FK8 Master Spring Thread!

ctrmofo

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If only I lived by that quote when modding cars lol.
yes, exactly how i do things here as well.

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Supastar

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newbie question here:

isn't aftermarket springs bad for your shocks? by reducing the ride height, your shocks are not working at it's optimal height that OEM intends to. so your shocks will wear out and break faster?

or is 1" drop (which most springs are in current market) too minor for any significant change to life span of the shocks?

i'm just curious since our OEM shocks are so fancy and probably expensive to replace since they have active dampening, i would imagine most CTR owners won't want to replace them quickly just for that "lower" look?

thx all
 

Ouhei

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newbie question here:

isn't aftermarket springs bad for your shocks? by reducing the ride height, your shocks are not working at it's optimal height that OEM intends to. so your shocks will wear out and break faster?

or is 1" drop (which most springs are in current market) too minor for any significant change to life span of the shocks?

i'm just curious since our OEM shocks are so fancy and probably expensive to replace since they have active dampening, i would imagine most CTR owners won't want to replace them quickly just for that "lower" look?

thx all
A drop of an 1" or less with a properly designed spring will probably still wear your dampers out faster than the OEM spring, but that increased wear is greatly reduced due to the relatively small drop, adjusted spring rates and proper spring design.
 

ctrmofo

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fyi...had my good friend, former chief nsx engineer, over today for some fun hard driving on the back roads in my ctr. he had some interesting things to say about springs and suspension. those with much stiffer springs may want to read. those with incrementally stiff springs like eibach pro-kit, h&r, and spoon should also take note.

 
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Type-JZ

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newbie question here:

isn't aftermarket springs bad for your shocks? by reducing the ride height, your shocks are not working at it's optimal height that OEM intends to. so your shocks will wear out and break faster?

or is 1" drop (which most springs are in current market) too minor for any significant change to life span of the shocks?

i'm just curious since our OEM shocks are so fancy and probably expensive to replace since they have active dampening, i would imagine most CTR owners won't want to replace them quickly just for that "lower" look?

thx all
you'd be surprised. Lots of owners get that 1" drop for that lowered look. Yes, you're right. You'll loose 1" of shock travel, but 1" or less is pretty minimum and pretty safe for the most part. Bump stops need to be cut to compensate. I believe Swift has the highest spring rate, so that makes it a bit firmer than others. Also, shocks are usually rated for a specific spring rate. I don't know what the max spring rate our shocks can handle. All that adds up and it does reduce the life of the OEM shocks. There's always a risk and compromise.
 


boosted180sx

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" In Comfort mode, there was a slight bounce and noted it was due to the fact that the stock dampers could not keep up with the stiffer springs in this mode. However, when he tested in Sport and R+ mode, he smiled and said, “Ah that’s good...see? The dampers are keeping up now so the springs are still within operating range to match the dampers...oh that’s good!"

I've been saying that comfort mode is too underdampened ever since I put on the springs. Swifts or Eibachs.

newbie question here:

isn't aftermarket springs bad for your shocks? by reducing the ride height, your shocks are not working at it's optimal height that OEM intends to. so your shocks will wear out and break faster?

or is 1" drop (which most springs are in current market) too minor for any significant change to life span of the shocks?

i'm just curious since our OEM shocks are so fancy and probably expensive to replace since they have active dampening, i would imagine most CTR owners won't want to replace them quickly just for that "lower" look?

thx all
bottoming out the shock hurts the shocks the most and installing lowering springs reduces the shock travel which makes it more prone to bottoming out. It's why lowering springs always has a stiffer rate than oem in order to combat the loss of shock travel.

A 1" drop is not a whole lot and although you will shorten the life of the shocks i doubt it's that significant. Every person has a different meaning of "significant" so it might differ from person to person.
 

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" In Comfort mode, there was a slight bounce and noted it was due to the fact that the stock dampers could not keep up with the stiffer springs in this mode. However, when he tested in Sport and R+ mode, he smiled and said, “Ah that’s good...see? The dampers are keeping up now so the springs are still within operating range to match the dampers...oh that’s good!"

I've been saying that comfort mode is too underdampened ever since I put on the springs. Swifts or Eibachs.
Doesn't surprise me at all, comfort feels ever so slightly under dampened with the OEM springs.
 

ctrmofo

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that's why you don't want to go stiffer than 25% or so from stock....bouncy bounce bounce will happen in all 3 driving modes. minimal/incremental in increase is good and just fine for sport and r+ modes.
 

