My current situation is that, as a birthday present, in April I will either be getting new rims/tires or dropping my suspension. Either of these things would surely improve the ride and looks of my car, but I am unsure which to get. My main concern with suspension is I am unsure of how likely it is i will scrape on stuff all the time and mess up my bumpers. I don't have a body kit on, so how likely would that really be? My concern with the rims is that I wouldn't get to use them very often because I live in Boston (i would keep them in storage and use stock during the winter). What should I do, keeping in mind that I am looking for mainly performance?

 

oh, thought i should add, the rims would most likely be Kazera KZ-S and the suspension I would get either the Eibach Pro-Kit or Sportline

 

For the price of the rims and tires, you could get a decent suspension system installed. If you're seriously interested in performance, the first thing you want to do is the suspension because your suspension changes may also dictate the type of rims you'll put on your car.

 

not sure if this has been gone over in another thread before, but i suck at using search... is there a big difference between sportline and pro-kit? and if i dont have the body kit am i likely to scrape on potholes or speed bumps?

 

Sportline is a little more hardcore with a lower drop and I don't think they are progressive (hence why they are cheaper too) and the Pro-kit is progressive and less of a drop. If you want all out performance, you'll want the Sportline, but if you want something that can remain daily drivable, then the pro-kit is highly recommended.

 

Werd, just get coilovers if your looking for performance.

Search: Tein and Coilovers...Is that so hard?

 

do coilovers make the car sit lower? because i am definitely looking to eliminate wheel gap

 

whoa i checked out dzuy's posts of his setup, that would be awesome, how much roughly does that cost? (not including labor)

 

The type flex is around $1300 and if you want the EDFC module it's another $300-400

 

With the controler, you can make the car sit anyway you like. Not sure what the limits are though...

 

Not quite. The EDFC adjusts the shocks, not the springs. The springs are on coilover perches which means you can adjust the ride height with the special wrench, some tools, and some jackstands.

 

Yep, your right, my bad

 

oh man, i thought the controller was for the height (like in a lot of SUVs), is there any way to do that?

 

You could go for an air ride setup but that's not for performance applications.

 

ya, that would defeat the purpose.....how difficult is it to change the height manually? what does it entail?

 

You have to jack the car up and use two spanner wrenches to move the spring perch up or down on the shock body. It's pretty quick but it's not something you're going to want to do every day.

 

thanks, two more questions and i think i got this figured out...first...do springs come with the coilovers or would i buy a prokit to use with them?....and...are you saying that raising it in winter and then lowering it in spring is a potential reality?

 

The springs come with the coilover kit. Lowering in spring and raising in winter would be very doable.

 

Sportline springs do not provide all out performance. They tend to not be nearly stiff enough for the amount that they lower a car. This causes the car to handle and ride worse because it takes away far too much suspension travel causing the car to bottom out much more frequently.

Sportline springs are all about looks only, not performance.

 

When people talk about coilovers they are usually talking about height adjustable coilover suspension systems. Most of them allow you to adjust ride height anywhere from slightly lower than stock to 3" or lower than stock. So, you can practically make your tire tuck and completely eliminate the wheel gap if that is what you are looking for.

Reading this thread, you seem to be all over the place. The truth is, you cannot have it all. If you want to eliminate the wheel gap, you WILL scrape the undercarriage of your car, your front airdam and your rear exhaust tips when you drive up or down even moderately sloped driveways and speed bumps. Your handling and ride will also not be optimal if your car is lowered to the point where you completely eliminate the wheel gap.

You have to define what your priorities are and in what order. Is it looks? Performance? Handling? Ride quality? Do you carry a lot of people in your car? Do you have a stereo system w/ subwoofer and amps in the trunk? Do you plan to autocross your car? Do you plan to attend track days? Are you looking for a good compromise of street performance and looks? There are many issues to consider before you buy anything.

One final thing - if you truly want performance, and you can only buy either rims and tires or a full suspension system, better rims and tires (actually, just grippier, wider tires alone) will give you the biggest improvement in increasing cornering G's, acceleration grip, and braking. A TSX with high quality R compound rubber on a stock suspension will likely always outhandle and outperform a TSX with stock tires but equipped with the best suspension available.

 

Eibach prokit and sportline springs are springs only. They are direct replacement springs for the factory OEM springs.

Coilover suspension systems are typicall custom springs w/ shocks and a threaded collar on the shock body which allows you to raise or lower the spring perch to raise or lower your ride height. The springs in a coilover suspension is not compatible w/ the stock shocks.

Yes. Coilover suspensions allow you to easily raise or lower your car. Usually, all you have to do is jack each corner of the car up independently, you may or may not have to remove the rim/tire. You take a couple of wrenches and turn the spring perch along the threaded shock body to raise or lower the spring perch which, in turn, raises or lowers your car.

That's really all there is. However, if you really want to do it right, you should go for an alignment every time you adjust the ride height as the adjustment will throw your alignment settings out of whack.

 

Where did you get your info from? You might want to take a look here first. Additionally, my personal experience with the Sportline conflicts with your statement.

