budget upgrade for civic

[dsp26]

theres no point in having good suspension if u have sh1t tyres. u'll just break traction and be all over the road sooner than you think.

agree 200%!!

dampenining and spring rates always stiffen up over standard/oem therefore on hard brake the suspension system can't compress and absorb as much inertial force therefore causing tyres to lockup sooner... this is evident on those $20 ebay coilover sleeves (which i had).. the ones i bought were rated at 16Kg/cm^2

and on top off that if you get coilovers, most people do it to dump the car and don't correct the camber... already there you've lost half your tyres in traction area.

not many people take this into consideration....

[markCivicVti]

Is it fairly important to adjust the camber if you just dropping a modest 1.5" ot 2" max?

[dsp26]

Is it fairly important to adjust the camber if you just dropping a modest 1.5" ot 2" max?

hard to say... it can be calculated somewhat mathematically though but you can see it visually if its rooted.

Hard to explain without diagrams.. but generally...
- wheel camber pivots of the LCA
- lower a car and wheels pivot upwards...
- top of the wheel goes in.. bottom of wheel goes out, therefore outside of the tyres get less contact with the road even though it looks flat.. it's coz you also have to kep in mind car weight and tyre pressure and whats being exerted on that inner part.
- vice versa when you raise

Thats why you get inner tyre wear from lowering a car... you get negative camber. in saying that it's not bad... i just think anything lower than -2.5 camber is excessive for daily driving.


i'll paintbrush a diagram tonight if it helps

[cristian]

agree 200%!!

dampenining and spring rates always stiffen up over standard/oem therefore on hard brake the suspension system can't compress and absorb as much inertial force therefore causing tyres to lockup sooner... this is evident on those $20 ebay coilover sleeves (which i had).. the ones i bought were rated at 16Kg/cm^2

and on top off that if you get coilovers, most people do it to dump the car and don't correct the camber... already there you've lost half your tyres in traction area.

not many people take this into consideration....

i was always wondering why u got urs so damn cheap man...

[dsp26]

i was always wondering why u got urs so damn cheap man...

no brother they weren't cheap.... shipping was in excess of US$100....

handled good though combined with my KYBs yeah? just too stiff for parramatta road lol.

[SeverAMV]

just because your tyres shoulder blocks have less contact with the road doesnt mean that you have less grip. if you keep the camber within 1-3 degrees, you can increase the contact patch and use the main grippy patch of the tyres for your cornering, which can help maximise grip.
but yeah, not a good idea to dump it too far. if you dump it far enough to camber out your wheels, it does more than give you camber, it destroys your car's suspension geometry. the main idea behind lowering a car is to lower the car's centre of gravity. if you lower it too far, instead of being at the ideal point at the centre of your undercarriage, it drops down to below your car, which is as bad as having your car raised a foot off the ground.
there's apparently a lot of complex mathematics involved, but unless you plan on forking out money for expensive camber kits, you can just keep the drop to a minimal. and i think with the skunk items, they come with a set of allen keys for adjusting the ride height, so you can play around with it yourself to find the ideal ride height. with the remainder of the 1k, you could get your car corner balanced if you really want to (may give you 50:50 front: rear left:right distribution, but destroys aerodynamics).

[aimre]

theres no point doing suspension. Its just a civic. Just get some lowered spring so it looks a bit better.

Put a diffrent muffler on it for some noise, as cat back make NO performance benifits. Well maybe like 1kw.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/EXHAUST-MUFFL...QQcmdZViewItem

As for intake, buy a fake one off ebay for $50. I cant justify paying $300 for a tube with a bend. Then go buy a simota pod from repco for $30

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Honda-Civic-9...QQcmdZViewItem

[aimre]

now watch all the boy racer have a go at me

[Simmo2302]

theres no point doing suspension. Its just a civic. Just get some lowered spring so it looks a bit better.

Put a diffrent muffler on it for some noise, as cat back make NO performance benifits. Well maybe like 1kw.



As for intake, buy a fake one off ebay for $50. I cant justify paying $300 for a tube with a bend. Then go buy a simota pod from repco for $30

i agree, not point in going overboard

cheapie cold air intake from ebay
lower springs (from pedders?) for that low look

ur choice
1.muffler 4 sound
2.catback & muffler 4 sound, (maybe 1kw of performance increase)
3. headers, hi-flow cat, muffler all with increased diameter piping for performance gain + sound.

bodykit for a sporty look.

as for sound my first car ('83 colt) had:-
4x 6.5" supercheap auto speakers,
old pioneer head-deck,
boss 1200W amp (cheap bottom of range from strathfield) and
2x 1000W 12" subs from cash converters (US Turbo brand, cheap import)

and it sounded loud as, amp was only on 3/4 power and same on head deck and u'd get chest pains from the bass.

now i got all good pioneer in my new car and it sounds the same to me, maybe a lil better.

i have heard "Fusion" brand is good quality vs. Money.

anyway thats my opinion for people who dont wanna go crazy, who just want a nice looking & sounding car.

if anything is incorrect plz feel free to correct me.

[aimre]

for audio. The best bang for buck is Jaycars "response" brand. Been in many car magz and always been voted very high

[NightKids]

aimre is right, audio on a budget you cannot go past the Jaycar brand. Now with their new 6" component systems it makes installing a whole lot easier too!

[OMG.JAI xD]

lol ..

i agree with ebay

with 1.5grand i got the following, and im not kidding.

-Angel eyes projectors
-Complete sound system with, 2 amps, 2 12" subs, and 2 6.9"
-Another headunit with dvd n bluetooth
-one stupid, cheap CAI
-TopFuel PowerChamber CAI
-scissor doors
-6 H1 pure white globes


n i got 17" rims off OH
n i got interior paint from super cheap.
n some speaker wiring cables from RYDA.

all costed like .. 1.5 ish
its worth it though.
then agn im more into sounds n cosmetics rather than performance.
i mean if i had all the money to waste on performance i would build up the engine but .. meh .. rather stick to somethin taht will satisfy..

no point going slow on a fast car wen you know you can go fast on a slow car
did evrythin mah self, obviously saved a bit of money there,