I drove Ray's car on Monday. The Neusped springs were a big improvement--I am still confused by Neuspeed parts on Hondas, but I digress.

Anyway, I am serirously considering springs or if I win the lotto coilovers, possible Teins with EDFC. What do y'all think? Discuss......

 

I have spent about 4 hours researching this and I think I am going to go with the Tein High Teck Springs. They are a little stiffer than stock (more stiff in the rear which seams to be common with springs for some reason) and lowers about .6 of an inch. I can not go as low as Rays and I do not want to have to buy the axle spacers when the car is lowered to much and gets the halfshaft vibration. I have researched most of the springs and with all of of them people say good and bad, to hard to soft, yad yada yada. Tein overall seems to always be stiffer than others when it comes to springs and coil overs so I think this is what I want. Stiffer with not lowering to much. People seem to say the Eibachs are soft, maintain same ride, while being lower. If I wanted just looks I would do that, but I want to take some of the dive, squat, and roll out of this car.

 

Scotty this is my opinion (nothing more)....I ran springs for 2 years on my ap1, they were cool at first (but not better and the kgmm's were rated well)...after 2 yrs they felt like sh1t (obviously because the struts couldn't take it anymore)...at that point I would have had to fork over the $$$ for struts (koni's)...by the time you are done you're almost at a set of coils, which is why I bought coils next....from what I've read on the Flex's I think you would like them (assuming you only track the mustang)...if you don't mind replacing your struts later then the springs will make you happy looks wise.......I can also tell you that going back to stock ride height I can honestly say it's truly the way to go if you are in it for the performance....but it just looks so good dropped!

 

I've had similar experience in my 2001 GTi. At first I went with sport springs which lowered my car by an inch all around. six month later I had to replace my struts due to premature failure. So ended up purchasing HR Cupkit(strut and spring). For two years of Boston downtown driving, it never gave me any issues.

I would strongly suggest that you look into Koni yellow and spring combo. Unless ofcourse you want to look into coilovers. As Tim have said, stock struts aren't going to be able to take the much stiffer spring rate and lowered ride height than stock. You maybe ok for a short time being but soon you will hear clunking coming from your suspensions.

Also, I have read about the half-shaft issues with lowered cars. It seems to be common with cars lowered significantly and the problem appears as stresses on stretched half-shafts finally begin to show. Hence the spacer come into play.

Well, choice is yours. I kinda do like the stock set up but then again, I will say it different if I rode in well sorted S2000, suspension wise.

 

I think if i was to do it i'd just get the Megan track coilover. Midwest has them for a decent price.

 

I only consider springs over coilover for the sake of saving money and believing that even if the springs aren't adjustable, there are other things like air pressure and tire mix to correct any undesired behaviors...it just takes experimenting and seat time in the car to understand how the car reacts differently for the better or the worse. Hopefully the better haha


considering the RSR Ti2000 lowering springs but I think I will probably go the route of coil overs for the long haul and the ability to adjust the suspension for different situations. This will provide far more fun changing the settings and understanding the car's characteristics from a driver's learning perspective, I like the idea of changing the setting of the suspension on the fly inside the car using Tiens EDFC unit.

 

There have been very few shock failures on the S so far. A big drop and you will wear out the shocks sooner. A half inch will be good for me since I don't want to scrape all over town and I do not want to swap rims to fit coil overs since they seem to be a minimum 1.5 inch drop. After 40 is thousand miles, stock shocks start to degrade anyways. Also, if you bur springs that let you retain the bump stops, you will not bottom the shock either.

 

I don't know where you keep getting this minimum 1.5 drop on coilovers

 

Personally I would not do it. I have gone this route on some of my cars and within 60 days upgraded the strut/shocks. Doing just a spring is a crap shoot with how long your shocks/struts last. I know many people have done it and if you are just a street/highway touring driver you might be satisfied until your shocks crap out or see your rear tire wear increase 50%.

*tein is junk. They are a made in China product and in Japan they are looked upon like we view APC.

*if you insist on doing a spring go with the eibach pro-kit (nice ride and were engineered with OEM shocks/struts in mind). I might recommend using some Koni's and setting them on the lower perch (.5 drop and adjustable) with your stock springs, this has recieved great reviews.

I have a line on all this, let me know if I can help!

 

I just cancelled my order for Espilir springs... It's an approximately 1.3" drop... I've been in cars that had the springs and I thoght for a lowering spring the ride quality remained fairly stock....if not a bit stiffer. Having said that, I was contemplating Koni Yellows/Espilir springs.. but all mods are on hold for 2006..
Maybe next year...


espilir springs.. 17" MS TE37s (darksubrosa's old ap1)