Supastar

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thx guys for all your replies.

what is a bump stop? do the eibach or swift springs come with instructions on where and how to "cut" this?

what do most owners prefer? eibach or swift? any major differences or major benefit of one over the other?

thanks all
 

boosted180sx

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thx guys for all your replies.

what is a bump stop? do the eibach or swift springs come with instructions on where and how to "cut" this?

what do most owners prefer? eibach or swift? any major differences or major benefit of one over the other?

thanks all
I can go deeper into detail about the effect in spring rate and effects on handling when you do engage the bump stop but to make it simple, it's a material on the strut rod that prevents the shock from bottoming out in the event that the shocks do fully compress. Some lowering springs will tell you to cut the bump stop to gain some of the shock travel back that was lost so you are not constantly riding on the bump stops.

Swift says you don't need to cut the bump stops but the eibach tells you to cut a few mm off. This is most likely due to the higher spring rates of the swifts compared to the eibachs.

I made the switch from eibachs to swifts (the pain of having to do the front suspension 2x lol) so i clearly prefer the swifts over it. It's not that I hated the eibachs though. The two are actually really different. It really just depends on what you are after and how you want the car to behave. The swifts not only have a lower drop/higher spring rate compared to the eibachs, it also features a higher rear spring rate compared to the front unlike the eibachs which retains the factory difference front to rear with a higher spring rate in the front compared to the rear. So the swifts will change the way your car will behave by mainly having less under steer/ more over steer compared to factory due to the rate change.

The lower drop and the higher drop rate of the swifts also means a lower shock life compared to the eibachs. by how much? I don't know. I personally don't think it's going to be a significant difference between each other.

They have both have their pros and cons so it is hard to say without knowing what you are after.
 


Supastar

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thx 4 the informative reply!

i'm mainly looking for a drop due to cosmetic reason. 95% daily, 5% track. i'm leaning towards swift after your reply because A) lower drop, B) no need to cut bump stop (i generally do like to cut any OEM parts to fit something), C) less understeer & more overstreer = win!!!!!!
 

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Every time I’ve lowered a daily driver I’ve regretted it. Pretty sure I’m keeping this one stock height.
 

boosted180sx

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thx 4 the informative reply!

i'm mainly looking for a drop due to cosmetic reason. 95% daily, 5% track. i'm leaning towards swift after your reply because A) lower drop, B) no need to cut bump stop (i generally do like to cut any OEM parts to fit something), C) less understeer & more overstreer = win!!!!!!
A) The swift is significantly lower than the eibachs. Eibach claims 0.8" and swift a 1" but it definitely looks much lower than 0.2" or eibachs claim of 0.8" is wrong. I never bothered to verify their claims so idk. It also has a more even ride height front to rear if comestics is your main focus.

The swift is also much stiffer than the eibachs. If ride quality is your thing, your probably better off with eibachs. In sport mode though, it's really not too bad even with the swifts.

B) i actually didn't cut any bump stops when I installed the eibachs cause i didn't want to modify anything and I never hit it but they do tell you to cut.

C) the behavior of the car can be tuned with a rear sway bar no matter what springs you choose so keep that in mind :thumbsup:

Here's some pictures on swifts. (spoiler tag incase pictures are huge)
Honda Civic 10th gen FK8 Master Spring Thread! S3NPakE

^photo credit : SuperStreet
Honda Civic 10th gen FK8 Master Spring Thread! N73Uzsf

Honda Civic 10th gen FK8 Master Spring Thread! 1kDEI1U

Eibachs
Honda Civic 10th gen FK8 Master Spring Thread! TXQ6EPn

Honda Civic 10th gen FK8 Master Spring Thread! 3poRJWh

Honda Civic 10th gen FK8 Master Spring Thread! AL8GXoB
 

Supastar

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Thx 4 the photos as reference. Swift looks way better .

What are ur wheel + tire specs? Rub? Stock fender?
 

boosted180sx

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Thx 4 the photos as reference. Swift looks way better .

What are ur wheel + tire specs? Rub? Stock fender?
They are 18x9.5 +45 w/ 265/35/18s. No fender modification and no rub. Front camber is at -1.7 w/ the pins removed and rear is set at -2 w/ SPC arms.
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