w0rd

Wait, everyone here isn't trying to win a national championship this year?

treekiller

it's hard to compaire them apples to apples, The k-sport is a full length adjustable threaded body Coil over where the Koni sports are full length stock upgrade. about the best stock upgrade you can buy but nevertheless.

however I can tell you K-sports are WAY more agressive then then the Koni's 1 due to the larger piston, and 2 because they never have to be made to work with a stock spring. and most coil-over kits you can go +/- 2kg on spring rate without getting out of it's sweet spot.

you know you would be perfect for the school tonight. it's free come on by.

omgwtfbbq!

Thanks for clearing that up for me

Anyone selling used/cheap K-sports for a civic then?

treekiller

actually just got an email from them this morning, let me look. the current sale is on the 89-91 civic not the newer one. but the Normal street price of the K-sports is *only $799 that's the price of just the koni's not to mention the GC kit. Plus no shipping charge dealing locally with me, and we process K-sport warranty/rebuilds in house.

Loren

For stock springs, the best performance shocks you can get (without getting exotic and super-expensive) are Bilsteins. Second best (possibly moving to first if you're the type who likes adjustability) is Koni Sport.

That probably doesn't change when you go to stiffer springs, but it does add $400 or more to have the Bilstein's or Konis revalved to suit your application. It DOES change when you start going more than an inch lower than stock, however. No stock replacement shock is designed to operate exclusively in the bottom range of it's travel, and most of them (Konis I know from experience!) tend to self-destruct when you bottom them out too hard or too often. This is where the short-bodied coilover shock comes in.

What do you get with a K-Sport or similar? Probably a little lower quality shock (maybe... or it could be a copy of the Bilstein using readily available parts... hmmm?), but properly valved for the stiffer springs that you want to use, and with a body that can be adjusted shorter to allow you to run a lower ride height with more safety, reliability and comfort.

Biggest problem I've seen with most coilover kits is that people simply don't set them up properly. It's the old "just because you can doesn't mean you should" conundrum. Ricer boy gets the bad-ass JDM coilover kit that CAN be adjusted so that his chin spoiler scrapes on dimes and his wheels "tuck" neatly into the fenders, completely ignoring the fact that it SHOULDN'T be set up that way! They set the suspension up so that it's almost already bottomed out at rest and then wonder why the shocks fail within a few months of normal street driving.

That, or they install the kit and set everything to full stiff and wonder why the car doesn't handle properly. Or they install the kit and don't bother to do a proper alignment and wonder why their tires wear out.

Charles

I read the same and I'm in that boat now.......everyone that has driven the car with the new setup thought it worked pretty well.

So it works........for now......

Troux

Regarding adjustability, True Choice offers coilover setups that use a Koni sport shock modified to be double adjustable, so they could probably sell you just the shock as a double-adjustable for a few hundred more.

Loren

Absolutely, they can and they do. But, it's a few hundred more PER SHOCK. Adding $300/shock adds $1200 to the whole kit. So, now you're looking at a miniumum of $150/shock initial investment, plus $300/shock to modify them, plus $400 for the coilover kit and springs. A total of $2200... minimum.

Is it on the verge of "the best" you can get to go with a custom valved double-adjustable Koni shock? Sure. And if you're on the verge of being "the best" driver, it might be worth it. But, most of us would hardly notice the difference between a decent $1000 coilover kit and a $2-3k custom Koni kit.

treekiller

Correct and for that same money you can buy something like a Tein N1, while I'm not a fan of Tein's cheaper SS and basic kits, I can find zero fault with theirt high end mono tube double adjustable stuff. and you get external gas chambers included. The GC/Koni and tuning is a hold over from when SCCA banned threaded bodies in IT racing. but that has since been corrected in the rule book.

omgwtfbbq!

Well I found a set of new ksports for $720 on ebay with free shipping. From what I've seen thats about as cheap as they come new. Unless one of you guys has a crazy hookup with a local shop or something. Otherwise I'll be buying them next week once my paycheck comes in.