Merry Christmas, I am not considering the coilovers but would like to get a set of the rear shocks to go along with the progress sway bar I installed. Would like to know on the improvement once you have installed. I was wondering if the rears have a 1/2 inch drop I know that Moss Motors advertises this on their Koni Yellows for the Miata but that may because of the set up.

 

Solo mission with 7 hrs logged and an In-n-Out run later, it's in.

Front coilovers mounted. I had to put some elbow grease to get those strut bolts in:


hardware required to mount brake line clip:


Since the mounting holes at this location was not treaded, I found a smaller screw (1/4 inch)
and nut to secure the brake line.


side view:


For some reason, I was not able to pop in the plastic sensor clip to the strut.
Not sure if I was able to remove it and adjust the location of that clip
relative to the sensor wire so I left it unclipped until I get further info.



front assembled and with and extra 1" of lowering available:


off to the rear:


Due to this piece mounted on the shock, I was not able to remove the oem shock
plastic protective sleeve to incorporate into the Koni's assembly. I plan to find
an alternative to protect the Koni from everyday dirt and debris.



T1R and Swift/GroundControl comparasion:


Redshift Installation Guide:


How the groundcontrol coilover sleeve sits on the control arms:


Final rear coilover setting with .5 in of lowering available:


Rear completely assembled. kinda ironman looking huh? haha



After the car was completely on the ground, I noticed a negative chamber on the front. Not an issue since my TE37 pokes out a bit. Once I get new
rubbers for em, I'll get them slapped on and aligned. Here it sits with my stock wheels. A tad bit lower compared to my T1R setup. Once the springs
settles, I'll take another shoot. After that, I still have the ability to lower the front another 1" and the rear .5" with the coilovers. If the rears are not
low enough for you, theoretically you could remove the groundcontrol sleeve and let the swift springs sit over the control arms and get an additional
.5-.75 in of lowering. jus saying :




I have taken BMW ALPINA suggestion and left it at a soft setting until it's broken it. The Koni has an adjustment of soft to firm with 18 turns.
Currently its at 5 turns up from the softest setting. From my initial drive, I was only able to take it out for about 10 miles but it rode like stock. A bit
of an oversteer but dam comfy. I'll be taking another road trip up north in a couple of weeks and I'll jump back on and fill you guys in. Hope this
has been informative. Huge thanks again to RedShiftChris.

 

I have not heard of this. Thought we could adjust when we see fit while the car was on the ground. I'll do some research but if someone on here could verify this, that would be great.

 

Wow, Great !
I do want to ask about the nut and bolt you use for attaching the brake line to the struts...
is the NUT a Self Locking with nylon insert?
because there are lot of vibration in that area and you don't want the nut to came loose...
and perhaps just to be safe, apply loctite too...

 

I never heard about this too,
but for my Koni front strut back in 1990's, there is not need to make it fully compressed before you can adjust it.
I don't think it is necessary,... but I could be wrong...
nah... I don't think I am wrong on this...
I had adjusted many rear and front shocks on racing motorcycles with many different brand of shocks from Showa, to Ohlins to some other Italian brand which somehow I forgot now hahaha...
and I never once had to remove or compress those shocks...
but came to think of it, I never had adjustable Koni rear shock...
only Koni adjustable front strut... so who knows...

 

Hello,
so now you feel your car had a bit of an oversteer,
I think your rear spring is very stiff that is why it give you an oversteer,
because you still riding on standard wheel and my guess is you do not use higher performance tire (stickier tire).
if you change your wheel and tire to larger diameter and wider wheel plus wider sticker tire, you could have a neutral handling

hmm... I guess I should be safe (no oversteer) if I install a Progress Rear Sway bar to help my current setup since my Bilstein rear spring rate is only about half your spring rate...

but for you, I think you should put your better wheel (the TE37 is your other wheel right)
and tire first before you install Progress Rear Sway bar... since your rear spring is already very stiff and you feel oversteer now.

but then after you install the better wheel and tire, you will have to increase the rebound setting too,
plus with lower profile tire on that better wheel and the increase rebound setting,
then my guess is you will have a firmer ride then your current ride.

 

dam BMW ALPINA, on point. totally didnt think bout that. Once the wheels are back, I'll make sure that nut is self locking and apply adhesive.

Question, since there is a bit of an oversteer, you recommend any specific type of strut bar? front, rear, both? I flipped thru the site right quick and noticed Cusco got great reviews. Your thoughts?

 

I had already asked this previously and you mentioned that the front and rear were the same design. Just to confirm, is there an adjustment knob for the rears? If so, that makes adjusting a whole lot easier.

