Needed to redo suspension?

[Jay eS Iye]

I'm wanting to redo my whole front suspension and eventually my rear suspension so that the ride will be tons better. alli'me done so far is gotten a new passenger front control arm, and that was under a year ago.
so what all will i need to get, and what brands would be best? and i'm wanting to do all this myself, so getting an energy suspension bushing kit would rock but i don't have the presses and all to do it. but get me every detail you can think of.

[Santas90Si]

you dont have to have a press to do the ES kit. If you have a die grinder, torch and a hammer and some flat screwdrivers you can get them out. It takes longer is a bitch to do but there is no press involved.

[Jay eS Iye]

i have some screwdrivers and a hammer, actually two no die grinder or torch tho, i'm at college, and even at home i don't have those

[Jay eS Iye]

bump

can someone give me a list of parts to get and brands?

[Santas90Si]

I will put it this way. If you dont have the torch and the die grinder, a place to work, a vise and the basic tools that are needed to get the bushings out then I wouldnt even attempt the bushing kit. It ended up taking me about 40 hrs for the LCA's and the rear trailing arms.

[BullShifter]

Even with a press the bushings can be a bitch to remove, like Santas90Si posted. Most shops will charge a min. of 10.0hrs of labor for a poly bushing kit(full kit) install.

What exactly do you plan on doing to the suspension? When you say replace the entire suspension, that would include bushings, control arms, struts, spirngs, etc. You don't have to replace "the whole suspension" in order to make your car handle well.

What are your plans for the car? Street only, street/race, or race only? If it is gonna be for racing, which type? Autocross, Road racing, drag racing, oval racing . . . .?

[Civicsiassasin91]

Originally Posted by jackasssi

What exactly do you plan on doing to the suspension? When you say replace the entire suspension, that would include bushings, control arms, struts, spirngs, etc. You don't have to replace "the whole suspension" in order to make your car handle well.

What are your plans for the car? Street only, street/race, or race only? If it is gonna be for racing, which type? Autocross, Road racing, drag racing, oval racing . . . .?

Damn good question... You'll save yourself alot of money if you answer the question. On my civic i added a tein basic damper kiy, new oem control arms/bolts and front/rear - upper/lower strut bars ,lowered it about 1". she handled like a dream. total cost was about $1600.00

[Jay eS Iye]

well i'm going to go through all the paper work from my brother, but from what I know nothing has been replaced at all except the passenger upper control arm. I know the driver's side tie rod is bad (i can't get an alignment b/c of it), so i'll just replace both probably. The car is street car, once i get my turbo going (won't be for a while) it'll be street/race. I'm scratching the bushings unless i can find a shop that will give me a good deal. so basically just the regular suspension parts that go bad in time (like i said, i don't think anything has been replaced in a long time). oh and i'm probably going to get some coil overs b/c i want a slight drop on my car

[BullShifter]

replace the tie rods, ball joints, and only worn/cracked bushing with OEM parts. You can always upgrade to poly later if you need them.

[Jay eS Iye]

if i do coil overs i need to get new shocks too right? what brands are the best pricewise

[BullShifter]

Originally Posted by Jay eS Iye

if i do coil overs i need to get new shocks too right? what brands are the best pricewise

If you get "real" coilovers they should come as a package - spring/shock. Now if you want coilover sleeves you will need new shocks, for coilover sleeves I only recommend Ground Controls based off of people from AF. I generally do not rec. coilover sleeves at all!. Any time you lower a car you should replace the struts/shocks with part intended for lowering since stock stuts can not control the spring rates of lowering springs.

H&R // Tein - coilovers
Koni // Tokico - shocks

KYB AGX is NOT recommended to be used with coilover sleeves - all warranty's will be voided.