Coilover Review: DC2R, DC5R, EP3R, etc

[macoman69]

I thought since I was going to do a review on my coilovers why not make a thread where everyone can post up their opinions and review on the coilovers they are running or have run before as well as photos if wanted.
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TEMPLATE
Car:
Coilovers:
Specs:
Price:
Dealer:

Pro's -

Con's -
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COILOVER REVIEW:

Car: DC2R
Coilovers: TEIN RA's
Specs: 14kg Front, 10kg Rear
Price: $2000
Dealer Max Hondapower on Ozhonda

Pro's - These coilovers had very good for feedback on the road and with the right settings made the car feel very stable through corners. Made with an aluminium body the RA's where very light and alot stronger than most people think. I could recommend these coilovers to people who dont mind a bit of a stiff ride as it can get quite a bit bumpy though this didnt bother me at all.

Con's - Because of the stiff settings of the coilover if going to fast around corners hitting some bumps could cause problems with traction. No name tyres is a no no with these coilovers because with the stiff settings require alot of grip from the tyres.

[macoman69]

Car: DC2R
Coilovers: ZEAL Super Function Spec A
Specs: 14kg Front, 10kg Rear
Price: $2900 Aprox
Dealer: Friend in Hong Kong

Pro's - These coilovers feel simply amazing, very similar to the RA's in terms of stability and feedback from the road but seem to absorb bumps in the road alot better than the RA's due to the fact that I believe the valving in them is better. Also has a aluminium body and uses the Zeal X-Coil without the use of any helper springs like the RA's. Feels very stable and safe through corners. I could recommend this coilover to anyone who does not mind a bit of a stiff ride.

Con's - Havent found any yet apart from the price tag.

[Chi]

You should make a template in your first post so ppl can copy and paste it easier.

[kavehman]

also post up prices, that would help as well, and maybe a source to purchase them from ???

[macoman69]

Done and done.

[kavehman]

Car: DC2R
Coilovers: Mugen Low Down
Specs: unknown
Price: $2 -$3K Aprox
Dealer: King Motorsports in US

Pro's - Adjustable from stock Ride and comfort to uber stiff. Haven't been on a track, but noticable firmer than stock. Great ride height, and stiffness adjustability. Overall a great upgrade for street use over stock.

Con's - Not height adjustable. Price Tag

Car: DC2R
Coilovers: Spoon Dampers/ Spoon Springs/ Bushings combo
Specs: unknown
Price: $2K
Dealer: JDM Yard ?

Pro's - Ride Height is just perfect, looks hot on DC2R. No need to mess around with any settings, fixed damper. Great for those who can't be bothered adjusting there suspension all the time. Soaks up bumps and potholes with ease, amazing ride considering the stiffness of the set-up. Overall a great set-up

Con's - Not height adjustable. Price Tag, Not Damper Adjustable.

[cordz]

Bumping this thread in case anyone can make a contribution, saving up for coil-overs now and need the ClubITR community to do what they do best - provide useful information.

can we make a official COILOVER thread in legacy of the wheel fitment, brake pads, and tyres thread?

[stevan]

This would be difficult as suspension is much more complicated then brake pads/tyres etc and would be subject to opinion. Issues such as alignment/spring rate/ride height and such will also effect these opinions.

If you are after new suspension and plan on keeping the car for a while i would suggest purchasing the best dampers you can afford, nothing worse then riding on harsh clunky suspension everyday.

[crashprash]

Car: DC5S
Coilovers: tein monoflex w/edfc
Specs: 8 front, 10 rear
Price: 3.5k + .6 for edfc
Dealer:jdm yard

Pro's - height/damping independantly adjustable, edfc (in car damping adjustment), pillowball adjustable camber tops, inverted monotube, can be serviced at tein dealership locally, height as low as u can get

Con's - extremely stiff, noisy pillowball mounts(some clunking), $$$$,

Alignment: lowered 1.5inches, -2.5 front / -1.75 rear camber,

Supporting relevant mods: selbys 24mm rear sway, ep3r front sway, pci spherical bearings, skunk2 rear lcas, todds tie rods

Application: street (1-2 times/wk :P)..track every 2-3mths

Street rating: 5/10

Track rating: 8/10

Comments: my complaints abt the stiff ride are coz i only drive on parra rd so it may not be fair on the sussy to complain :P

[cordz]

This would be difficult as suspension is much more complicated then brake pads/tyres etc and would be subject to opinion. Issues such as alignment/spring rate/ride height and such will also effect these opinions.

If you are after new suspension and plan on keeping the car for a while i would suggest purchasing the best dampers you can afford, nothing worse then riding on harsh clunky suspension everyday.

True, but it won't hurt to have the information compiled into one thread.

