what options?

[simpdogg]

Just installed a full pedders setup in my car this includes:

x4 springs lowered 35mm each corner
x4 sports rider shocks
and strut brace to tighten it up that extra bit.

however whilst im really happy with the increased handeling capabilities of the car and still keeping a nice firm responsive ride, im a dissapointed that im apparently unable to lower the front down a further 10-15mm

this is what i have been told, and i would like some opinions from you guys.

apparently if i change the spring to something like a superlow king spring which apparently "dont make to suit accords" or something else regardless of the shock i put in, "i will wear down the valves etc in the shock itself", meaning i wont get maximum handling out of my car and have to replace shocks every so often.

im happy with how the back looks it sits nice just above the wheel, the front sits as i said that little to high, any suggestions of how i could maybe do something about this?

sorry bout the long post

as far

[poid]

you arent actually lowering it all that much, i would think that if the shocks are any good they should be fine. King springs dont make superlows, however Kmac will make them to whatever height you need.

If they do stuff up get better shocks like Koni and Bilstein and then you will be fine for years to come

[razaman]

What poid said.

I have superlows (lovells) in my car with stock shocks. No problems or complaints. I expect (touch wood) to get a couple years out of them, as I'm told.

I would assume the ride would be better with aftermarket shocks though.

Raz

[simpdogg]

i tend to agree with what you guys are saying as well, the shocks are good i should of gotten the konis, though buthe kept talking me out of al the suggestions i made same as the dude in the wheel shop the other day when i was getting my rims,

[Dominik]

Be firm! I got into an argument with the guy at Tempe tyres when he tried to tell me i needed 45 series tires on my 17"s. I knew they would look like tractor wheels, so i wasnt going to accept anything more than 40 series. He walked off swearing, but in the end i got my 40s!!!

And for the lowering, they are probably right - you might sacrifice handling by lowering it a bit more; but who actually lowers an accord for the sole purpose of 'handling like its on rails'??

[simpdogg]

hahaha yeh i know what ya mean, how low is yours dom?
10-15mm imo isnt that much to drop the front, if someone could tell me how to post ill put some pics up so i can show you exactly what im wanting to rectify, 40's are the max you can go on the accords tyre wise yeh?

[razaman]

I'm running 215/45/17's on my accord - 50mm drop.

I'm the opposite of dom - I wanted 45 profile tyres as they are a bit more "comfortable" for family driving.

Raz

[Dominik]

Hehe... i'm sure i'll be like you when i have kids. But for now, looks are my priority ;)

Mine is dropped 85mm (3.5") front and rear. The front still has a 2 finger gap, but the rear is under the guard. I would like some more drop on the front - but it would get mighty impractical...

[will_pop]

i dunno y .. but my front is higher than the rear...

for accords gen5 or gen6, they actually all need 50 profile tyres to suit 17" (assume 205wide)... i got 45 tyres, and wifout lowering the wheel seem even smaller... for me i'd ask them to give me 50 profile tyres, but i wasn't aware untill i got it.. so...

[Dominik]

Will pop, not sure about the 6th gens, but i actually used an online tire calculator to work it out - for me, 205/45 would have been almost exactly the same size as stock. 50 would almost certainly cause rubbing. And it would look like a stock wheel - 50 series tyres are huuuuge!

[will_pop]

haha yeh ... 50 profile tyres are huge.. but that will close the arch gap a bit... anyway got 18" wheels now lol...

[Dominik]

Maaaate... Dont close the gap by getting bigger tyres! Close the gap by DUMPING your car!!! Haha... Either that or get 24"s - straight blingin'!

[razaman]

Maaaate... Dont close the gap by getting bigger tyres! Close the gap by DUMPING your car!!! Haha... Either that or get 24"s - straight blingin'!

I tend to agree with dom on this one. 50 profile tyres on 17's are too big. Besides that will really throw your rolling diameter out. According to the online calculator http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html when I went from my 195/60/15 to 17's the closest and best match is 205/45/17, but I opted for the 215/45 as Iwould have slightly more sidewall for a more family orientated ride - well as much as I want! :p Speedo will be out by 1.7%

If I went for 205/50 I would have been out by 3.5% and the 215/50 would be out by 5.2%. Way too far!:thumbdwn:

But damn those high performance tyres are noisy!

Raz

[Dominik]

God, i wonder how many hits that Miata.net site gets thanks to it's tire calculator! I love it!

My 205/40s are 4% smaller than standard wheels, but at my height you cant tell :p
And having the speedo reading 4% fast means that i am less likely to speed...

[simpdogg]

After Yesterdays cruise, i liked how the car was handeling and all that just mega pist about the height of the front, the back sits just above the wheel, if i just lowered the front another 25 mm ill be happy, this couldnt affect the height of the back in some weird way???? its just my luck that somethig like that would happen to me even if i mean it unitentionally!!!

[h22a accord]

i have only lowered mine 30mm all round. i like it. it would look better slammed on its ass but i wanted performance without sacrificing comfort. My ride height is what they should have offered when the car was new.