 

I don't think the front strut bar from Cusco do much for our car.
First the Cusco one have hinges on both side to make it easier to install,
but that design also mean there are some movement/slack albeit very small but they are not RIGID strut bar.
Second the bolt on Cusco are only 2 small bolts on each side and one small bolt/attachment on the center.
I mean if the strut tower really flex a lot, I think those one small bolt on each side will be broken very easily !!! so that mean the strut tower don't flex that much.
You see if I buy a strut tower, I would want to see it have at least 2 bolt attachment on each side.
The Ultra Racing front strut tower (make sure if you buy, you buy the LHD version, cause they have RHD version too),
are a one piece design with 2 bolts on each side, but then again those 2 bolts are not really attached to the strut it self (the koni itself)...
plus the Ultra Racing design hover on top of the air filter housing,
so it will interfere with any work on the engine...

oh and since I had came to conclusion (personal conclusion, could be wrong), that our strut tower is rigid enough and not flexing,
that mean adding a strut tower on top of the front strut would not make a different for the oversteer.

For rear strut tower brace, the design from both Cusco and J's racing which attached to the rear seat locking mechanism are also funny for me,
because they are more like side body panel brace then suspension brace
because the distance from the body panel where they attached to and the rear shocks attachment is FAR AWAY, that the body panel between the locking mechanism and the shocks mounting could flex easily,
so what is the point...

the Ultra racing bar design looks to attached directly on top of the rear Koni, but then this make you practically lose all the rear cargo space,
plus you don't want to much rigidity on the rear anyway, since currently your rear suspension is already too rigid for your standard tire.

having said that, I was tempted to buy Cusco Front Strut Bar,
J's Racing Rear Strut Bar and Beat Rush C Pillar Bar just for looks only,...
but now, I just change my mind because,
nobody can see the Cusco front strut bar unless I open my hood,
but why do I want to open my hood every where when I park hahaha...

While the J's Racing Rear Strut bar would make my rear seat unable to fully recline and I don't want my wife to feel uncomfortable back there,
so this is no too (my oldest son sit in front so my wife sit at the rear with my younger (and still naughty) younger son)

The Beat Rush C Pillar,.. well this is just above the rear head rest
and if there is some freaky accident happen, it could easily slam into rear passenger head, so, I would not put my wife and my younger son in danger just because I want to show off by having rear C pillar bar...

The only bar that I want to buy is the Cusco 4 point lower subframe bar because it is where the chassis and subframe jointed together,
so we need strong reinforcement there,
plus you see that the 4 bolts are 4 damn big strong bolt meaning
that area really see lot of stress,
and to further prove it, Honda Factory put a 2 point bar for Honda Fit model 2012+ on that area meaning even Honda Factory see the important of reinforcement there... plus they also do not protrude much, so ground clearance is still ok.

I also want to put the 2 point Cusco lower arm bar because that also
connected by large bolt and it is the joint/pivot area where it will feel much more stress from road bump than the strut tower,
unfortunately my car is AT and Cusco lower arm bar do not fit.

I was thinking of buying T1R 2point lower arm bar (if anybody want to sell their used one) or Ultra Racing lower arm bar that can
be fitted for AT car, but they are position much lower than the other part of the car, so they had a chance to get hit by some thing on the road (less ground clearance),
and if the lower arm bar got hit while traveling fast, it could end up ripping up my front suspension apart and that is more dangerous !!!
so I think on that area, better ground clearance is safer...
this mean no 2 point lower arm bar for me...

beside I think the 4 point and 2 point arm bar do not effect the oversteer or understeer, it only effect the rigid body feeling over bump,

oh another thing, I plan to put the CR-Z plastic under engine panel cover,
and any 2 point lower arm bar would be in the way of that plastic cover.
I do think that the CR-Z plastic under engine panel cover would actually
make your front end more stable in high speed freeway driving since now it create smoother airflow and thus faster air speed and that mean more down force ! so that cheap plastic panel thing, although looks unimportant might actually help handling more (in theory) then upper strut bar in real world (outside of track) application.
do you notice that the CR-Z plastic under panel had a "bump/hump" on the surface, I think that bump/hump would also help the downforce too.
so it is a well design cheap under panel...

sorry for the long post above, but basically
I think buying any strut tower will not help any oversteer or understeer...

on the other hand, buying a Front SWAY BAR, now that is an upgrade you can directly feel, because it effectively change your spring rate while you corner...
but your Koni already have very firm front spring,
if you change to bigger sway bar, you ride might became much firmer...

so I think in your situation the best thing is to install your better wheel (TE37 is a wheel model right, sorry but I am not too familiar with some wheel model), and then put the best tire you can find for that wheel size...
that should make your car handle in HARMONY with your high end Koni Suspension.
After that if you still feel some oversteer or understeer,
then either buy front or rear sway bar to compensate a bit,
or change the spring rate...
after all the advantage of buying this Koni kit is the possibility to change spring with different rate whenever you feel the need to

 

yeap, exactly like the fronts except these are going to be a whole lot easier to access then the front driver sides. The passenger side, once the
cover is removed, you're able to stick the knob in and turn to desirable setting. Whereas the driver side, the windshield wiper mechanism is
blocking access. I gotta wrap my head around on figuring out a way to adjust that side without removing the entire assembly.