And in regards to subjective context, why don't we have add the criterion of (if you dont mind me proposing a new one)

revised TEMPLATE?

Car:

Coilovers:

Specs:

Price and dealer:

Alignment: e.g. "stock" or "-1"

Supporting relevant mods: e.g. poly bushings, shperical bearings etc.

Application: e.g.street every day and track once every three months

Street rating: e.g. /10

Track rating: e.g. /10

Comments:

[stevan]

Car: DC5

Coilovers: AST 5100

Specs: Monotube Rebound adjusters, 10/16kg/mm F/R

Price and dealer: $3500 - Raventech Racing (Official Distributor)

Alignment: 3.0/2 F/R

Supporting relevant mods: PCI Offset buching, Hardrace RCA, Todds arms

Application: Street?track (track monthly)

Street rating: TBA

Track rating: TBA

Comments: Not the best Upper mount design, due to USPS walking my new mounts from the USA I still havn't finished the damn things

[tinkerbell]

Con's - [/B]extremely stiff, noisy pillowball mounts(some clunking), $$$$,

mine don't noticeably clunk - yours must have a problem?

And 'extremely stiff' compared to what? a base DC5?

[cordz]

i think his "stiff" is subjective tink. read on another thread that prash's cars purpose was more street orientated. Unless that has changed prash?

hopefully the added street/track rating allows people to play these figures off eachother to come to a understanding that reduces this subjective element

Stevan, can you add frequency of track usage?

[stevan]

i think his "stiff" is subjective tink. read on another thread that prash's cars purpose was more street orientated. Unless that has changed prash?

hopefully the added street/track rating allows people to play these figures off eachother to come to a understanding that reduces this subjective element

Stevan, can you add frequency of track usage?

Added "ideal track frequency", car has been getting worked on for best part of 6 months now been ages since i was at Wakefield last

i would classify anything over 10/16 for DC5 to be stiff, 10/16 is a good balance. The pillowballs and sway bars is what gives the suspension a harsh feel.

[MechanicalChris]

Suspension is a very complicated topic..

Car: Integra DC2

Coil-overs: KONI Race shocks, Eibach springs - on GC kit

Specs: 600lb front springs - 800lb rear springs - valving in shocks is the SPSSV3 valving not the standard koni yellows

Price and dealer: Depends on exchange rate and dealer but no more than $2000AUD for everything.

Alignment: Still being done at the moment..

Supporting relevant mods: All bushings replaced with stiffer poly items.

Application: I like to think it's a daily car but it's really not... it's like a race car on the road.

Street rating: 10/10

Track rating: yet to be done

Comments:

I'll start first by saying i've sat in a fair few Hondas with different coil-overs, be them, teins, BC's, T1R's, even shock/spring combos that are not essentially a "coil-over" as we refer to them.

The first thing I notice is that the ride is obviously firmer than standard, the spring rate isn't overly large but the damping is way off! The wheel chatters over bumps and the car continues to be unsettled over the slightest bump, this takes a very sensitive arse/little man (that guy in the back of your head that feels the car :P) to notice, a friend of mine even noticed it with the BC's in my EK.

Problem with the market is that everybody seems to concentrate on spring rates, ideally.. you want as soft spring as possible, bar the car up and run a shock that will match the spring rate given (hence the rebound/bound adjustments) on some. Some of the coil-overs, including Tein, I have seen dyno plots and their "adjustment" does absolutely nothing.. you turn it full hard, and somewhere 2/3 towards full hard it's actually at full soft! - It depends who has done the valving as Tein don't all do it in their factory, but you get the idea..

I run larger rear spring rates on mine since I want the rear to rotate and throttle steer the car, I think it's abit too sensitive as I can get it to do it around roundabouts if I get a little keen late at night lol.

The ride itself, it's firm, very firm I'd say, but it doesn't "bounce" around as such, the rear will over bumps but that's because of my large spring rate - the shocks are actually designed for spring rates up to 1000lb/in - I would definitely not run that on the street...that would be for some high speed/highly developed aero cars.

Another thing I should mention is that it's probably a very very personal choice when it comes to "ride" - My car is essentially a circuit car in nature so I can deal with the harshness of everything, some others may not like it - in that case, I would advise Koni yellows with 400lb springs or something similar.

I don't understand how roll-bars can give a car a harsh feel though, it would definitely increase the jacking effect which is more of a traction issue rather than harshness, there is no force transfer to the chassis apart from reducing roll when it comes to "bumps" - it would simply refrain from allowing the wheel to droop as much as it should. Bushing material will play the largest factor in the NVH dynamics of the suspension.

Oh by the way - some of the "tramp" you guys get with wheel-spin is actually from a too soft a shock, not too stiff a spring...

Don't mean to say someone is wrong or anything, it's a forum and I'm just expressing my opinion