I know that my Fit will probably never be the fastest in the world, but I would love to get it closer to getting the best handling in the world, so I'm considering some aftermarket suspension kits.

Right now there are a few things I'm looking at;

* HPD B-Spec Rally kit for the GE Fit

Honda Racing Parts & Engines - Honda Performance Development

Looks nice -but I think it might be a bit pricey for what it is, (or maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about?)

* Eibach Pro-Street Lowering Coil-Over Kit

Eibach® 4081.711 - Honda Fit 2011 Pro-Street Lowering Coil-Over Kit

Not adjustable performance wise, but is adjustable for height, and as a commuter, is all I need really.

* Bilstein B14 Series PSS Performance Front and Rear Coilover Kit

Bilstein® 47-165854 - Honda Fit 2011 B14 Series PSS Performance Front and Rear Coilover Kit

I've heard good things about this brand, and these appear to be really great. Appear to be adjustable both performance and height wise.

* KW Suspensions® - V1 Inox-Line Coilover Lowering Kit

KW Suspensions® 10250029 - Honda Fit 2011 V1 Inox-Line Coilover Lowering Kit

I dunno, I've never heard about KW but it's not as if I've heard of everything ... Looks to be alright, priced alright, maybe not the best?

* KSport also has a few options to choose from as well...

I pulled all of this from CariD.com, specifically this link:
2011 Honda Fit Performance Suspension Parts at CARiD.com

I just chose the site for convenience mostly... I was wondering if anyone had any advice, on the subject, -if anyone owns any of these products or even other products that I should consider. I was also wonder how involved this undertaking would be, whether it's something I could do over the course of a weekend with a friend, or if I should just pay some extra money and have someone do it for me?

Thanks in advance!

 

we've found the best handling Fit are those with:
1. front antisway bar disconnected driver side only, not removed or fully disconnected. alternative leave front bar OEM but add stiifer rear antisway bar but that might stiffen the suspension too much but really works on track. the intent is to decrease the massive understeer.
2. lowered 1 to 1.5 incjes all 4 wheels. greater drop screws up the suspension geometeryr
3. better shocks, especially with adjustable settings & spring heights, etc
4, wider wheels and lesser offset down to 45 mm
5. better tires tires 205 to 215 section, typically on 7 inch wide rims with overall diameter about 23 inches. OEM is 23.5" but with wider & heavier tires a bit less diameter is advisable. Weights down to 9 or 10 lbs best but around 12-13 pounds will only be a drawback on track.
6. good alignment, typically toein 1mm each side front zero toe rear with the camber and caster from 1 to 1.5" drop.
good luck.

 

Hi,

Manhout's suggestions are good ones.

If you are trying to make your car stick to the ground better. Then camber bolts, a rear sway bar and wheels and tires are the most cost effective ways to improve performance starting with a rear bar

Coilovers are following all of that.
Do you want your car to be better at handling as a DD one and done or are you thinking about using it for autocrossing/tracking a lot?

A thread "ge8 stf suspension" was a good discussion

"Autocross to win" is a good resource.

From that the Bilsteins and the Redshift Koni coilovers were the 2 of choice. If you want the best handling and quality. If you are looking for the good handling none of the Japanese brands are worthwhile.

As far as I can tell the HPD kit is not bad if you want everything else that goes with it. The filter and exhaust as well as the coilovers.

 

I will differ on the, "none of the Japanese brands are worthwhile." My Fit handles extremely well on its Japanese suspension, granted it is not something found easily on the shelf, but it is still a Japanese brand.

 

This.

Anyone who says Japanese suspension is not worthwhile has never encountered anything beyond Tein/JIC Magic/etc.

 

I have BC BR-Type Coil Overs for sale, PM for details.

 

You are right. I'm sorry :/. I should not have been so generic and I should explain better. You do get what you pay for and ask for.

The guy who wrote autocross to win is a shock engineer. He found it was typically harder to match teins and other low end shocks and that they experience more historisis as they compress and extend. The konis and the Bilsteins worked the best for him. Even on the koni coilovers I bought. 10 sets of shocks were tested to get them matched properly for the front pair.

If you buy something and don't get them tested don't expect them all to be set to the same level. 5 on one may be 20 on another.

This may just be total overkill for you needs lol. Changing sway bars increases roll stiffness much faster than coilovers.

Kind of wish I did the front bar first. I spent a few weeks after spending $1500 doing calculations and found I wish I did the coilovers after the front bar and gotten a 25mm front bar first. Oh well. It's cheaper.

 

What is your suspension/tire combo?

 

[QUOTE=rhop;1289250]You are right. I'm sorry :/. I should not have been so generic and I should explain better. You do get what you pay for and ask for.

The guy who wrote autocross to win is a shock engineer. He found it was typically harder to match teins and other low end shocks and that they experience more historisis as they compress and extend. The konis and the Bilsteins worked the best for him. Even on the koni coilovers I bought. 10 sets of shocks were tested to get them matched properly for the front pair.