 

Admittedly, I have not driven a TSX with sportline springs. However, with the other cars I have owned and in the various other auto forums I've participated in, many people come to the conclusion that Sportline springs lower the car too much and w/o a high enough increase in spring rate to keep the car from hitting the bumpstops. I'm pretty sure that a 2" drop on a TSX with stock shocks could not be the solution to, "all out performance" as stated above.

To answer your question, yes I have read these forums extensively and searched on many of these topics. I always lurk for many months before I start posting. THere are many who cannot stand the ride of their Prokits on stock shocks after a period of time b/c the stock shocks cannot really adequately control the stiffer Prokits. The Sportlines will definitely exacerbate this problem b/c they are even lower and stiffer.

There's a reason why Tein coilovers run spring rates that are, at a minimum 2x to close to 3x stiffer than stock - because when you drop your car 2", you need much stiffer springs to keep from bottoming out. You also need a correspondingly stiffer damper to control the rebound of the higher spring rate.

 

Well, first of all, no one should install aftermarket springs with stock shocks. In my case, I have used Neuspeed sport springs with Koni, then later switched to Sportline with the same dampering adjustment on the Koni. Believe me, the Sportline definitely has higher spring rate than the Neuspeed. With the proper dampering adjustment, the handling with the Sportline is great with plenty of suspension travel. As far as being too low, you can be the judge.

Front


Rear

 

Dude, I put on some 20's and dropped it with the eibach pro kit. There is no rubbing what so ever and the ride feels great. The suspension is a little more aggressive on prounouned bumps, since I do live in southern california, but I do like the way it drives, feels and looks. I recommend it. Also, it helps whether you get low profile tires or otherwise. I do have z rated tires, but they are low profile. Again, there is no rubbing, I've included a pic so that you can see what it looks like.

 

JTso,

I agree. Koni shocks are great. I've had good success with them in my past cars. I'm sure they provide sufficient damping for your Sportline springs.

I also agree that whether a car is too low or not is dependent on personal preference. I think your car looks great! I understand that the Koni shocks are shortened by 20mm. This alone provides close to an additional inch of suspension travel so, despite the 1.9" front drop of the Sportline springs, your car has only lost about 1" of suspension travel. Therefore, it does not surprise me that you have plenty of suspension travel.

However, I stand by my assertion that Sportline springs on stock shocks is an eventual recipe to poor ride quality and handling once the stock shocks wear out.

I retract my initial statement that, "Sportline springs are all about looks only, not performance." Sportline springs can perform well if paired with the proper set of dampers.

 

JTso,

Just curious as to why you switched from Neuspeed sport springs to the Sportlines? Was it because the Neuspeed springs were not low enough or not stiff enough? Was your car more prone to bottoming out w/ the Neuspeed springs compared to the Sportlines?

 

I just talked to my local shop, they said about 1900 for the parts and anywhere from 500-600 for labor to get the Tein type flex coilover, EDFC, and camber kits...is that reasonable?

 

1650 for Tein Flex, EDFC and Camber kit

 

xizor where are you getting your prices from? I need to have proof to show my shop in order to get a better price

 

Here's the Type Flex on ebay for $1350 with free shipping: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33586

 

EDFC for $350:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33586

 

I'm trying to remember how much a vendor quoted me once upon a time, but it was around $1550 for Flex and EDFC. Ask dzuy how much he got his flex/edfc setup from Racing Zone for.

And camber kit is $150-160, so my estimate might be +/-$100

 

I actually bought the Neuspeed and Sportline about the same time for evaluation purposes. When I finally got the Konis, I teamed them up with the Neuspeed first and played with the various height and dampering settings.
After driving it around for a few thousand miles, I decided to evaluate the Sportline. The Sportline rides just slightly lower than the Neuspeed on the front and the rear is about the same using the stock perch position on the Koni. The Neuspeed's advertised spec is 1.5F and 1.0R. However, the actual drop is about 1.75F and 1.0R, so I used the Koni rear perch adjustment and ended up with 1.5R. The Sportline on the other hand is 1.9F and 1.6R. As you can see, there is very little difference in height between the two sets of springs. The major difference being the heavier spring rates on the Sportline.
I didn't experience any bottoming out with either springs but the Sportline did help eliminate the front wheel hops that I used to experience during hard launches. Therefore, I favor the Sportline over the Neuspeed.

 

Btw, the Neuspeed also felt a little loose on the front and the Sportline seems to tighten things up better.

 

i paid 1250 for tein flex + 300 for the tein edfc plus 6.5% tax

so 1650.

i bought my camber kit from ultrarev.com for 141USD shipped.

 

Do you by chance know what the spring rate is on the Neuspeed Sport Springs? I'm trying to decide whether or not to get the Neuspeed Sport or Eibach Pro Kit. Have people experience both before? I will be matching the springs with Neuspeed Koni Sport Shocks. I just ordered the shocks and may be able to get the neuspeed springs from the same guy. Please let me know, thanks!