Thanks BMW APLINA. With this setup, I believe im able to run larger tires on my 17's. Hopefully 215/45. but kinda out of money at the moment. Road trip to vegas next weekend to hopefully change that.

 

Couldn't wait. Slapped on the rims with minimal tread left and still saw major improvements in driving conditions.
Turns felt more responsive and less if an oversteer. I do feel like a sway bar is in order. Thanks for the in depth
suggestion BMW APLINA. But dam happy with the feel. Next plan of attack will be ordering tires and dropping
it to the max to see how it rides. Thanks everyone for your help and input.

 

Wow Your Car Looks MUCH MUCH better with the white wheel !

by the way if I may,
I want to submit a recommendation for tire to you,
It is a Michelin Pilot Super Sport size 215/45ZR17
and at tire rack the price is only $145 each !!!
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...SSXL&tab=Sizes

The smaller size which is 205/45ZR17 of the same tire is actually more expensive ??? (the 205 had 2 price, one is $179 and the other is $181)...

or if you want to go bigger,
then 225/45/ZR17 which at just $158 each again is cheaper than the 205 size !!!
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...SSXL&tab=Sizes

The Michelin Pilot Super Sport is the tire that were chosen as original equipment for the Limited Edition Ferrari 599 GTO during it's launch
and also standard equipment for:
1. Latest Corvette Stingray
2. BMW M series
3. BMW Alpina
4. Most recent model Ferrari
5. Porsche 991 (latest 911)
and other higher performing car than our Honda Fit

and the Michelin Super Sport tire (18in) that I bought were Made In USA !!!
while other cheaper brand out there were made in ahem "outside USA" !!!

well, I think the 19in or 20in or 21in Super Sport might be still made in France,. but hey, I think a Michelin Super Sport Made In USA is still going to be WORLD CLASS Tire and at just $145 each,... wow I think it is affordable

The Michelin Super Sport is Michelin Top of the line High Performance Tire for STREET Application that still have full thread depth,
the other even higher performing one from Michelin is the Pilot Sport CUP, but this is not good for daily application since it is prone to aquaplanning
due to shaved thread depth and more rapid tire wear due to soft compound...,
so for regular street Tire, Super Sport represent Michelin Flag Ship offering

to make it easy, here are other brand that came with 215/45ZR17 and their pricing :
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireS...45&diameter=17

Have Fun

 

Awesomeness!!!! I found the answer to my adjustment question.It seems the older Koni yellow had a different type of adjuster and you had to compress the shock and make rebound adjustments.

With this model you have the external adjuster so it is a breeze for the rears at least.There are several youtube vids that show both types.

I plan to do rears only and I can just pop off the covers to make quick adjustments if needed.Thats a killer set up you have with the coils and your Fit is sweet especially on those TE37's

Thanks for the pics and great feedback.

 

OP has indeed delivered. Thanks for going through the trouble to post all this!

I look forward to you comparing the difference in handling btw your drop spring setup and the new coils. Do the dampers soak the impact of hard bumps better?

 

What is the word on the GD suspension?

 

this!

these look great! i would love to see them for GD

 

Its the same Kit as this for GD... I ordered rear Yellows after my hands on with the ones on the GE and will install and review ASAP

 

Chris has informed me that i missed a step regarding the rear oem shock dust cover. Konis direction was hard to understand so he linked me to his site on the process which is detailed below:



"Just one thing to note: The Koni Sport shocks for your our cars require you to reuse your stock rear dust boots and bump stops. But, you'll notice that you cannot get them off because of a little steel sleeve at the top of the stock shocks. In order to get the bump stops and dust boots off the stock rear shocks, you have to drill out the little dimple on the steel sleeve. (See the picture above for the dimple already drilled out.) This is a pain, but some patience and oil will help you prevail. And try not to make much "smoke" when drilling...too much smoke is a sign that you are dulling your bit... so go slow and you will be rewarded with getting through it in about 30 seconds. Try not to drill into to the shock piston, but if you hit it slightly, it's not a big deal. Use a small open ended wrench to pry the steel sleeve off the top.

Lastly, the stock dust boot will fit onto the Koni shock with a little effort to get it down to the shock body (where it sits when installed), but you have to drill out the dust boot so that it fits on the larger-than-stock Koni piston. For the dust boot, use oil and very light pressure when drilling so you don't spin the steel "washer" part in the plastic "boot" of the dust boot."

 

Yep, that process is what I had to do for my buddy. 15-20 min job with a sharp drill bit ad some cutting oilwould have been a GREAT idea! Its eessential though to get boots and sone bump stops onto thoae rear shocks

 

Order the rear shocks for my 12 Sport today actually running down tomorrow to pick them up about one hour drive want to get to install over the weekend.