Wanted: best all-round, well-sorted fast road suspension
Racing Performance Parts - WRX, STI, EVO, S2000, RSX, CIVIC SI, 350Z, GTR This is the first place I read of them and they have some pretty good info but price them too high... There are also videos on YouTube.
I'm currently running the J's Racing Showa suspension which is very similar to the Mugen set up. I think its a perfect ride around town for those who don't want to drop there car that much but improve handling at the same time. With the J's Racing suspension they run swift springs which most people recommend. If you want to meet up sometime and see how you like my setup on the GE send me a message. There is someone in Oregon that wants to sell his Mugen setup as well for a very good price.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 500
From: Los Angeles
Are these the Swift springs that every likes so much?
Swift Sport Mach Springs Fit 07+
It says they lower the ride height. Can I get a set of springs — Swift or other — that will give me an improved ride at the stock ride height?
Swift Sport Mach Springs Fit 07+
It says they lower the ride height. Can I get a set of springs — Swift or other — that will give me an improved ride at the stock ride height?
Showa does make one of the best dampers, that was the other setup i was going for...
I would'nt worry about the drop... mine is drop 1" and it makes the car handle very well during winter! the car is much more stable to crosswinds! i never had issues clearing snow either...
I would'nt worry about the drop... mine is drop 1" and it makes the car handle very well during winter! the car is much more stable to crosswinds! i never had issues clearing snow either...
Can anyone give a Mugen vs Swift comparison based on driving each? So far, I'm not hearing a lot not to like about the Swift setup using the stock dampers. For 3-4x the price, what does the Mugen or J's setup get you besides a cool name and different color paint on the shock bodies?
The difference is the Showa dampers that are tuned for the springs that you are getting from Mugen, Spoon, or J's Racing. Each setup is tuned a little differently with the J's Racing setup being the most aggressive.
Can anyone give a Mugen vs Swift comparison based on driving each? So far, I'm not hearing a lot not to like about the Swift setup using the stock dampers. For 3-4x the price, what does the Mugen or J's setup get you besides a cool name and different color paint on the shock bodies?
Last edited by Texas Coyote; Mar 4, 2011 at 01:37 PM. Reason: spelling mistake
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 500
From: Los Angeles
x 2.
Will the Swift springs wear out the shocks (they're not struts . . . are they?) faster?
Will the 1-in. lower ride height cause stress or greater wear on the shocks (or are they struts?) or on any other component?
Where's the best place to buy?
Who does the install in SFV or SoCal?
I assume I will need an alignment after the springs are changed out. Correct?
Thanks all.
P.S. I don't need a racing set up, or individually adjustable dampers, or corner balancing, etc. Like the OP, I want to get rid of the bobbling of the stock suspension and get a firmer, sportier ride. And keep the stock shocks (I suppose they could be struts . . .) if possible.
x 2.
Will the Swift springs wear out the shocks (they're not struts . . . are they?) faster?
Will the 1-in. lower ride height cause stress or greater wear on the shocks (or are they struts?) or on any other component?
Where's the best place to buy?
Who does the install in SFV or SoCal?
I assume I will need an alignment after the springs are changed out. Correct?
Thanks all.
P.S. I don't need a racing set up, or individually adjustable dampers, or corner balancing, etc. Like the OP, I want to get rid of the bobbling of the stock suspension and get a firmer, sportier ride. And keep the stock shocks (I suppose they could be struts . . .) if possible.
Will the Swift springs wear out the shocks (they're not struts . . . are they?) faster?
Will the 1-in. lower ride height cause stress or greater wear on the shocks (or are they struts?) or on any other component?
Where's the best place to buy?
Who does the install in SFV or SoCal?
I assume I will need an alignment after the springs are changed out. Correct?
Thanks all.
P.S. I don't need a racing set up, or individually adjustable dampers, or corner balancing, etc. Like the OP, I want to get rid of the bobbling of the stock suspension and get a firmer, sportier ride. And keep the stock shocks (I suppose they could be struts . . .) if possible.
Evasive Motorsports has the best price except for the EBay seller when he has them.... Using these springs with the otherwise stock suspension along with Enkei RPF1 wheels on my car continues to astonish me in the way the combination maintains tire contact with the road surface on tight curves on some very rough roads at speeds that would put me into a ditch or trees if on the stock setup... The ride is slightly firmer but in no way rough.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 500
From: Los Angeles
This was posted earlier and answers most of your questions .. Swift Sport Mach Springs Fit 07+
Evasive Motorsports has the best price except for the EBay seller when he has them.... Using these springs with the otherwise stock suspension along with Enkei RPF1 wheels on my car continues to astonish me in the way the combination maintains tire contact with the road surface on tight curves on some very rough roads at speeds that would put me into a ditch or trees if on the stock setup... The ride is slightly firmer but in no way rough.
