Ok the time has come to do suspension. Right now it is a debate whether to go with the H&R sport springs or with the Tein High Tech's. I was wondering if any of you guys are running Teins (S Techs or High Techs) or H&R's (Sport mainly) could give me some advise or if you know of anything that would be better in the spring market. Also how much was the camber off after installing the springs. I was also thinking of matching up the springs with probably some koni adjustables and I already have the front and rear strut braces the lower tie bar and I just bought some 17"s with kumho 711s. I still need to buy the ST sway bar kit. Thanks for any help you can provide me with. :cheers:

 

go with the H&R and Koni adjustables

 

I have TEIN S-TECHS on my Accord, the I've experienced with many brands and this is the BEST ride quality I've seen.

If you wanna go REAL low, I highly reccommend the TEIN Basic Coilovers.

:cheers:

 

HR springs are stiff

 

Well I did alot of research before I got some H&R sports for my 02 Accord I4. I got these cause I thought I wouldn't need any camber since it was only a 1.5/1.2 inch drop and the ride would be smooth, boy was I wrong. I got the spring for $140 and installed them for an extra $60. I thought that was it and I was set. After a week of driving it, my alignment was horrible. I couldn't stop veering to the right whenever I let go of the wheel (it was so bad that it was getting to the point of being dangerous). I thought it was due to the fact that I noticed how my rear tires were caving in. So I went to a shop and asked them to check it out and he said that I would need an alignment, AND a camber kit for the rear only. I was really bumed out because I did alot of research and it had failed on me. But I wanted to make sure that shop was not trying to jip me of my money so i went to another shop and got the same results. I ended up having to pay for a rear camber kit for $140 shipped(ebay), $60 to get them installed AND a $50 alignment. The total for everything was $450!!! If I knew that all of this was going to happen I'd prolly wouldn't have done it. Everything was done within 3 months after lowering it. Hope this helps. Oh yeah.. the ride was pretty stiff; took about a month to get use to. And GO SLOW on the speedbumps after you lower it because it'll mess up your alignment.

 

My big concern is that I don't want to have to buy a camber kit. But I think regardless I am going to have to buy one I think after what you said. Right now I would be into it $150 for the springs if I go H&R or $180 if I go Tein High Techs. The alignment will be $50 and then if I have to buy a camber kit I'm looking most likely $140 from optauto lets say. Plus tack on shipping another 40 bucks. so $380 or $410. That's alot if you think about it. Really just for springs.

 

How low we talking about with the S Techs? Isn't it like in the 2.0's? Did you end up getting a camber kit?

 

Well your alignment problem of the car pulling to the right has nothing to do with your springs. And it doesn't matter what lowering springs you got, you would have the same issues. Your alignment after the install wasn't done right. And it's true that you can get away without a camber kit with the sport drop. I went for 2.5 years on the sport springs without any camber kits. And I got about 25K miles out of my zrated 18" tires which is pretty good for summer performance tires driven somewhat aggressively.

So do you "NEED" a camber kit, no. But it's true that you will get better wear and life out of your tires with a camber kit. I just recently installed a rear camber kit for my car just to extend the life of my new 18" tires.

The shop is gonna say that your camber is off and you need a kit if it's out of spec because they want to cover their butt, you can't blame them. But just because the rear is slightly out of spec doesn't mean it's not liveable.

And it sounds like you were just dropping it for the looks, which is fine. But if you really want to get the most out of your springs, match them with some performance shocks to keep them well dampened, it'll ride better.

Bottom line, if you want your car to ride as soft as stock, don't lower it. I lowered my car for looks initially, but I love the handling of performance springs and shocks, thicker sways, braces, wider grippier tires, etc.
So I can live with feeling a few bumps, in fact I like feeling more connected to the road. My wife has no complaints about ride quality in my car, and we've gone on long road trips in it, so I think it still has decent ride quality.

PrometheusX: I'm from Ogden, UT.

 

I have H&R Sports on my 94 accord and all i needed was an alignment....no camber kit here :wiggle: 5th gens are nice

 

Well, just from looking at my car, my right rear tire was totally caving in and my left rear was ok. I asked 4 people whether they thought it was obvious the rear was caving in and all said only the right one, not the left. That happened because I used to go through the speedbumps really fast on my right side (after I lowered it) but not my left and it messed up the camber and alignment. Maybe I had bad installation but I had them installed at California Tint (They've been doing installations for years). After I got the results from taking it to the shop, both told me that my left rear is fine, only slightly off; however my right rear needs to be cambered so I don't think it was an attempt to cover their butt.

Well I guess if you drive it like a grandma over those speedbumps/driveways EVERYTIME and never will hit a curb, you wouldn't need a camber for a while. Because just one big bump, your camber and alignment will be off. I'm saying this through my experience, not out of my a$$.

Yeah and I basically did it for the looks and to get rid of the "floating on a boat" feeling on highways.