If you buy something and don't get them tested don't expect them all to be set to the same level. 5 on one may be 20 on another.


we have cars here with both Tein and HR springs on adjustable Bilstein and AJ's shocks and have not had difficulty matching shock/spring performance for track and A/X. None had drops more than 1.5" so I suspect the autocross to win was talking about drops of 2 inches - or more - and based on our testing I would likely agree with him. but then no race engineers ever agree on everything. but I don't denounce low end springs, hysterisis is really not that different for springs of equal rate. Since the springs are designed for spring rates that adjust the working range to match the allowable compression just before binding at the shock bottoming out.. its the spring rate profile that matters.
putting short springs on stock shocks can be a problem and stiffening to match the available piston travel can lead to suspension problems that are uncontrollable and even damaging.
BTW I am a graduate engineer with 3 decades testing shock/spring setups.
and PS the Honda B class setup is the best combination; only a bit pricey and if get the latest package you'll have the best chance. Mazda won the runoff B class simply because the 2 chassis is the best in class. the 2015 may change that but not easily.

 

I personally use Bilstein B14,
and I am planning to change the spring into Eibach ERS in the near future,
but
I think
if you want one of the best suspension available for Honda Fit,
you should consider this one from Ohlins Japan:




click on this link for more info:
???? BTO?????????|???????? ???????????????[ÖHLINS Advanced Suspension Technology]

you can bought it here:
outletyatoh | Rakuten Global Market: Orleans BTO ? Build To Order) model Type HA Honda fit GE8 air complete kit

 

The pricing on those Ohlins is not bad at all. I think that's like the bottom line basic kit from them since it seems they have different variants and prices posted. I believe the last one on the right on the table (on the Fit row) have remote reservoirs like the B-Spec kit and are priced similarly.

The B-Spec kit looks crazy though and is available locally.

Both are overkill, but if you're looking for The Best, those are probably it. The basic Ohlins setup is more than enough.

 

Ohlins Japan only offer that "basic" KIT for the Honda Fit GE,
for other brand/type of car they do offer struts/shocks with more advanced setting.

but
there are other company that buy parts from Ohlins and
offer their custom Kit.
J's racing used to offer Ohlins Kit for GE, They have two type Type R and Type S,
but I no longer see it in their official website
but it is still for sale here:
http://search.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/s...&ts=1424803789

edit:
My mistake,
J's Racing still offer their Type R and Type S version of Ohlins:
https://www.jsracing.co.jp/js2/index...=65&xSHASHU=32


M&M also offer their version of Ohlins Kit for GE:
ƒtƒBƒbƒg�@ƒTƒXƒyƒ“ƒVƒ‡ƒ“/‚l�•‚l�@‚g‚n‚m‚c‚`�@‚i‚`‚o‚`‚m

Of course if you really want,
you can get custom Ohlins Racing shocks configured just for your car.
but this would be very very expensive...

 

Plenty of Ohlins Pictures:
?????? ? ???? - FIT GE8 (DC5 K22A) ???????~ OHLINS OBT DFV , Recaro SPA

 

You know what is funny,
I just check the Thread Starter Profile and he had not been back to this website since the day he started this thread exactly 1 month ago...

LOL

 

Ah, I see, the prices on Ohlin's website is for the whole spring and shock setup (￥278,640) which is a lot higher than the price on Ratuken. I assumed since the price was so much more it had to be a different setup

So the B-Spec kit is pretty serious. I would of course trust J's and M&M as well.

This thread is now about suspension I will probably never own since OP is gone.

 

There's soooo little information shared and the forum moves so slow that I think many give up and either do their own testing or don't even mod their cars. Not to mention the lack of after market support. I don't blame OP. I too have fallen to this. Have owned my fit for over 4 years and haven't done anything to it... LOL! But I do enjoy browsing once in awhile and day dream a bit.

Heck, I've been a member since 2006, picked up my ge8 in 2011, and only have 175 posts. LOL! I've been a member on NASIOC since June last year and have over 600 posts.

 

What rear sway bar should I get for my 2012 fit base (commuter). Specs in sig. I need something, but don't have money to burn

 

lol @ lack of information & lack of aftermarket support.

There's a lack of the above for lazy people, not for people willing to spend five minutes looking.

 

I agree. Lots of information on this site and endless knowledge on damper selection everywhere else.

That being said, I think the Bilstein PSS system is the best bang for your buck. I currently run it and its a quality setup. Excellent dampers, decent spring rates for a daily and should go plenty low enough for the average consumer. They were a great improvement over the Koni Orange and lowering spring combo I had before.

Next up would be Redshift and Ohlins but you are doubling or tripling cost of entry at that point.

 

Yeah, there's quite a bit of aftermarket at least as far as suspension is concerned. Lots of choices that go from comfortable to race. I really don't know what more you'd want. There's also lots of discussion on here if you know where to look.

It's not like some old and forgotten bygone car that parts aren't available for anymore and you have to use a mish mash of bits to build a functional suspension.