Evasive Motorsports has the best price except for the EBay seller when he has them.... Using these springs with the otherwise stock suspension along with Enkei RPF1 wheels on my car continues to astonish me in the way the combination maintains tire contact with the road surface on tight curves on some very rough roads at speeds that would put me into a ditch or trees if on the stock setup... The ride is slightly firmer but in no way rough.
Mr Coyote:
I was the one who posted that link.
See above.It doesn't answer my questions with regard to stress and wear on other suspension and, with regard to the front axles, drive train components. I'm probably the only one here who sees things this way, but I figure that the suspension is a closed system — in the sense that, if you change one element (e.g., unsprung weight), it will affect the function and durability of other components, not always without a downside. In this case, the Swift springs lower the car by 1-in. It figures, then, that the angle at which the front axles (which are drive shafts) meet the hub is changed. How will this affect, say, the CV joints? Were they made to function at that angle?
These are the kinds of questions I have. Since I am not 25 Japanese engineers, I don't know how the Swift spring will affect the totality of the car.
("Totality of the car"? That sounds weird.)
On another note, thanks for your feedback on your experience with the Swift springs. It is very helpful to me. [insert thumbs-up smiley here]
Sorry about that
Your questioning the possibility of undue CV joint wear is surprising, most people on here never consider that and drop there cars so low that they have to swerve to avoid dragging on small pebbles... My GD3 is dropped about .4" or .5" lower than a GE and my CV joints are stressed far more than those on a stock Fit and I have not had any noticeable problems. I had an 81 VW diesel powered pickup I dropped using Eibach springs and I had binding problems and had to replace CV joints on a few occasions but it was a much more radical drop than what you get with Swift springs. They allow enough travel to not concentrate wear on only a small area of the front struts and rear shocks which unlike other springs allows them to work well with the stock components.. The reason the bulk of the after market springs have such a terrible ride is because the lack of travel and binding of the springs and the inability of the shocks to dampen due to the limited travel... These springs are a thoughtfully designed, well engineered product that has been raved about by many owners on many forums... I wouldn't hesitate to use this brand suspension product on any car I would ever own.
Your questioning the possibility of undue CV joint wear is surprising, most people on here never consider that and drop there cars so low that they have to swerve to avoid dragging on small pebbles... My GD3 is dropped about .4" or .5" lower than a GE and my CV joints are stressed far more than those on a stock Fit and I have not had any noticeable problems. I had an 81 VW diesel powered pickup I dropped using Eibach springs and I had binding problems and had to replace CV joints on a few occasions but it was a much more radical drop than what you get with Swift springs. They allow enough travel to not concentrate wear on only a small area of the front struts and rear shocks which unlike other springs allows them to work well with the stock components.. The reason the bulk of the after market springs have such a terrible ride is because the lack of travel and binding of the springs and the inability of the shocks to dampen due to the limited travel... These springs are a thoughtfully designed, well engineered product that has been raved about by many owners on many forums... I wouldn't hesitate to use this brand suspension product on any car I would ever own.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 500
From: Los Angeles
Sorry about that Your questioning the possibility of undue CV joint wear is surprising, most people on here never consider that and drop there cars so low that they have to swerve to avoid dragging on small pebbles... My GD3 is dropped about .4" or .5" lower than a GE and my CV joints are stressed far more than those on a stock Fit and I have not had any noticeable problems. I had an 81 VW diesel powered pickup I dropped using Eibach springs and I had binding problems and had to replace CV joints on a few occasions but it was a much more radical drop than what you get with Swift springs. They allow enough travel to not concentrate wear on only a small area of the front struts and rear shocks which unlike other springs allows them to work well with the stock components.. The reason the bulk of the after market springs have such a terrible ride is because the lack of travel and binding of the springs and the inability of the shocks to dampen due to the limited travel... These springs are a thoughtfully designed, well engineered product that has been raved about by many owners on many forums... I wouldn't hesitate to use this brand suspension product on any car I would ever own.
Your questioning the possibility of undue CV joint wear is surprising, most people on here never consider that and drop there cars so low that they have to swerve to avoid dragging on small pebbles... My GD3 is dropped about .4" or .5" lower than a GE and my CV joints are stressed far more than those on a stock Fit and I have not had any noticeable problems. I had an 81 VW diesel powered pickup I dropped using Eibach springs and I had binding problems and had to replace CV joints on a few occasions but it was a much more radical drop than what you get with Swift springs. They allow enough travel to not concentrate wear on only a small area of the front struts and rear shocks which unlike other springs allows them to work well with the stock components.. The reason the bulk of the after market springs have such a terrible ride is because the lack of travel and binding of the springs and the inability of the shocks to dampen due to the limited travel... These springs are a thoughtfully designed, well engineered product that has been raved about by many owners on many forums... I wouldn't hesitate to use this brand suspension product on any car I would ever own.Excellent information. Thank you. And thanks for being unequivocal in your recommendation.
