Coilover decisions...
Wannabe yuppie
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 25,918
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From: Madison, WI
As for a setup for an Integra, the prevailing wisdom is to get more roll stiffness in the rear and there's a couple ways to get there. You can go with the stiffer springs like George mentioned or you can get it from a sway bar.
The reasoning behind a thick sway as opposed to stiff springs is that a spring is somewhat for purposes of supporting the weight of the car so too stiff of a rate with not a lot of weight back there is unbalanced; so you use a stiffer bar to up the overall roll stiffness without becoming too bouncy. The disadvantge is that a thick sway bar couples the left and right sides of the suspension together more, and that hurts you when you've got a bump only one one side--the car will be more likely to get a bit tricky when you hit a bump with only one rear wheel. With really stiff rear springs you're less vulnerable to offset mid-corner bumps but in general the car is a bit more skittish. Either way you're dealing with a tradeoff.
As for getting the Flex to work, I'd go with a 25 mm rear bar and a thinner-than-stock one up front. Or hell, just get rid of the front bar.
*edit*
The stock front sway bar is 24 mm, and I think on the earlier years of RS/LS/GS it was 22.67 mm. To get the Flex to work I would go with that thinner front bar or if there's an even-thinner front bar from some kind of Civic which could be made to work I'd go that route.
The reasoning behind a thick sway as opposed to stiff springs is that a spring is somewhat for purposes of supporting the weight of the car so too stiff of a rate with not a lot of weight back there is unbalanced; so you use a stiffer bar to up the overall roll stiffness without becoming too bouncy. The disadvantge is that a thick sway bar couples the left and right sides of the suspension together more, and that hurts you when you've got a bump only one one side--the car will be more likely to get a bit tricky when you hit a bump with only one rear wheel. With really stiff rear springs you're less vulnerable to offset mid-corner bumps but in general the car is a bit more skittish. Either way you're dealing with a tradeoff.
As for getting the Flex to work, I'd go with a 25 mm rear bar and a thinner-than-stock one up front. Or hell, just get rid of the front bar.
*edit*
The stock front sway bar is 24 mm, and I think on the earlier years of RS/LS/GS it was 22.67 mm. To get the Flex to work I would go with that thinner front bar or if there's an even-thinner front bar from some kind of Civic which could be made to work I'd go that route.
Last edited by MrFatbooty; Sep 11, 2004 at 12:28 PM.
Thread Starter
CHRISTMASTIME IN IRAQ
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 12,413
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From: Bay Area
Sounds like logical advice. Currently, I've got the Comptech rear tie/sway bar combo, and getting my hands on a thinner front sway bar shouldn't be a problem. So you think the FLEX would be a good setup with that if I get my hands on an early DB front swaybar and up the stiffness level on the Comptech setup to it's firm setting?
And yeah, I've heard of OmniPower coilover sets... People on HT are apparently raving about their quality, but lack of adjustability in the shocks is keeping me back...
And yeah, I've heard of OmniPower coilover sets... People on HT are apparently raving about their quality, but lack of adjustability in the shocks is keeping me back...