[Dominik]

Just get the front springs reset. That wont affect the height of the rear springs - but it might make the front springs stiffer; which leads to more understeer (could offset that with a rear swaybar)

[h22a accord]

IMO the accords come from the factory sitting a bit higher at the front, wouldnt this be a result of the car having to sit higher for sufficient suspension travel.

Ive noticed that when ppl lower their 5th gen accords so that the front guard sits level with the front tyre that the exhaust A pipe sits extremely close to the ground which can be a pain in the ass and i am only assuming that it must be a really harsh ride as the suspension would have next to no travel before rebounding of the bumpstops.

here is a pic of my car lowered, not by much but i can take it on the roughest of roads and it glides over everything without bouncing, bottoming out, or even upsetting the balance of the car if u hit a bump mid corner at high speeds.

as i fitted king springs with monroe shocks, i honestly thought the ride would be shithouse becuase thats what everyone said it would be, but all i can say is that the ride quality, (performance and comfort) is about 500% better than i thought it would be and about 2000% better than 10 year old stock suspension!!!
http://img85.exs.cx/img85/8392/h22aaccord.jpg

[narcoleptic]

After Yesterdays cruise, i liked how the car was handeling and all that just mega pist about the height of the front, the back sits just above the wheel, if i just lowered the front another 25 mm ill be happy, this couldnt affect the height of the back in some weird way???? its just my luck that somethig like that would happen to me even if i mean it unitentionally!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong.. cos I only went with my "feels" as I adjust my hi low coilovers myself..
It seems like you are more after handling.. or at least you are hoping not to have it as a trade-off for looks. I found having the front tilting a little promote more responsive handling. (of cos, when I say tilting, it should match up with the height of the back as well)

I don't know much about exact and complex calculations; I know the ride-height of my set affects the the spring-rate; the lower I drop, the softer it is.
I only dropped down around 50mm more couple of weeks ago, the handling has changed dramatically. All the alignments were out; cambers were out by at least 2 degrees ++ and more understeering.. which I personally like when it comes into roundabouts.

My point is.. having the front tilting a little isn't all that bad for handling. There are way too many variations on suspension setup, you really need someone who has experience on it to tell you what would do what.

Good luck.

[simpdogg]

When i was chatting with toe and few other guys about it, i mentioned something that i was told from my mate who had a vnss a few years back, (hahaha im the only honda boy in the group!!!) that with the strut brace being mounted in the front it has made the front grip like anything the handeling is fantastic anyhow by adding a rear sway bar to the setup now i would be taking out the flex and movement from the rear springs because im making it stiffer, so if i put the car into a corner hard, id be more inclined to have the tail slip out or move on me because the rear wheels wont counter act what the front is doing because there is no flex at all, it makes sense and i can see a valid point to it, wondering on the accruacy of it though.
imo i think factory cars should come out with better sus setups, from driving stock sus, to now upgraded i feel so much more confident with my driving and the car, not saying im pushing the limits of the car or myself but, you feel alot more safer. i tried to post a few pics but it wont let me

[narcoleptic]

When i was chatting with toe and few other guys about it, i mentioned something that i was told from my mate who had a vnss a few years back, (hahaha im the only honda boy in the group!!!) that with the strut brace being mounted in the front it has made the front grip like anything the handeling is fantastic anyhow by adding a rear sway bar to the setup now i would be taking out the flex and movement from the rear springs because im making it stiffer, so if i put the car into a corner hard, id be more inclined to have the tail slip out or move on me because the rear wheels wont counter act what the front is doing because there is no flex at all, it makes sense and i can see a valid point to it, wondering on the accruacy of it though.
imo i think factory cars should come out with better sus setups, from driving stock sus, to now upgraded i feel so much more confident with my driving and the car, not saying im pushing the limits of the car or myself but, you feel alot more safer. i tried to post a few pics but it wont let me

Sounds like de idea.. just becareful not to over do it esp with stablisers, an oversteering FF car is not fun and not something that you wanted, esp in the rain.

[Dominik]

The reason is comfort. The Accord is a family sedan, not meant for a slalom course (of course, we can make it so that it *can* go round corners great) but thats not what it was designed for. The other thing is, just lowering your car usually doesnt do that much for the handling. It will *feel* like it corners better, but in reality you could have done the same corner with stock suspension (albeit with massive bodyroll, and some squeeling brakes). Thats why stock suspension is as soft as it is. Try driving an MR2 or a lotus elise (a car designed to handle well from the factory), and it is a different story...

Though, what your friend with the VNSS was saying is probably true; you want stiffer rear suspension than the front (with the use of swaybars); to reduce understeer...

[h22a accord]

also a front strut brace will also do wonders for the cornering ability of your accord. you can get an adjustable one on ebay for 50 bux but the only thing is that you have to relocate the clutch resivour down a little lower for clearance purposes.

I agree that accords are built as a comforable family sedan but they have used them for touring cars in other parts of the world

Did you know that the v8 supercar commodores changed from a mcpherson strut front suspension to double wishbone (same as accords) so that they would handle better and be on par with the super car ford falcons.

its a very good design of suspension that accords have. the difference between comfort and sport is very easily changed with different spring rates, camber kits, sway bars and shock absorbers.

[edw-R]

Good post!!