Suspension for Noobs!

[m0nst3r]

Hey guys/gals,

My ride is pretty rough, and I was looking to upgrade/replace some or all of the suspension components. I am a complete noob when it comes to suspension, so I have no clue what components make up the suspension on 2nd gen integras. Anybody want to do a quick run down of the suspension components and their functions, or even better, does anyone know a good site I can find all of this info?

-Thanks-

[vortex]

replacing every single suspension component will cost you a lot of money, especially if you're you doing it on all four corners. i assume you'll want coilovers which will run close to $1000. control arms and bushing and brackets will cost anywhere from $200-300 in junk yard costs up to $2000 from the dealership. Then if you have to pay to have all the work done you'll be looking at about 10ish hours of labor for it all so tack on 650-850 bucks.

my advice....see what NEEDS to be replaced and take care of that. I'll bet your control and/or trailing arm bushings are either blown or rotted unless they've been replaced before

a nice new net of OE shocks and struts should be all you need to smoothen out that rough ride

[m0nst3r]

Yea, with all the stuff you just described, it's like you spoke to me in a completely different language.

Shocks, struts, control arms, trailing arms...huh? I thought shocks and struts were the same thing. You know any websites that explain all this stuff?

Also, I'm sure replacing all this stuff is expensive, but this thread was more for my general knowledge. :p

[vortex]

shocks are on top...struts are on the bottom. pickups are more likely to have struts. the strut/shock thing confuses me sometimes

this is a coilover, they allow you to adjust your ride height in about 10 minutes to a half hour depending on whether you have air tools or hand tools

a trailing arm holds your hub assembly and wheel and they go in the rear, i just replace both of these on mine and they are damn expensive

control arms are a dime a dozen, many places make them and they are relatively inexpesive. the upper/lower arm's can be found all over the net. i'm sure the guys here can help you find good parts.


bushings are what allow your arms to have a degree of flex because obviously without flexibility your ride would be far from comfortable. the bushings also mean you don't have to replace the entire control arm, just a bushing. bushing kits can cost as low as 25 bucks, or go all the way up to 200.

[m0nst3r]

Cool thanks!

You sure about the struts/shocks thing? I was reading somewhere that integras have double wishbone suspensions, which would explain the upper and lower control arms, but then I saw mention of a "MacPherson strut," which kind of confused me. Man, this seems pretty complicated.

[rewsintegra]

honda has their own little version of the mc P strut setup.

i am pretty sure you can get a nice full coil setup for about 300-1000 bucks.
but if you plan on lowering the ride height you will need adjustable camber. so go with some upper control arms (150-200). a good upgrade is a thicker rear sway bar such as the type r. it tightens up the rear alot around corners.

[vortex]

if you don't get adjustable camber after lowering your car, you can't properly align the wheels which will make your tires wear horribly fast and the worst part is that the wear happens on the inner edge of the tire 99% of the time where you can't see which is why people have blow-outs and no idea how it happened. you're tread looks fine but that little weak spot on the inner edge lets loose. here's a pic to ad to the horrible paragraph i just wrote. the right side is the inner portion of the tire


If you want to lower your car, make sure you do it right. the guys here can guide you if you ever aren't sure about something, that rews guy knows a thing or two about a thing or two

[Wendeasy]

i heard that you only need to adjust for negative camber after a drop exceeding 1.5 inches is that true? i also heard that aftermarket lower control arms can correct negative camber, please enlighten me

[quic vic]

yes, over 1.5 you should get adjustable uppers, in order for the LCA to compensate for negative camber it would have to be made specifically for your car and the camber angle it has unless it is adjustable, which I've never heard of, but could exist.

[C25A1guy]

Chevy and GMC trucks have adjustable camber from the factory. Too bad it always go out of spec after driving 50 miles by in part due to design.

[Clem Kevin]

you do not need a camber kit, dont waste your money. Toe wears out tires, not camber

look at the amount of camber track cars are running, such as mine. Im close to -2 degrees of camber and the only uneven tire wear ill get is from poor toe alignment. Camber wear is a myth and only effects wear if toe is off.

save your money for quality parts that are necessary, check if the RTA bushings are bad, and replace your shocks and springs with something that fits your needs. if you dont need a piece of shit coilover setup made in taiwan, dont get it. if you do need coilovers, get groundcontrol/koni

[coldfire]

Originally Posted by Clem Kevin

you do not need a camber kit, dont waste your money. Toe wears out tires, not camber

look at the amount of camber track cars are running, such as mine. Im close to -2 degrees of camber and the only uneven tire wear ill get is from poor toe alignment. Camber wear is a myth and only effects wear if toe is off.

save your money for quality parts that are necessary, check if the RTA bushings are bad, and replace your shocks and springs with something that fits your needs. if you dont need a piece of shit coilover setup made in taiwan, dont get it. if you do need coilovers, get groundcontrol/koni

Have to disagree with you there. Track cars run negative camber to increase the traction patch while doing hard cornering. Driving daily the won't exert enough force on the tire usually to roll it over onto the traction patch. For example a horrible asci picture.

0.0 degrees camber |__| |__|
0.0 degrees camber when turning hard /__/ /__/
you can see how the weight of the car would be mostly on the right shoulder of the tire and the traction patch would be reduced therefore. A track car running negative camber would look like this
/__/ \__\

When cornering hard it would look like this (left turn for example

|__| \__\

See how the traction patch is increased on the inside tire when the sidewall flex starts to kick in? A street driven car with negative camber would spend most of its time driving on the inside sidewalls like this /__/ \__\ because most people don't take corners that aggressively and therefore don't 'roll' the tire onto the traction patch. Especially while driving in a straight line, all the weight of the car is put on the inside shoulder of the tire.

Another thing to keep in mind is that most professional race teams use one or two sets of tires each race. They aren't shooting for 15000+ miles on a set of tires. Because camber wear is less aggressive than toe wear it shows up later.

- Used to be an alignment tech, seen this many times.

[Wach_N_C]

Well I've learned something new today I had the same kind of question.

[coldfire]

We try to help.