1st: Wheels & Tires
Get some 15 inch wheels and 195/50r15 tires to lower the sidewall profile. This makes a nice difference in handling right away. You lose A LOT of slop that those stock VX 13s with a 70 sidewall give you. The 15 inch size is a suggestion from personal experience but anything to have a lower profile tire will make a nice difference.
2nd: Bushings (mentioned in maintenance suggestions but these are how I usually fix them)
I'd install an energy suspension hyperflex kit (plus their trailing arm bushings which aren't included) or a Hard Race hardened rubber bushing set. This will get rid of all the slop from the 25 year old rubber. I have some pictures of installing these on my $200 civic build thread link in my signature or feel free to message me. You will need a access to a press either way (and a torch if you go the energy suspension route). the two options are great for street use. They do both have drawbacks for really pushing the car or for track use but the solution to those issues is spherical bushings and they aren't very street friendly. If you go the Energy Suspension route pick the black bushings over the pretty red ones. The black color is from the polyurethane being colored with graphite. This makes them self lubricating which helps to prevent squeaking over time as the lubricant they come with degrades.
3rd: Shocks and Springs or Coilovers (will post these at the end of my long winded post)
As long as I've been driving Hondas the default everyone recommended setup for daily and track use has been the good old Koni Yellow shocks and Ground Control Coil Sleeves. Its a tried and true setup you can't go wrong with. It's more expensive than some other options but it works fantastic.
4th: Sway Bars
Pop in some stock Civic EX front lower LCAs and a stock EX civic front sway bar with polyurethane bushings and sway bar links. For the rear you can go stock EX civic for a little less body roll or I personally like the rear to be a little stiffer to rotate a little easier. I have always used the ASR rear subframe kit with their 24mm sway bar ( I believe their new V2 kit is a 25mm hollow bar haven't used it yet but I ordered one for my daily to install with everything in a few months). If you go to an upgraded rear sway bar without a subframe brace the EGs are notorious for the subframe tearing from the sway bar. You will also need rear lower control arms from an EX or aftermarket to install the rear sway bar. ASR makes rear LCAs as well as a ton of other brands. Pick whatever you are comfortable with.
5th: Adjustable arms
Camber Kits Front and Rear and adjustable toe arms if you're having issues getting the car properly aligned at you chosen ride height ( shouldn't be an issue unless the car is slammed on some 0 offset wheels). Pick whatever brand name product fits your budget. Hardrace, Ktuned, TruHart etc... These just let you dial in the alignment with your slightly lowered ride height. You can play around to see what alignment settings you like or read around on the forums. For daily use I have my car ever so slightly toed out and run right around -1.5 front and -1 rear degree camber. If your toe is too far out or in it will kill tires.
Links:
Energy Suspension Hyper Flex kit: [url]https://jhpusa.com/collections/bushing-kits/products/energy-suspension-hyperflex-master-kit-honda-acura
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Energy Susupension Trailing Arm Bushings:
Hardrace Master Bushing kit:
Koni Yellow Shocks:
Ground Control Coil Sleeves:
ASR rear subframe brace and 24mm sway bar:
Rear LCAs: Statistics: Posted by EconoBox — Wed Dec 26, 2018 5:20 pm
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