honda's sport suspension upgrade

[Nightwalker]

can someone help me here,
honda dealers offer this upgrade for the accord and im simply wondering if its any good.i've read that they bring the suspension down by 2.5cm or 3cm,is this correct? is that gonna look much different than the original height?
im going on looks here so im not totally bothered about the ride.
i can get this done at a specialist garage which i think is gonna cost me more but will they do a better job? in other words i wanna lower the car so it looks its best,i get the impression the dealers may not do this,not sure,anybody got any advice or had the sport suspension done by honda?
:D thanku

[PJS]

It's about 15-20mm, IIRC. It's not much of a drop, but the ride is still more or less like it is now. One thing I'm not overly fussed on with the Accord/TSX suspension, is that its damping ratio is pretty wick, and you can find certain conditions where it oscillates. Not wildly, but enough to be noticed/felt.
For the price, it's not bad, but I'd always advocate spending the extra on something a fair bit better and worth the money and effort.
One brand you'll find in Honda-Tech forums is AMR Engineering - for circa $895 plus shipping and import charges, and VAT, you get a custom hand-built set-up which ultimately will put the OEM sports one to shame.

[Nightwalker]

so what yr saying is the honda dealer sport suspension is abit basic.do they do the shocks as well or is it just the lowering?
if u dont mind me asking....how do u know this? know someone who has had it done?
question..what does OEM stand for? remember i know nothing of cars lol

i must admit,i thought the dealer one would not be as good as a specialist.i know a garage called Pini just around the corner which specialise in this sort of work,they said they would do the shocks as well as the lowering.they had to find the right shocks for the car,it needed to be a specific type for the car.cost would be around £1000,good?

he mentioned some shocks that are supposed to be vey good,cant remember the name,began with a C.

[pizzaman555]

so what yr saying is the honda dealer sport suspension is abit basic.do they do the shocks as well or is it just the lowering?
if u dont mind me asking....how do u know this? know someone who has had it done?
question..what does OEM stand for? remember i know nothing of cars lol

i must admit,i thought the dealer one would not be as good as a specialist.i know a garage called Pini just around the corner which specialise in this sort of work,they said they would do the shocks as well as the lowering.they had to find the right shocks for the car,it needed to be a specific type for the car.cost would be around £1000,good?

he mentioned some shocks that are supposed to be vey good,cant remember the name,began with a C.

Yeah shocks are included if you go with the factory set up. But what PJS is saying is your better off going with after market set up like tein or some thing like that cause its not that much more to go that route. And OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer.

[PJS]

OEM - original equipment manufacturer. In other words, an own brand part made by or for the company to their specs.
I know 'cause I've done the research here, there, and everywhere!
£1K - too much. £700 ish should see the job done, if you go with AMR or self import Tein Flex/Tanabe Sustec Pro II.

Suspension consists of shock body and spring. You could lower with springs only - Tein/Tanabe/Swift/Elispir/H&R/Skunk2, but due to the piston sitting in the body more, and potential for bottoming out more often, you run the risk of blowing the seals on the shock, which means new shocks or coilovers.

Do it once, and do it right, go coilover with damping adjustment, which will let you set the suspension ride height and stiffness to how you prefer.

I don't consider the separate shock and springs route as one worth gambling on, since the shock may not be valved suitably for the spring rates you choose. Going coilover, then they most likely have been, which makes a big difference in the handling characteristics of the suspension and how the car reacts accordingly - no pun intended.

Never heard of Pini (if you join THAOC, some of the other members may have, and can vouch for them or warn you off them), but as they'll not have done an '03+ Accord, then they won't know the best spring rates and adjustment to design for. I'd be very wary of handing over £1K to anyone with little or no track record - and this included AMR until we spoke at length and I'd read the feedback on Honda-Tech. For the outlay, it's less of a risk than Pini, who may or may not be interested in resolving any issues you may have with their design. At least with AMR, if you feel the spring rate isn't right for your style and the typical roads you're on each day, then Andy will help resolve it to your satisfaction.
That's what custom is and should be all about.

[Nightwalker]

actually i think coilover was what the guy said.but he did say they would have to look on their computer for the specific shocks to fit my perticular car.they are actually a BMW,audi,volkswagon and merc specialist but will work on most cars of course.

so how do u get in touch with AMR? is it all import over the net or are they based somewhere in UK?

coilover means the springs coiled around the shocks right?

gotta admit,i just wanna give my car to someone for the time it takes,let them do what needs to be done,with the right gear,and pick it up all done hahaha
i cant fix this up myself,not got a clue.

[pizzaman555]

actually i think coilover was what the guy said.but he did say they would have to look on their computer for the specific shocks to fit my perticular car.they are actually a BMW,audi,volkswagon and merc specialist but will work on most cars of course.

so how do u get in touch with AMR? is it all import over the net or are they based somewhere in UK?

coilover means the springs coiled around the shocks right?

gotta admit,i just wanna give my car to someone for the time it takes,let them do what needs to be done,with the right gear,and pick it up all done hahaha
i cant fix this up myself,not got a clue.

If its a full coil over kit you do not have to buy struts they come with the springs. Just stay away from the coil over sleeves.

[PJS]

AMR Engineering (http://www.amrengineering.com/)

AIM - amrengineering

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1659160

The term coilover is generally accepted as meaning a shock body encased with a linear spring coil, with damping adjustment (compression and rebound linked ratio).
The better ones are mono-body, rather than 2 piece - more steps of adjustment doesn't really count for a lot unless each step can be felt. A 4-step needn't be worse than a 32-step if the latter only seems to have 4 positions where a change to is effective/effected.
When you go racing, then you start playing with bigger boys toys, and the compression is separate from the rebound - this is 2-way.
4-way is when you have low and high speed (not the car, but the shock arm action) compression, and rebound adjustments.

I'll not bore you with preload and follower springs - I've already filled your head with loads more than you need to know.

Fun this malarky, ain't it? :grinno:

[Nightwalker]

frankly i have no idea what yr talkin about lol all i have learned is coilover with damping adjustment is what i should go for.
i know the guy in the store told me to use coilover now i think about it.at the time it went straight past me of course,i just stood nodding like a prat pretending to know what he was on about lol lol now u guys have mentioned it,it comes back to me.
i'll go n find out what they have to say and offer,now im alittle bit more in the know.

[PJS]

If you go to the thread linked above - you can see exactly what I'm talking about.
Equally, if you go here (http://www.d2racingsport.co.uk/Pages/coilovers.asp) you'll see a technical image of the suspension which may help you understand that bit more.