chubbychu

I know a lot of you non-competitive modders really just want a sensible, moderate suspension setup so I just thought I'd take a second to give my experience on the two different moderate and cost effective setups I've had. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures yet but I'm sure you can imagine.

1) Stock Shock + Konis
2) Swift Sports + Konis

Due to some blown oem shocks, my first change was replacing the shocks with Konis keeping my '05 stock springs, with the Konis set on the lower perch. One disclaimer: consistently, the driver side sat a little lower, and takes bumps a little harder probably due the weight of the driver.

OEM Springs and Konis: Front Gap: ~20mm (or ~1 finger gap on driver side).
OEM Springs and Konis: Rear Gap: ~55mm (~2.5 fingers. As expected).

Regarding front gap, there was a +5 mm difference on the passenger side. (Don't ask me how this happened, because koni's are supposed to drop .5" leaving a good 2.5" of gap. but due to other suspension components being affected, it's supposed to come out to more like .75". In reality, it came out to be more like a 1.25" drop. (I'm guessing it has something to do with the stock rake, other components affected and old springs(?").


This setup really exaggerated the stock rake. Rake is fine and all, but uneven gap just doesn't look good after a while. The difference was noticeably uneven. With the stock springs on konis, it was essentially stock, just lower in the front and unnoticeable in the back. After switching to 225 in the front, my fender liners was absolutely destroyed after about 5 months.

The relatively soft OEM spring rate @ 256, was not able to keep the tire away from the fender due the clearance it lost from putting it on the koni's lower perch + my fat body. On sharp dips the tabs started cutting chunks from the driver side tires after my fender linings were rubbed through. So I had to either raise to the car slightly, increase spring-rate (new springs), get narrower tires, or roll fenders.

Performance-wise this setup felt...very "normal". Sometimes I would turn the Konis up to 1.5 turns from full stiff, but it just wasn't comfortable over rough roads. Overdamping is a crappy feeling. I would say this is the ideal setup for someone looking for shocks replacements while also reaping the benefits of a small rear drop, and slighly aggressive front drop/front rake. I would not recommend konis on the lower perch, if you're running larger front tires due to the possibility of messing up your fenderliners/fenders. Also I would caution you as, the soft front rate will result in lip-smashing goodness on driveways and such.

Today I decided to install the Swifts Sport Mach that were sitting in my room, on the Koni upper perch. everything feels much better! It's definitely one of those compromises where you're getting a perfect mix of aesthetics, and comfort, and sport. (it wasn't cheap though, swifts will run you about $300).

[If you're thinking $300 for swifts and $500 for Koni's could have gotten me full coils, then you're right, but this was more of a mix and match progression for me, I rocked konis for several months before upgrading springs. So coils was not an option at the time. In hindsight, if they make coilovers with a relatively soft (4-6k) spring rate, I may do that in the future. So it's definitely an option. However most coils I see around 800-900 have spring rates like 10k. That's are wayyyy too much for me to dd.]

Konis upper perch + Swift Sports: Front Gap: ~43mm
Konis upper perch + Swift Sports: Rear Gap: ~40mm
Pretty much 2 fingers all around.

The front swift springs are fairly simliar in spring rate and composition to OEM [linear 258 to linear 256(oem)], it's just drops the front by .7 inch (17mm) more than stock. The rear features a progressive wound spring. The rates: 241-336. It's very nice. The biggest improvement was fixing the rake from my last setup by slightly lifting the front, and slightly dropping the back (swifts have a 1" drop in the back around 25mm). This also made the steering feel a little bit more responsive (maybe placebo). Bumps feel better, and now I have the clearance in the front to not worry about smashing tire into fender. I can probably run less rebound on the koni too to improve comfortability on long drives.

I know one of the big controversies is the fact that AP2's come from the factory with a higher spring rate in front. Regardless if this was Honda trying to make a safer S2000 with more understeer, or if it does turn faster lap times, I can definitely feel a faster response from the back under cornering. Meaning, the rotation/weight transfer sensation (even under normal driving), although technically unchanged, seems to follow the turn faster with the stiffer spring rate in the rear. Again, I don't know if this is placebo, but it sure does feel more lively in the back. Definitely more fun that I would glady take over a masked understeer that turns faster lap times (if that's even the case).

For future potential, there's always the lower perch. i'm assuming if I get the right size tires and a fender roll, I could drop another inch by moving the konis to the lower perch, which would result in a very small gap granted that I could resolve the rubbing issue, but for now. it's a-ok for me.

Hope that helps
http://www.swiftsprings.com/file/SportSprings.pdf

speedjunky01

You could have picked up some ok coil overs for that price but the koni is a much better shock then any coil over setup in the same price range.

I run RSR springs on konis and prefer it to cool overs to be honest. It rides smoother, sits level, easier to adjust, and rides smooth as silk compared to RSR spring and stock shock.

Mark355

Great info! Thanks for the review.

Toneezy

Thanks for the review! About to run swift spec-rs with my already existing Koni's also. Plus some quality lowering springs also have the advantage of not having to get corner balanced because.. you cant lol. The springs are designed to at least have each corner height balanced.

Carbon Blue

thanks for the info, but what wheel and tire setup are you on?

chubbychu

AP2V1s with Sumitomo HTRZIII 225/255 with UK Alignment Spec. Still hitting fender on big left dips and hard right turns. no problems on passenger side.

AngryTurtle

If you want to go coil overs look into Ground Control.

devildust

I hear nothing but nice stuff about swifts, good choice.
I run Konis with Espelir springs on upper perch. Will do for not until I have the money to spend on coil overs. The ride is nice imo. Currently running 215/245 HTZ IIIs on a 8 inch front and 9 inch back. Fenders rolled front and back, will be going to a 225 maybe 235 front and 255 back once I go through these tires, will have to add some camber though.

Carbon Blue

thats odd, I would think you would be perfectly fine with that wheel and tire combo, those are just CR wheel sizes and even with a drop you shouldnt be rubbing, well with the drop that you mentioned.

chubbychu

thats odd, I would think you would be perfectly fine with that wheel and tire combo, those are just CR wheel sizes and even with a drop you shouldnt be rubbing, well with the drop that you mentioned.
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Well, after all the front spring rate is only 250 something. I mean, I weigh almost that. Haha. I went ahead and had the front tabs bent in, and that seemed to alleviate some of the problem. It's basically rubbing fender liner now under extreme cornering.