Civic VTI-R handling

[greecegun]

I've had my 96 VTIR hatch for a couple of months now and whilst I am hapy with most aspects of the car I find the car a bit twitchy/tail happy when pushing it.

My car has low kms and near new tyres and the stock shocks still seem pretty firm.

What have other VTI-R owners found to improve the handling most for bang for buck? The Whiteline kit sounds good but I don't want to spend that sort of money if I can help it. Not really interested in lowering the car opf doing anything that stuffs up the ride.

Any thoughts? :?

[luzinit]

hey dude, if you're thinking about the whiteline handling kit which is around ~1800, and thats turning you off, perhaps you can do what Wynode did on his Civic Si, and i think that was just sway bars, castor/camber kit and maybe some other goodies. Do a search on Whiteline in the civic section and you can see what Win thinks about this particular mod for his civic. It was about $500 from memory and Win higly recommends it. HTH.

[wynode]

If I remember correctly, $1800 is for new shocks, springs AND the handling kit.

If you think the car is too tail happy now, then getting a bigger sway bar and/or stiffening up the car will only make it worse.

What exactly are you after?

[Civic Type R]

please explain at what speeds you are feeling it to be tail happy ?
I have a full mugen aero kit and by god it works well at high speeds.

i do however lose it in the wet at very low speeds around roundabouts - but thats a rubber issue.

[luzinit]

please explain at what speeds you are feeling it to be tail happy ?
I have a full mugen aero kit and by god it works well at high speeds.

i do however lose it in the wet at very low speeds around roundabouts - but thats a rubber issue.

hey whats a mugen aero kit? is that just the body kit ??
and does it help or what?? becoz my stock vtir feels very stable at around 130km/h, i dont know how high is high speed tho.. hehe

[one more chance]

i dont know what your driving characteristics are like, but you must be pushing it very very hard in order to get it "tail happy".
if you are experiencing this, then i think i nice set of anti-sway bars is a good option for the price. also try lowering it with some nice lowered springs are koni dampers.

[Civic Type R]

please explain at what speeds you are feeling it to be tail happy ?
I have a full mugen aero kit and by god it works well at high speeds.

i do however lose it in the wet at very low speeds around roundabouts - but thats a rubber issue.

hey whats a mugen aero kit? is that just the body kit ??
and does it help or what?? becoz my stock vtir feels very stable at around 130km/h, i dont know how high is high speed tho.. hehe

yeah the Mugen Aero is just the bodykit.
As i have driven at 205 - 215kmh a few times the car feels the same as if your travelling at 15kmh ! Theres no movement anywhere and it feels so damn still and stable. Apart from the engine revving the crap out at 7300 in 5th everything is great.
If i didnt have the kit on who knows what it would've been like. :shock:

[VTEChnique]

Tail-happy hatchy's are from back-off oversteer..

[greecegun]

"please explain at what speeds you are feeling it to be tail happy ? "

Put it this way - I go through a wide sweeper at about 110 kmh - nothing too radical - and the back wants to step out. I lift off and as VTRechnique says - backoff oversteer.

The 1986 FWD Celica I one owned felt far more stable in this sort of situation and that thing had worn shockies....

I basically want it to be predictble and more capable.

[Civic Type R]

check your tyre pressures and rubber. Yiou will slide out in the rear if the front has more rubber than the rears. If the rears have more grip than the front then you will drift slideways i like that feeling :P

[mo]

Tail-happy hatchy's are from back-off oversteer..

:lol:

[greecegun]

Tyre pressures as as the figures inside the door panel, for what they are worth. I will try reduceing the pressure a little in the front end and see what happens