By Don Bredle

The big advantage with the coilover spring perch, is the ability to adjust the height by just jacking up the car, reaching in, and spinning the threaded collar. With the Koni adjustable perch, you have to remove the spring/shock unit from the car, disassemble it with the spring compressor, adjust the spring perch, reassemble the unit, and replace it on the car.

Some prices I was quoted in the last month for coilover perches with springs for all 4 corners of the car (no shocks):

OPM Motorsports (770)886-8199   $380  uses Carrera parts
Ground Control  (916)638-7888   $329
Auto Innovation (408)956-8004   $350  uses Ground Control parts

New Dimesions   (800)637-2781   $1695 (Neuspeed kit includes shocks, but
they are not adjustable for stiffness)
Eibach kit (sorry I lost it, seems like it was somewhat less $ than Neuspeed)

Dave's right about the limited amount of ride height adjustment from just the coilover mechanism, but if you want to go to the trouble of buying extra springs (longer or shorter) you could get a wide range of adjustment. For my '94 Integra I bought the Carrera coilover kits from OPM in Cummings GA, just a spring perch on a threaded sleeve that goes over whatever shock you use. I paid about $45 per corner or $180. Springs were $50 each, and I got 8 inches long, 300 lb/in front, 250 lb/in rear. Then I bought Tokico Illumina shocks. The fronts fit out of the box, but on the rears you have to cut back the large tulip shaped spring perch to fit the coilover sleeve. Also, the stock dust covers will no longer fit over the shock shaft inside the sleeve, so I'm concerned about winter driving here where salt is plentiful. I love this setup for autox and track driving, but the fronts just bottom out too much for street driving (every chuckhole or bump causes a loud thwack), no matter where I set the ride height. I first thought the Tokico bodies were too tall, leaving too little travel on the shock. But others on this list don't seem to be complaining about the Illumina shock on a lowered 3rd generation Integra. (anybody else have this trouble?) (Yes, this is a common problem on the Tokico Illuminas. Installing a set of Koni Yellows solved this problem right away. Ed.)

So now I think the 8" spring is probably too short, at least for the rate of 300 lb/in, and it is being compressed to its limit too easily. A 9 or 10" spring may be the solution.

Some have complained of rattling sounds from the coilover system from Ground Control in California. I haven't had that problem. The spring is a narrower diameter than the rubber mounting cushion on top, so it isn't exactly a tight fit like the stock spring. Tom Fowler is the Honda spring expert at OPM Motorsports.

Copyright 2002, Temple of VTEC