1999 Acura Integra

[Steve85]

This is my commuter, however, by nature, I cannot leave well enough alone.

It was purchased with 95K on it, completely stock, Silver, 5spd with gray leather. As things wear out I will replace / upgrade.

This link is the first major project a few months ago.
http://mmsports.org/forum/viewtopic.php?...=need+head
Cliff notes: If you don't replace your timing belt it will break or shear off teeth. 99% of the time it will destroy the valves. With the help of MM, especially .RJ, I was able to determine I was in the 1%. I replaced the belt and it has been running great ever since.

Next up is tires. I need new tires and the tire thread has me leaning towards Falken 912. I need to make some calls about the "mileage warranty" though. I drive a lot and don't want to replace tires every 3-4 months.

I hate the stance and rake of the car as it sits and I am trying to decide where I want to go with it. I'm not looking to break any Autox/Track records so a simple lowering spring will do. Eibach seems to get a bad rap but they worked fine a 94 hatch I had many moons ago. TireRack has H&R for the same price right now and there is a set of TEIN S on eBay for $125. The TEIN I am afraid will give a slammed, rather than lower look.
WWMM do? Things like sway bars can come later if I decide to go that direction.

I am also looking at possibly some new wheels, and again, purely for looks and have a couple in mind. I'm torn between 15 (stock) and 16 inch though. To be completely honest, I am having trouble finding a wheel I love at the right price. I might just put the springs on and see if I can live with it.

WWMM do? Others to look at in the cheap category?

[V1GiLaNtE]

I like the first ones.. H&R are great springs. I'm guessing it's a 1.25" in the front and a 1" in the rear? Or are they the sport springs? In which case your looking at moar low which is always good..

[Maengelito]

I had the Eibach pro-kit on my 94 way back in the day. I thought it was a good compromise between ride quality and lowered the car about an inch. I also had 16" rota C8s back then as well. But after buying the Kosei K1s which I still have as my Miata track wheels, I think the K1s looked better than the C8.

[JustinG]

why not just get some stock honda wheels, like the integra blades or something, you can find a set of those cheap im sure.



OR LS Mesh

[Steve85]

I like the first ones.. H&R are great springs. I'm guessing it's a 1.25" in the front and a 1" in the rear? Or are they the sport springs? In which case your looking at moar low which is always good..

I like the top one best myself.

The HR springs are 1.75 front and 1.5 rear and Eibach are 1.3 F&R according to Tire Rack. I measured last night and I like the idea of 1.3 better but I think the 1.75 will be OK, there's just over 2 inches from fender to tire. Also, the spread between F&R with HR's will solve the rake issue. The front looks like a 50's "Gasser". (Google it)

But after buying the Kosei K1s which I still have as my Miata track wheels, I think the K1s looked better than the C8.

I really like the K1's too, they are 15" only for my application, and since I'm not really sold on going to a 16...hmmm...I'll have to decide if I like them $30 a wheel more than the top picture.

why not just get some stock honda wheels, like the integra blades or something, you can find a set of those cheap im sure

Thank you for the pic of the blue one. That's the wheel I have now. While the car color is different and it has some ground effects, its overall look solidifies my desire for a new wheel. I like the sawblades on the white one. I believe those rims are from GSR's?

[D_Eclipse9916]

Go H&R OEs. Best spring rate setup for a daily. Pro-kits are known to be only at most a 10% or even less than stock spring rate resulting in not a good combo with lowered suspension travel.

[REED]

I like the ASA R1s for the looks and the Kosei's for the weight, or lack thereof

[Steve85]

Go H&R OEs. Best spring rate setup for a daily. Pro-kits are known to be only at most a 10% or even less than stock spring rate resulting in not a good combo with lowered suspension travel.

What you mean by the 10% on the Eibachs? Are you saying they tend to be less than 10% "stiffer" than stock?

The thing I liked about them on the hatch was the progressive rate and the ride height was just right. HR has me a little nervous that 1.75 might be too low and .75 (OE), well, maybe not enough.

[JustinG]

slam that bitch son

[Steve85]

Decided to go with an Eibach pro-damper kit I found on eBay from someone relatively local instead of wheels for now. I ordered some 195/55 Falken ZE 912 per the tire thread and great price. I could swear the price was $64/ tire then an announcement about a tariff came out and on Monday morning they were $76. (delivered price)

I can't say much about performance, but they are sooooo much quieter than he BFG G-sport things I replaced. I thought I had bad wheel bearings.

