Coil-over options for the 06+ Civic

[Moose]

Coil-over options for the 06+ Civic

This is a BASIC overview of the various options available.
I really do not want this to turn in a "Which is better" thread - use this list as a reference, do your research, and determine what makes the most sense for YOUR needs and requirements.

There is NO BEST suspension option, however there is the best option for YOUR NEEDS and requirements. The first thing you need to do is to determine, what you want from a coil-over, what you are going to use it for, and what options below best meet your needs.

A "coil-over" is loosely defined as being an integrated shock/spring combination with ride height adjusatbilty via a threaded spring perch.

To Roughly convert Metric Spring Rates (kg/mm) to Imperial Spring Rates (In/Lbs) .....multiply the kg/mm by 56.6 to get the equivelent Imperial measure

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H&R H&R Special Springs, LP
-Steel Body
-Mono-tube construction
Single Adjustment (ride-height)
-Fixed Compression/Rebound
-Uses OE Top mounts
~$1250 List Price
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F2 (Function and Form Autolife) – Type-2 Untitled Document
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction (Inverted front)
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-18 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
~$1250 List Price
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K-Sport (Kontrol Pro) Ksport USA - Performance Suspension
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-36 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount,uses OE rear top mount
-7 kg/mm (f) 9 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1250 List Price
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K-Sport (GT Pro)
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction (Inverted)
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-36 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-7 kg/mm (f) 9 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1750 List Price
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K-Sport (Version RR)
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-36 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-"Race" Version - Spring rates by customer request
~$1600 List Price
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Megan Racing (Street Series ) Megan Racing
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-32 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-8 kg/mm (f) 10 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1100 List Price
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Tein (Flex) TEIN USA
-Steel Body
-Twin-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-16 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-9 kg/mm (f) 10 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1800 List Price
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Tein (Basic) TEIN USA
-Steel Body
-Twin-tube construction
-Single Adjustment (ride-height)
-Fixed Compression/Rebound
-OE Top mounts
-6 kg/mm (f) 7 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1000 List Price
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Tein (SS) TEIN USA
-Steel Body
-Twin-tube construction
-Single Adjustment (ride-height)
-16 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Optional Pillow ball upper mount (front)
-OE Top mounts
-6 kg/mm (f) 7 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1350 List Price
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T1R (B-52) T1R, Type One Racing USA
-Steel (Chromoly) Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-36 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
~$1700 List Price
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T1R (B-Max) T1R, Type One Racing USA
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-36 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-10 kg/mm (f) 8 kg/mm Rear Spring rates
~$1400 List Price
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Buddy Club (N+) ---Buddy club OFFICIAL USA WEB SITE---
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-15 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
~$1400 List Price
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Buddy Club (Racing Spec) ---Buddy club OFFICIAL USA WEB SITE---
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-15 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
~$1800 List Price
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D2 (RS) D2 Racing USA - Welcome
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction (Inverted front)
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-36 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
~$1350 List Price
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D2 (Type-1) D2 Racing USA - Welcome
-Aluminum Body
-Mono-tube construction (Inverted front)
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-Separate Compression and Rebound Adjustable (Double adj)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
~$3900 List Price
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Zeal (Function Xs ) ENDLESS OFFICIAL WEBSITE
-Steel Body
-Mono-tube construction
Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-6 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-12kg/mm / 12kg/mm
~$2500 List Price
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Zeal (Function X ) ENDLESS OFFICIAL WEBSITE
-Steel Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Dual Adjustment (Pre-tension and ride-height)
-30 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Pillow Ball front mount, uses OE rear top mount
-14kg/mm / 14kg/mm
~$3100 List Price
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HotBits (Basic) home
-Steel Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Ride Height adj with optional helper springs
-Fixed Compression / rebound
-Optional External reservoir
-Uses OE top mount
-Optional PillowballTop mount (front)
~$1800 List Price
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HotBits (DT-1) home
-Steel Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Ride Height adj with optional helper springs
-40 step Compression/Rebound Adjustable (Single adjustment)
-Optional External reservoir
-Uses OE top mounts
-Optional Pillowball Top mount (front)
~$2100 List Price
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HotBits (DT-2) home
-Steel Body
-Mono-tube construction
-Ride Height adj with optional helper springs
-40 step Rebound Adjustable
-30 step Compression Adjustable
-External reservoir
-Uses OE top mounts
-Optional PillowballTop mount (front)
~$2400 List Price
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Redshift Motorsports (Custom Koni) Red Shift Motorsports Home Page
-Custom Modified OE with Koni Insets
-Twin-tube construction
-Ride height adjustable
-5 step Rebound Adjustable
-5 step Compression Adjustable
-Springs rates to customer spec
-Uses OE top mounts
~$2650 List Price
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Moton Moton Suspension Technology
-Totaly custom application
–Race only
-2way, 3-way, 4way
-Alloy Body
$4500-$12,000
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If I have missed one, or made a mistake, please drop me a line so I can correct it.


Mods - It "may" make sense to merge this with the "Drop" guide sticky above ...


Cheers

Moose

[FLIGL2003]

Nice and informative Thread **Sticky**

Thanks for the Info

[confusedxpanda]

Originally Posted by FLIGL2003

Nice and informative Thread **Sticky**

Thanks for the Info

[Moose]

Definitions and description of parts and the operation.