Just a few questions: How many miles do you have on your set-up? How much lower than stock would you say you are at? Is your car an '08?
I believe the front is 1.5" and rear .75' lower. The car itself has almost 38000 miles on it and I will have had it 5 years in 5 months, like I said it isn't driven all that much but I make the most of it when it is...
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 500
From: Los Angeles
I'm an old guy that doesn't drive that often so I have only driven 10,000 miles on the springs after getting them from the second owner that didn't get to use them that got them from a guy that autocrossed and needed stiff coil overs to get what he wanted to do that.. My car is a 2007 with a Kraft Werks high boost kit and it does get driven aggressively on country roads when I do drive it.
I believe the front is 1.5" and rear .75' lower. The car itself has almost 38000 miles on it and I will have had it 5 years in 5 months, like I said it isn't driven all that much but I make the most of it when it is...
I believe the front is 1.5" and rear .75' lower. The car itself has almost 38000 miles on it and I will have had it 5 years in 5 months, like I said it isn't driven all that much but I make the most of it when it is...
Thanks. I'm an old guy, too.
My Fit is my DD. I enjoy driving it, but the stock suspension leaves something to be desired . . . which is why we are having this conversation. The thing is that, since it is my DD, I can't risk doing mods that will affect reliability. That's why I have asked so many questions, some of which might not occur to a person with other cars, or with a wife who has a car, etc.
44,XXX mi. on my stock '08. Bought it new. Think it had 3 mi. on it.
Last edited by Marrk; Mar 5, 2011 at 12:50 AM.
I was thinking that you might be older... Very few of the young guys here can pronounce 5 syllable words much less use them in a sentence.. After previous experiences I had sworn off using after market springs until I read about Swift springs and went to other automotive threads and read a lot of very positive and no negative post from people other than Fit owners that had installed them on their cars... Black3Jr is getting close to 70 if he hasn't already gotten there and he put them on his GE model... Light weight wheels make the suspension work even better and improves the ride and handling even more as well as improving acceleration... They get rid of the econobox ride and handling and replace it with a ride more like a small European touring sedan and handling like a high performance version of the same kind of car.. Be careful or you might end up with a Fit that will smoke new Mustang GTs in a straight line and decimate one on a twisty road... It can happen.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 500
From: Los Angeles
I was thinking that you might be older... Very few of the young guys here can pronounce 5 syllable words much less use them in a sentence.. After previous experiences I had sworn off using after market springs until I read about Swift springs and went to other automotive threads and read a lot of very positive and no negative post from people other than Fit owners that had installed them on their cars... Black3Jr is getting close to 70 if he hasn't already gotten there and he put them on his GE model... Light weight wheels make the suspension work even better and improves the ride and handling even more as well as improving acceleration... They get rid of the econobox ride and handling and replace it with a ride more like a small European touring sedan and handling like a high performance version of the same kind of car.. Be careful or you might end up with a Fit that will smoke new Mustang GTs in a straight line and decimate one on a twisty road... It can happen.
The young guys here are pretty cool. Or maybe I'm a pushover for enthusiasm.
Just because Swift made springs for other cars, and those springs on those cars have worked out okay, may we assume that the springs in the above link that are for the Fit will also work? Well, they are working for you, so I guess that's my answer.
I don't need to smoke anybody, but if I can get some better suspension, I'll enjoy flogging the snot out of my Fit even more than I do with the stock suspension. And if I can do that with Swift springs on stock shocks and wheels, that would be groovy. ("Groovy," as you know, is old guy talk for "sick.")
Follow Up: I went with the Swift Springs and installed them weekend before last. I can absolutely see why so many people love them--for $254 it's an amazing upgrade and easy to do IF you follow the instructions and don't let the axle pop out. I skimmed the instructions a bit too quickly and missed that crucial detail. Searching these forums, I can see I was definitely alone. Never happened on any other car, never worried until it was too late.
At the same time, I also did the REVO short shift kit and that's a nice improvement too. I'd say it could be even shorter and I'm curious if anyone finally combined a Skunk2 short shift adapter w/this or not?
Today I installed the leather OEM shift knob. Thanks to Baked Cookies for that one.
