Which suspension upgrade for comfort?

[chylld]

Hi all,

i'm looking to upgrade the suspension of my 06 civic to a more comfort-oriented setup. the two things i'm trying to fix are:


rough roads introducing noise into the cabin
big bumps making a massive 'crash' sound
i've found a few possible candidates for this purpose:


Koni FSD (frequency selective damping) (very good review of these here (http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135049&highlight=fsd))
Koni special (red)
Pedders Comfort Gas
has anyone had any experience with these? are there any other suspension companies i should consider? apart from the above i've only checked out monroe, and have seen some pretty awful bump graphs...

[SeverAMV]

rough roads introducing noise would be your tyres mainly. i'd go with the koni shocks, steer away from pedders.

[czy_sol87]

with the road noise u can put extra sound deadening into ur doors etc
as for shocks, koni are a very good brand of sussy

[Muzz]

Great question, increasing a cars comfort is somthing not disscussed much.

Koni reds (and most other performance orientated shocks) are stiffer than oem, ie your suspension will likely feel stiffer/harsher, ie your comfort levels will decrease slightly for a gain in performance and that crashing sound on bumps will probably increase.

If you are truly after a more comfortable ride, your best bet would be to use softer springs for better compliance on bumps, and upgrade to slightly thicker sway bars, to keep your cars roll stiffness from decreasing(due to the softer springs) lower than what it is stock and keeping the body roll down. The problem here being, i dont believe there are any companys making replacement springs softer than stock.

Some people believe that there cars feel core comfortable and can absorb bumps better by adding chassis strengthening products like strut bars and the such. Personally, i cant really comment on this, maby worth a look into though.

Im sure you probably already realise, but performance and comfort dont go hand in hand. Its all a comprimise, you can gain comfort, but very likely at a cost to performance, and vice versa.

Im not sure the suspension differences between the civic sport and normal civic, but if the normal civic uses softer spring rates than the civic sports, then theres your answer there, probably the single most effective way to increase comfort.

You will gain comfort by running a less sporty setup, ie softer setup, the downside being a slight sacrifice in performance.

Think a little more about what you want and let us know.
Is it:
A - A slightly comfier/less harsh ride, but with no decrease in performance
B - A comfier ride, at a small decrease in performance
C - B, but with other mods to help get the cars cornering power back up.
D - Performance increase, while still keeping the car comfy like oem.

If your answers A, then look in other areas than the suspension. You really cant get comfier than oem suspension by doing suspension mods, that is without sacrificing performance by going softer. This may mean changing things like seats/chassis strengthening products/lower tire pressures/higher tyre profiles etc etc, for the gain in comfort your after.

If your goal is b, then simply softer springs and/or shocks.

If your goal is c, id go for some softer springs, stick with the stock shocks, and increase the size of my rear swaybar, to increase the cars roll stiffness, and to alter the cars ballance to give me some more grip at the front tyres, where its needed. I would also play with my alignment to squeeze everything i can out.

I wouldnt be at all surprised to find that the performance decrease by running slightly softer suspension, is completly offset by increasing the front traction with a thicker rear sway bar, while still making the car feel more softer/cushier/comfier.

If option D is your goal, then your on the right track, a set of soft-ish performace shocks like the koni reds would be perfect:thumbsup:

Sorry for rambling on, hope this helps....

[Muzz]

steer away from pedders.

X2
Ive never used em, but the only people ive ever heard say anything good about pedders products, are the people selling em...

[e240]

Hi all,

i'm looking to upgrade the suspension of my 06 civic to a more comfort-oriented setup. the two things i'm trying to fix are:
...

Leave it stock.

[chylld]

thanks for the responses guys, was away on holiday so apologies for the delayed reply.

i suspected as much; the stock setup is most probably as soft as i'll get. wrt different versions of the civic, afaik they're the same across all specifications, so it's a bit of a no-go there :(


with the road noise u can put extra sound deadening into ur doors etc

this may actually have been my downfall. i put 3 bulk packs of dynamat xtreme in my car which only helped reduce the thump noise slightly; i think what may have happened is i've reduced several of the body panels' resonating frequencies to the same low annoying one, which may actually be amplifying road noise/thumps rather than eliminating it. just a theory, but all i can say is it didn't help as much as i was hoping!


Think a little more about what you want and let us know.
Is it:
A - A slightly comfier/less harsh ride, but with no decrease in performance
B - A comfier ride, at a small decrease in performance
C - B, but with other mods to help get the cars cornering power back up.
D - Performance increase, while still keeping the car comfy like oem.

if i was to be brutally honest, i would say E - significant performance/handling increase, and significant comfort gains. obviously this is not very feasible and given that it's less comfortable and handles worse than say a vw golf (non gti), it's probably largely due to the design of the car chassis and thickness of the panels/firewall etc. suffice to say, it's going to be a compromise either way just as you said, and i can't say i've chosen the best platform to start with...

[aaronng]

Leave it stock and change your tyres. Yoko C.Drive is quiet.