m. wbjones HalfDork

the question of front bias or rear bias really depends on your car... when I auto-x'ed my Integra I ran 350# front and 550# rear with a 3 way adjustable rear sway bar at it's stiffest setting...... it had a tendency to plow like a tractor.

with the CRX I run 450# front and 400# rear with the 3 way rear sway bar in the softest position ... it tends to swap ends as if were a mid-engined car

not much help I know... but there it is anyway
Dec. 23, 2009 10:48 p.m. Keith SuperDork

There are adjustable sleeves all over eBay. Any good? I have no idea.

Helper/tender springs are only an issue if your springs are going loose at full droop. If so, I'd use some with enough rate to extend your shocks. Otherwise, as soon as that spring gets unloaded, you've basically run out of suspension travel. I like suspension travel.
Dec. 23, 2009 11:35 p.m. stumpmj Dork

Why not ground control? High quality hardware, reasonable price and (I'm told) good support.
Dec. 24, 2009 1:07 a.m. cxhb Reader

As fasr as sway bars go, I have a stock EX front bar (24mm) and a cusco 24mm 3 way adjustable rear and i still tend to get a fair amount of understeer. Am i wrong for reasoning that a harder rear spring rate should help in this aspect?

The reason for asking about tender or helper springs is because i know a lot of threaded body/coilover type suspensions tend to have the spring move around quite a bit under suspension travel, the springs usually are about 6-7" so i figured it wouldnt be too bad a thing to look into considering the short spring ( I would still like some suspension travel too)...

Ebay threaded bodys tend to be junkish and will eventually lock up. and i dont doubt that ground controls products are good, its just that i always thought they were expensive and was wondering if there was a cheaper way. Threaded bodies that go onto konis I BELIEVE need to be designed FOR them and how they sit on the snap ring... at least thats what i understand because i know some will say they are particularly FOR or NOT for use with them... usually just the GC's are. Possible things i was thinking was something like carrera, afco, or something along those lines.
Dec. 24, 2009 7:14 a.m. wbjones HalfDork

cxhb wrote:

As fasr as sway bars go, I have a stock EX front bar (24mm) and a cusco 24mm 3 way adjustable rear and i still tend to get a fair amount of understeer. Am i wrong for reasoning that a harder rear spring rate should help in this aspect?

yes, if a FWD car still understeers with the stiffer rear bar than the standard answer (not miata) is to put stiffer springs on the rear
Dec. 24, 2009 7:30 a.m. tr8todd New Reader

AAFCO makes some good products. Popular with the circle track guys, so it will be cheaper than the popular products marketed towards road racers.
Dec. 24, 2009 7:34 a.m. mw Reader

koni makes their own threaded bodies. Last time I looked, they were slightly cheaper than GC's. They are designed for 2.25" springs (lighter weight), but a small adaptor is available to make them run 2.5" if you already have springs. If you don't have springs, the qa1's at summit are possibly the best low cost option. The nice thing about going with koni parts are that you can buy what you need individually as opposed to having to buy the whole kit.

Fatcat motorsports also makes high quality sleeves for konis. They mostly specialize in miata's, but konis for miatas and civics are the same od. I have these on my car and they work perfectly. The tech support is also great.