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Aluminum Body Vs Steel body
Aluminum is lighter than steel, BUT requires greater wall thickness to match the strength of steel or steel alloys, making the shock physically larger. Aluminum is “stiffer” than steel, but this causes a related problem, in that it fatigues quicker, and is more likely to crack or fracture with less warning then a steel or steel alloy. While aluminum will not “rust” the way steel will, it does corrode and will seize up with the right conditions. Both require some form of coating to minimize corrosion and the potential to seize.

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Height Adjustment (threaded spring perch)
The effective ride height (amount of lowering) can be adjusted with a coil-over by threading (up or down) the lower spring seat. There is a couple of variations of this.
-Single threaded adjustment, where you are lowering the relative spring position. This can cause some issues, since as you lower the car, the suspension travel becomes greater than the free length of the spring itself. This causes the spring to become loose and rattle around when the suspension is fully extended (drooping)
-Single threaded adjustment with helper (tender) spring. This uses the same adjustment as above, BUT with the addition of a second spring (with a very low spring rate) that “fills” up the gap between the upper mount and the main spring, keeping everything under tension, and not allowing the main spring to flop arround
-Double threaded height adjustment. This uses Two sets of threaded adjustments. The first threaded part of the body “holds” the spring under tension, the second adjustment adjusts the actual ride height.

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Shock Valveing comes in a couple of flavors, Fixed valveing, Single and Double adjustable (I am not getting into 3 and 4 way valved shocks here). Shocks or dampers manage or control the motion of the springs in two directions (Compression (in) and rebound (out). Adjustable valving is a key element in the ability to tune a suspension and how it works for your application.
-A fixed valving shock, has valving that “should” be matched to the spring rates, and the car it is meant for.
-An single adjustable shock, allows you to adjust simultaneously BOTH compression and rebound valveing (The exception being Koni Yellows which I believe have variable rebound, but fixed compression damping)
-A double or two-way adjustable shock allows you to INDEPENDANTLY adjust both rebound and compression valving.

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Valving / Damping Adjustment Steps
-More adjustment steps is not nessessarily better, the RANGE of the adjsutment steps is more important. Related to this, the "quality" of the damping is the most important factor, and can only be determined by a shock dyno (See HiRev's Sticky Above for more info)

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Upper Mounts:
There are three basic types of upper spring mounts, OE, Pillow-ball, and adjustable pillow-ball
-OE generally uses a stamped steel “cup” lined with a rubber isolating ring, and a rubber “donut” around the shock shaft that minimizes vibration and road-noise from being transmitted to the car.
-Pillow-ball, is a machined alloy cup generally with a steel “pillow” bearing supporting top of the shock shaft. This metal on metal contack, reduces the movement or slop in the suspension, BUT allows vibration to be transmitted from the suspension to the chassis.
-Adjustable Pillow-ball (Camber / Caster) is a pillow-ball system that can slide within the top-hat allowing for camber and or caster adjustment.
On 2006+ civics only the front suspension can use a “pillowball” top mount, as the rear suspension’s design has the bottom and top mounts for the springs stamped directly into the Body and lower control arms.

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Mono-tube construction VS Dual tube – taken from HKS USA’s web-site

Mono-tube (or single tube) vs. Twin-tube
A mono-tube suspension structure which is a design where both the oil chamber and gas chamber are completely separated inside a single cylinder. Dampening is created as the piston moves up and down inside the cylinder. Dampening is maintained by applying constant load to the cylinder with the use of high pressure gas. There are many characteristics to the mono-tube design, which results in high durability, and comfort even in the harshest driving conditions. Mono-tube suspension structure requires an intense level of research and development as well as advanced manufacturing.


Twin-tube suspension has dual oil chambers inside the cylinder, enabling the oil to move from the inner chamber to the outer chamber as the damper strokes. Subtle dampening adjustments are more difficult since the oil level is lower and piston area that receives pressure is smaller than compared to the mono-tube design. Since the cylinder is covered by an outer tube, it cannot dissipate heat well, which can cause the oil to deteriorate quicker. Twin-tube structure is commonly used because of its cheaper manufacturing costs.
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Cheers

Moose

[ru2slow?]

Very nice post. Well put together and informative!

[jumboshrimp23]

great information, but could u also post up the prices and where to get them from?

[KidnKorner]

where do you order the D2 for the Si sedan?

[Moose]

Originally Posted by jumboshrimp23

great information, but could u also post up the prices and where to get them from?

Prices are all-over the place and will never be accurate ... so I will not waste my time quoting Street Prices .... I have instead put down the APPROXIMATE LIST price for reference ... But as an educated consumer you should be price comparing and shopping arround anyways

I would start with the Site Sponsors first and then work from there. I did add links to the actual manufactures to make things a bit easier

Originally Posted by KidnKorner

where do you order the D2 for the Si sedan?

I added links to the actual manufactures to make things a bit easier to find a vendor.

Moose

[20strong]

Very informative thread thanks for the great addition.

[AznSupastar]

sticky pls!

[LucasBlack]

I think it's about time this thread be brought back up to the top, updated, and stickied....

[racereaper7]

what happened to the skunk2

[brzrkr626]

theres BC racing also

[Juan_Cheese]

subscribed

[07k20z3ftw]

u didnt list the skunk2 pro-s or the pro-c

[beast14]

You forgot ebay :) :)