Hey guys,

Was just wanting some opinions on what you guys think are the best handling mods for under $1000, so obviously no coil overs.

Sway bars, front, rear?

I want specific brands of you suggest.

Thanks in advance

 

You could get Tein Basic Coilovers for like $750-800 and Megan Racing Coilovers for $850.

Another option would be a racingbeat Suspension Package which comes with sways + springs.

I upgraded to Koni Yellows with Tein S-Tech springs and it really improved my cars handling, probably a lot more than you will get with upgraded sway bars with stock shocks/springs.
Also, the Konis are adjustable so you can control the dampening settings.

 

The megans are actually downgrades. The Koni Yellows would be a much better alternative, at a possibly lower price.
I would consider better tyres as well, often underlooked!

 

I plan on buying coil overs in a few years and I won't be skimping on price that's what I'm not getting any now and I have some great street tires on at the moment.

 

Well if you have real coilovers in mind already just go ahead and buy some sway bars and good bushings. Installing the bushings is a pity though

 

sway bars....best mod for under 1000 bucks.

 

If you want swaybars, look at Agency Power or Progress.

 

A nice set of tires and a Good alignment is the best thing you can do for your handling hands down, as long as you have nothing broken with the stock set up.

 

or you could jump on the PowerTrix coilover GB I think there is still one set for grabs

 

Seconded. Especially if you are in a climate where you can run summer tires year round and not worry about switching tires around, go with a set of Dunlop Star Specs or Hankook RS-3's. Take it to a real alignment shop who can correctly set up the car, not just a Bob's Tires place who will get the numbers in green and move on.

Then use the remaining money for a HPDE

 

I'll second this: tires and a track day.

 

For $1000 (and I'm assuming you already have a good allignment to go with your good tires) I'd wait for some used coilovers - Bilsteins, KWs, something like that.

Otherwise, since you are going to buy coilovers in the future, just put the money aside and save until you can get something decent new. If you buy well, you will end up with a better handling car than Konis + springs, if only because the spring rates in aftermarket springs are too low to be meaningful. And because it's much harder to adjust the height, rake, and cornerbalance of the car with a spring+shock combo.

Get the bars after you get the coilovers - iideally you should use bars to fine tune your setup, not as a centerpiece of the setup. There's nothing wrong with running aftermarket bars on top of stock shocks & springs, but it's just an (affordable) band-aid and you may find that you don't want super stiff sways on the street once you have experienced a properly damped coilover setup.

 

if no tires, then tires,

if tires, ^ what he said

 

I had megans on a 240, and they were baller spec. The adjustability was great. Much better than the tein basics I had on a previous 240. I would do a great set of tires, then save up till I could afford the coilovers I wanted. My personal opinion. Kinda like "no need for a boost controller till you get a turbo"

 

If you're getting coilovers later then don't blow your money on shocks and springs that you'll end up selling later for a loss.

I'd say look at some sway bars and adjustable endlinks. I have Progress Technology front and rear sway bars and whiteline adjustable endlinks, they're pretty awesome and make a huge difference in the way the car handles through corners. EVO-R also has some good adjustable endlinks. It'll come in handy for corner balancing later when you have the coilovers. Another mod is the Mazdaspeed front strut bar, mainly for the brake brace but it does improve turn in a little from what I've read. So bars are like 350, endlinks like 300, strut bar like 250. Pretty good suspension upgrades for 850. And if you want you could throw in a Mazdaspeed rear strut bar that attaches to the top of the rear strut towers but I've heard the benefit is pretty minor.

 

 

Buying endlinks for a stock strut setup is kinda like pissing in the wind...save your money for when you actually need them to adjust the length....like after you buy your coilovers. Stock ones work fine at stockish ride height

Sways is a good start....buy a used set if you can find them...not like they go bad or anything

Buy new urethane bushings and lube them properly for a lot less troubles

I'm in for a good alignment and tires as well....

 

Sticky tires are what you want, not long tread life hard tires... like somebody else mentioned (rs3's or star specs) will be great. Best thing to improve handling bar none.

 

Hey guys thanks for all the responses, came home from work and was like wow!

To avoid some confusing I have a set of yoko advan sport tires and I have a good wheal alignment, done the old school way . A local place had 3 attempts to get it right but failed. $100 later!

I don't plan on buying springs because they will be useless ones I get coil overs.

I found it interesting what GeorgeH said, using sway bars to tune your set up, if I got sway first, I would get some adjustable ones to make sure they work with my future coil over set up.

Another question, what spring rates would you recommend for front and rear.

Bear in the mind the car is just a weekender with lots of tack days in mind, but I wouldn't mind if they did have the flexibility to be comfortable, not a deal breaker tho.

 

adjustable sways first

I suggest the ones with grease fittings. I think it was Hotchiss or something like that.

 

Many race guys believe a none stock rear anti sway bar is not needed. I myself am reverting back to a stock rear anti sway.

You can start off with a set of Bilstine HD shocks and a set of lowering springs, then if you find yourself wanting for more later get the dampeners rebuilt buy Fat Cat Motorsport's with Ohlin's internals and their custom spring set up.

If I had to chose a lowering spring it would be the set from progressive but everyone has a different preference and you cant really go wrong with a good name brand..... search for a thread called "springs springs springs" if you want more info on lowering springs.

 

No point in buying sways till you have your centerpiece in the handling department. It's like putting a 200mph test proof spoiler on a stock civic. There's no point IMO. Nice picture. That **** is hilarious.

 

I think progress tech sway bars offer the best value and its fine to install them with stock suspension.

If you can find a good used set of spring struts for the right price, you can use them and sell them off latter and get most of your money back.

Coilovers and spring rates: a quality properly matched set will perform well on the track and still be comfortable on the street. Spring rates should be in the 7k-10k front /4-7k rear. I run the kw v3 and they are great right out of the box. Spring rates are around 7k/4-5k. They are rebuildable, adjustable and I could get custom springs and valving if I want.

 

Baller spec? Megans? Boy you know nothing about shocks do you...

 

^------------ LOL lets not turn this into a rip-off parts burning thread, the OP asked a honest question and lets stick to that topic.