Thanks dude.

It is my pleasure. By the way, I was extremely happy to finally be able to put that knowledge to use, haha! Just not enough people around me every day that understand what the heck I start talking about.

 

I'd just like to point out, to anyone who hasn't recognized it, how unusual it is to have such a serious discussion on suspension adjustments on an economy car forum. To me this speaks to the quality of the product in attracting enthusiasts, but also to the quality of the owners. Thanks to people with expertise and willingness to share ... appreciated

 

Haha! Good point.

 

Aftermarket wheels at stock ride height, especially if larger than OEM, look goofy. Get the springs first, the OEM wheels are nice anyways assuming you have a Sport.

 

I agree that the sport wheels look very good. I have been looking all over for a set that can surpass the look of my sport ones and I can't....

Thank you very much for commenting!

 

Update!

Will be going with Spoon Sport Springs.

 

Congrats on making your decision!

 

eh not so fast....going with Spoon Coilovers now....ditched the full brake upgrade to Spoon....keeping OEM brakes. Will paint the calipers and drums Spoon blue and with the money saved will purchase Spoon Sports coilovers, RCA's and LCA's.

I talked it over with the wife...I got like 6k play money for the Fit. Decided to go for all Spoon upgrades.

 

Please don't paint the brakes, they won't look nice.

Either black, silver or leave them. The OEM brakes aren't pretty haha.

 

Ooo. That sounds like fun. I like the blue brake idea. Now you have two opinions on that. We ought to start a poll!!!

 

OK under advisement for now. I have bigger fish to fry. Really racking my brain over RSB and Front Spoon stabilizer bar...see what I mean?

Maybe blue lugs will take care of it and brakes will remain original colour.....My biggest issue is rust....all over rotors around the hubs.....driving me nuts!

Face of the drums where they meet the tires....full of rust....driving me bananas!!!

 

1. Wider, lighter wheels & tires: Yes.
2. Stiffer shocks: Yes.
3. Extra and/or different anti-roll bars, to reduce lean in curves and re-balance roll stiffness: Yes, if needed.
4. Lowering springs: NO – at least, not for a car I’m going to drive on the street. The farthest I’d go would be stiffer, stock-ride-height springs, but only if the car was constantly hitting the bump stops on the factory springs.

Decades ago, I drove a 1978 Toyota Corolla Liftback. It was completely stock, except for items 1 & 2 above. I lived in a place with lots of “interesting” roads to drive, and I drove them often and knew many of them quite well.

I had frequent “encounters” with other enthusiastic drivers on these roads, and I observed two things: First, that I was a good enough driver to be able to hang with cars that should have been able to walk away from what I was driving – even on a wide, smooth road. Second, on narrower, un-smooth roads – ones that give a car’s suspension a real workout – the cars that were the least able to deal with the bumps and dips on those roads were the ones that were running lowering springs. They’d run out of suspension travel and get tossed around so badly they’d have to slow down in order to maintain control and not get thrown off the road, where my stock-ride-height car would just sail right through with no problem.

Whatever I’m driving on the street, I want to have enough suspension travel that I can head down any paved road at a rapid rate of speed if I so choose. So I’ll keep the stock springs on my car, thank you very much. While I’m sure that one can find aftermarket springs that will improve handling in certain specific situations, for general all-around competence on any road I don’t buy that an aftermarket supplier has the $$ to spend on skill, talent and development time to improve on what the manufacturer can achieve for a sporty-handling car like the Fit.