Hey guys,

I’m slowly working to refresh a MY04 with 185k miles. In addition to a replacement soft top, I have the parts and am a ready to replace the spark plugs, TCT (rattle at startup), serpentine belt, idler pulley, and do a shifter rebuild. Clutch is still working well, so I’m thinking about the suspension next.

The S is my fun drive to work 2-3 days a week and weekend car and I have zero plans to track or autocross it. At 185k miles, what would be first on your list to refresh with the suspension? A little lowering would be great, but I’m okay with stock ride height so most coilovers especially Ohlins seem like overkill considering it’s a street only car. Would new OEM bushings tighten things up? What else?

 

Billsteins might fit the ticket nicely if Ohlins are too pricey

 

Bilstein are probably closest coilovers to oem. Infinitely rebuildable, by just about any suspension rebuilder. Parts will always be available, as they're same across all their racing shocks.

They're also probably the longest lasting coilover before needs rebuilt.

So a forever solution.

 

I'll copy and paste the answers from the distinguished people above.

Bilstein PSS or PSS9 coilovers are probably what you're looking for. Super simple and bulletproof. And they can get close to the stock height if you run them all the way uo.

Besides that, I'm sure bushings would make a big difference. Hardrace is a great choice if you want rubber. Bushings are a huge pain to install, so be ready for that.

Your motor mounts have probably been torn for a while too. You can get new ones from Honda. Or try the Marmon non hydraulic ones from Rockauto.

Look into refreshing any worn out ball joints or tie rods with new ones from Honda.

 

Sorry to hijack this thread, but how would someone know if their motor mounts need replacing? Visual? Audio?

 

If you look closely at the RH side one, you can see if it has collapsed. But you need a good one to compare it to to actually notice. LH side is hidden so its hard to see.

If your mounts are OEM or OEM style hydraulic ones, you catch it early enough after it breaks, you'll see a brownish liquid oozing out underneath the mount.

The engine response will also feel less fizzy and more lazy and you might get more cowl shake or rattle over bumps because the engine is flopping about a little bit.

In general, if you drive the car hard and/or have like 75-100K on it...at least one of the mounts is probably torn, assuming they're the original ones.

This was my RH mount. It only looked slightly saggy when installed on the car and it was hard to tell for sure it was broken. But its VERY obvious when removed from the car. My car has just over 100K miles. But this mount has been torn for a while.