I will do the autocross on Oct 4 with all stock suspension then put the pro-kit on when I get around to it.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Are Falken Chinese made? There was a tarrif put on chinese origin tires (thought falken werent but I dunno). Its been instated, but was complained about to the WTO and now America has to provide a reasonable answer for it. Still in effect though.

Sorry, I never saw your thread. What I meant was, the Prkits are typically only a 10% increase over stock in spring rate, or in some cases I have seen some applications with spring rate LESS THAN stock!!! Always investigate spring rates before throwing them on the car to make sure they work with the shock and ride height that you are choosing, this is how we get all these crappy Civics pogoing around.

[V1GiLaNtE]

First off let me say was a pleasure meeting you sunday steve!! I was the driver of the passat wagon.. :thumbup:
After the auto x and driving around how do you like those Falken's? I'm also trying to find a tire with good "mileage warranty " Looking forward to the wheels and drop!!

[Steve85]

First off let me say was a pleasure meeting you sunday steve!! I was the driver of the passat wagon.. :thumbup:

Yeah it was great to meet you too Cabell. Nice wagon, I like all the little touches you've done.

After the auto x and driving around how do you like those Falken's? I'm also trying to find a tire with good "mileage warranty " Looking forward to the wheels and drop!!

I like them, a lot. They held up quite well to the autocross, of course I wasn't plowing the front tires into the ground with same weight you were, Capt Ahab. They are not torn up the way your Goodyears were which is probably to be expected. They are quiet on the road and have been good in the rain even with the light car. So far, given the price, grip, and mileage warranty it seems a hard tire to beat.

[Steve85]

Help me pick out some suspension bits. I have not installed the Eibach kit I bought so I'm still completely stock. I did research based on DJs comments and found the the Eibachs although progressive, the stiffer spring is no stiffer than stock. I don't see a stiffer spring available for the kit so I'm not sure it's something that can grow with me.

The problem is heavy roll through the cones. Not ready for an all out race package, just a step in the right direction. I've been reading stuff over at Honda-Tech and it seems a rear stiff bias helps with rotation as well so I want to keep that in mind as put the bits together. My idea is to start with a bigger rear sway bar, maybe fr and rr bars.

Should I do both bars?
Will doing the bars on an otherwise stock suspension have any really negative effects?
Brands - what do I stay away from?
Size recommendations?

And just so I can keep my eye open for deals, if I were to go to a coil over setup that can grow with me, what I'm looking for in terms of brands/models? Are the sleeve kits like ground control offers OK?

[Goodspeed]

No experience with Hondars, but for a competent setup under $1k you could look at revalved-Bilsteins and GC coilovers. From my reading/research I see a lot of people who go Koni/GC without much thought to matching the damper with their spring rate (and I've even heard of GC not giving great advice before) and get a horrible ride.

But, at least for the Miatars, there are a few valving services out there and even built-to-order Bilstein based setups that are matched well and give a great ride for the handling improvement. And, theoretically with a setup like this, there are a few spring rates that will remain competent with the valving selected, and you can always re-tune the setup in the future.

[Mike]

My hatch has a brand new set of Koni yellows and Eibach something lowering springs on them. You're welcome to that setup for a nice price if you want to come up and do some sort a swap. By brand new I mean less than 5 miles on it.

[Maengelito]

the koni/gc package is pretty stout. I know a lot of integra owners go that route. If you get a rear sway bar, try to find the OEM ITR bar and some sort of rear subframe reinforcement bracket.

[andrew_j]

^Yup. My integra has koni/gc with the extended top hats, asr subframe brace and itr sway bar. Its a great little setup.



Thats my car, and you can see it improves the roll a lot. It rides really smooth to boot.

[Steve85]

Thanks gents. I do see a lot of support for the koni/gc and ITR sway bar combo. No need, time, or money to reinvent the wheel, I tried that once and it's proven combos from here on out. More searching and reading over at H-T found that increasing the fr bar would just introduce more understeer.

Mike, I was reading you build thread again, I'm thinking you have the koni yellow "strut" and not the shock/coil setup?

Andrew, car looks great and seems to be pretty flat through the turn. What spring rates are you running?

I will source an OEM ITR rear bar and keep my eyes out for a deal on a koni/gc sale, no hurry on the konis for now.

[Mike]

Correct, just the shock. In the old days (I don't know if anything is different now... I'm completely out of "the game"), you'd buy ayour Koni yellows, GC sleeves, and springs separately. Is there a package or preinstalled sleeves now?