Raising the car = better handling???

[senna]

all good, been doing some reading and slowly figuring things out. thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys!

However, has anyone heard of essentially the geometry "locking" so no more adjustment could be made. The story i keep hearing is that the front can't be adjusted anymore.
Can anyone confirm the points where the front camber adjustment is? It's on one of the lower control arms or steering arms isn't it or in that area, sorry may have the wrong terminology?

Your suspension wouldn't be locked out - that would be only if the arms were on such an angle that the ball joints physically couldn't move anymore...

You might find that the SPC arms just don't have that much adjustment. The upper control arm is where the adjustment comes from - pretty sure the SPC arms have a sliding ball joint like most, however the locking bolts are on the side of the ball joint rather than on the top. I'm assuming that your 2.5 degrees of adjustment is 2.5 total, so only 1.25 degrees in or out from any point.

[mugen_ctr]

Hmmm, thanks for all the info guys!!
Senna, for the fornt camber, it seems to change with every place i go to. Some can get slightly more camber but it seems to max out at -1deg. which i think is wrong, I have SPC caster and camber adjustable upper arms where the camber is supposed to be adjustable by up to 2.5 deg.

So for the people with a basic setup similar to mine. Are there any basic rules of thumb for car ride height settings for civic's in particular?
Given standard arms and the like, would there be an optimal height to make best use of the standard geometry?

It really depends i guess... u can get away with running lower ride height, but on most budget coilovers which majority ppl here run including me, the optimum height ive found was around ur height due to the coilover performance. Theres too many variables to really be thinking about if its mainly a road car IMO.. What the other guys have said is spot on, but in our case, its not necessary and bit over kill IMO, considering we dont track on most given days... though wouldnt hurt to have all those extra adjustments

Consider running a slight bigger sway bar as well to help cope with cornering, ITR is the go for most ek, But i believe its a hollow bar, which does make it bit more forgiving compared to some of the other swaybars out there, like whiteline that im using... 20mm Solid bar... Rigid as hell, an can make things hairy...

I also believe u have to also consider the movement of swaybar, which can also attribute to the over all handling, which on mine atm, the sway bar is doing nothing due to the fact that the ride height is simply too low for the swaybar to really be working, if i had higher ride height and also short end links it might fix the issue :/

And as far as standard OEM control arms, if ur goin for coilovers and lower height, invest in camber arms, so u can play around with variety configuration that suits ur needs....

[Scholzey]

what i would have thought is that you want your suspension angles of arms etc to be at standard positions using shocks that like to work in that range which match your spring rates, and springs that you can stand, with sway bars to take away grip from the back to give to the front and make the car more neutral, and run flatter around corners, or you could get bigger tires on the front to get more grip and make the car more neutral and hope your springs are stiff enough to keep the car relatively flat.

now to lower the car you would ideally move all your suspension points UP, therefor making the car lower, but keeping the ideal suspension geometry.

hopefully my car will handle well one day.. :P

[chauster]

You'd rather listen to a bunch of randoms on ozhonda than listen to your mechanic? Lol

On topic your mech knows what his on about.

[trism]

I don't get it. All the randoms have given the same info as the mechanic.

[chauster]

Yes I can read.

You know what I mean.

[rhys.l]

Why not check the mechanics advice? There are too many people who think mechanics are some sort of geniuses. May not be the case here, but plenty I know are just bogans with a good set of tools. I'd sooner listen to, or at least take on board, the opinions a bunch of other educated people, especially when they have other sources to back up what they are saying.

[chauster]

Why not check the mechanics advice? There are too many people who think mechanics are some sort of geniuses. May not be the case here, but plenty I know are just bogans with a good set of tools. I'd sooner listen to, or at least take on board, the opinions a bunch of other educated people, especially when they have other sources to back up what they are saying.

Some have been doing cars longer than you have been alive. But then again I know what you mean

[quang]

Mugen_CTR - Thats what i thought, i know lowering the car can result in a harsher ride hence why i haven't dumped it like some. I have the ITR rear sway and have got adjustable camber arms both front and rear . I have lots or adjustibility in the rear but it appears the fronts are rather limited. Not sure why i would think that i would be able to get more than -0.5 deg.

Chauster and rhys.l - When i was talking to him, i didn't fully understand what he was talking about and since i couldn't remember all the details (not very useful when trying to search on google), i know that some people on here have a wealth of knowledge, whether they be internet mechanics or real ones, they may be able to point me in the right direction. After reading more from the links provided, he is correct, i was trying to figure out the reasons why as to rather just going ok, i'll raise my car.

the part i was trying to figure out is, he recommended raising my car maybe another 1 inch, given my car hasn't been lowered that much from stock, raising it another inch would put it above stock height, so i was questioning whether raising that much would actually be beneficial or worse.

[e240]

You'd rather listen to a bunch of randoms on ozhonda than listen to your mechanic? Lol
On topic your mech knows what his on about.

That really depends who the mechanic is...there are bunches of random mechanics out there too you know. :-p

[butterfingers]

Mugen_CTR - Thats what i thought, i know lowering the car can result in a harsher ride hence why i haven't dumped it like some. I have the ITR rear sway and have got adjustable camber arms both front and rear . I have lots or adjustibility in the rear but it appears the fronts are rather limited. Not sure why i would think that i would be able to get more than -0.5 deg.

Chauster and rhys.l - When i was talking to him, i didn't fully understand what he was talking about and since i couldn't remember all the details (not very useful when trying to search on google), i know that some people on here have a wealth of knowledge, whether they be internet mechanics or real ones, they may be able to point me in the right direction. After reading more from the links provided, he is correct, i was trying to figure out the reasons why as to rather just going ok, i'll raise my car.

the part i was trying to figure out is, he recommended raising my car maybe another 1 inch, given my car hasn't been lowered that much from stock, raising it another inch would put it above stock height, so i was questioning whether raising that much would actually be beneficial or worse.

not worth it. ugly as ****

[mugen_ctr]

Mugen_CTR - Thats what i thought, i know lowering the car can result in a harsher ride hence why i haven't dumped it like some. I have the ITR rear sway and have got adjustable camber arms both front and rear . I have lots or adjustibility in the rear but it appears the fronts are rather limited. Not sure why i would think that i would be able to get more than -0.5 deg.

Chauster and rhys.l - When i was talking to him, i didn't fully understand what he was talking about and since i couldn't remember all the details (not very useful when trying to search on google), i know that some people on here have a wealth of knowledge, whether they be internet mechanics or real ones, they may be able to point me in the right direction. After reading more from the links provided, he is correct, i was trying to figure out the reasons why as to rather just going ok, i'll raise my car.

the part i was trying to figure out is, he recommended raising my car maybe another 1 inch, given my car hasn't been lowered that much from stock, raising it another inch would put it above stock height, so i was questioning whether raising that much would actually be beneficial or worse.

0.5 camber max?!?!? doesnt sound right, Most camber kit allow for +/-3 degrees or so, much like my Hardrace camber kit, But from my experience -0.5 is a good enough on a DD, ATM im running around -1 at the front and -0.5 at rear, so far so good

That really depends who the mechanic is...there are bunches of random mechanics out there too you know. :-p

thats true.... what one mechanic says another may say other wise... And also, what may work for one may not necessary work for another, IMO, find a balance between the two, looks and performace.

To OP theres not much point in goin all performance if looks, and by looks i mean how you feel about it looks, not others, is goin to be effected.... If u aint satisfied with it looks, than surely theres gotta be a compromise , It is ur car at the end of the day, and its not a race car so dont stress too much