Next up: waiting for Tiger Tuning braces & rear sway bar, Goodridge brake lines, either hub-centric spacers or some type of decent wheels/tires to fill out the fenders without killing mpg too bad. Maybe some pedals and some leather seat covers to complete the driver (and baby) interface.
Joel
Never happened on any other car, never worried until it was too late.At the same time, I also did the REVO short shift kit and that's a nice improvement too. I'd say it could be even shorter and I'm curious if anyone finally combined a Skunk2 short shift adapter w/this or not?
Today I installed the leather OEM shift knob. Thanks to Baked Cookies for that one.
Next up: waiting for Tiger Tuning braces & rear sway bar, Goodridge brake lines, either hub-centric spacers or some type of decent wheels/tires to fill out the fenders without killing mpg too bad. Maybe some pedals and some leather seat covers to complete the driver (and baby) interface.
Joel
The only problem I have with neutral handling is that instead of having to deal with one end of the car getting loose you have both ends to deal with at once and that puckers my a** hole like having mortar rounds dropping in all around me.. Neutral handling is great if your tires are sticky enough to eventually hook up before you have slid off of the road and much akin to driving on ice while praying for tire adhesion... With any sort of independent suspension you have to get pretty crazy to lift an inside wheel in a turn but with a stiff anti sway bar it is pretty common on tall short coupled sedans on a tight road course and that relieves you of half of the tire contact surface on the end that occurs on...Without a doubt the forward rake that results when using Swift Mach springs does shift weight forward to the front wheels and suspension and creates more neutral handling but alone without a rear anti sway bar understeer is still apparent but not nearly so much as with stock springs... I was behind a Fit that was setup for and was successfully driven in autocross competition.. We were cruising on a farm road with hills and sweeping curves and I could see his rear end slightly break loose while going over very slight bumps that I could hardly feel in my car and never broke loose on going 20 MPH faster.. I was on stock suspension then and stock size tires with 400 tread wear rating, he had stiff springs rear anti sway bar and 195-50-15 tires with ultra high performance tires rated 200 for tread wear. Another time I was behind JCrimson on a smooth concrete surfaced road with tighter curves this time with Swift springs and air shocks with the minimum recommended pressure.. I had rotated my tires and forgot to add pressure to the front and drop the rear pressure of the same tires so my car was a real mess... I used too much throttle too early while in a curve and nearly ate a curb when both ends broke loose as I lifted off of the throttle too quickly to correct for understeer... I feel pretty sure that I would have been calling for a wrecker if there had been a rear anti sway bar on my car that day.. JCrimson has to use much less tire pressure on his rear tires due more to weight reduction the rake on his road racer... I wonder what changes he will have to make when he has done the K motor swap.
Ill share with you my current setup and specs. Bewarned my car is quite tail happy however I have learned to drive it this way and it perfectly suits my needs on the road course. Its quite over the top for DD but fun as hell.
My coilovers - are Skunk2 pro C. Not using their recommended springs though (8K front, 6K rear comes with them). I'm currently using 12K front, 10K rear. The dampening is set to 8/12 clicks fornt, 12/12 clicks rear (My next upgrade here soon will be some custom springs from Hyper Coil to accommodate the K series, just going a little stiffer 16k front 14K rear with revalving job
Progressive rear anti sway bar. Power grid custom endlinks. 205/50/15 dunlop star specs (200 tread rating), 15 X 8 949 racing 6uL wheels et +36.
My alignment
Front camber -3.0° (left and right)
Front toe 0.00° (left and right)
Rear camber -1.7° (left and right)
rear toe 0.17° (left and right)
I know you are wondering why so exact? Possible? yes it is. I just had it realigned Sunday sense ive been back from the track. It's nats ass on and I have a buddy who did if for me. With me in the car the whole time so my weight affects the alignment. A little toe in the rear to get the car to dive in. I have been running this alignment for QUITE a while now and I rotate every 3k miles. No unusual wear at all (However im not worried about unusual wear as it is out of OEM spec.) But my rotation changes due to track time also.
On the track, when my tires are hot (and I mean like hot as in what temp they will be fresh off the track after a 20min session, HAWWWT!) I set my fronts to 33psi and rear to 30 psi HAWT! I daily drive 33psi all the way around (normal daily driving tire temp.) When I complete my first track 20min session, my pressure raises from 33psi (what i drove there on) to 55PSI!! that's why and when I lower it to 33/30 psi. Sticky as shit! haha
When I fly around turns (and when I say fly, im not saying 60mph .. LIKE 100MPH+ into turns on the track) my car does not lift any wheels. this is due to the ride height, stiff springs, shock dampening, alignment, and cage. You want max contact as much as possible. More traction.