<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by skyliner:
Sportlines shouldn't ride that ruff. </font>
IMO, I think Sportlines ride horribly. They are really bad springs. SE-R's have hardly any suspension travel at all. Sportlines are soft springs and they *way* overlower the car. I bet a Sportline car has less than 0.5" of suspension travel, at least on the front.
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
Coilovers alone wont give you a smooth ride.
That is 100% true. However, the problem with aftermarket springs like Prokits and Sportlines is that they lower the car way too much for the amount they firm the suspsension. Therefore, it gets to the point where the spring isn't stiff enough to keep the suspension from compression into the bump stops. Bottoming out hurts way worse than really stiff springs! Coil overs allow you to choose a tremendous variety of spring rates (from 150 to 500 lbs/in in 25 lb/in increments!). Plus, you can control the ride height and spring rate independantly, so you can make sure than the car has enough travel for the amount of spring you are running.
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
You need a good shock to go along with any spring set-up period.
Yes, this is also 100% true. Shocks play a huge role in terms of ride and handling. If you cheap out on shocks, your results will be horrible. If you think that GC's are too expensive, then leave your suspension stock. If you don't modify it correctly, your car will be worse than it was before. The cost of the GC's is only part of the equation. Really, if you get GC's, you will also need a good shock: KYB AGX's are the *very* least. Even then, that's not a very good suspension for an SE-R. If you want the best thing for the money, get the Motivational suspension. With a shorter shock body, this gives lots of travel while lowering the ride. They are about $1500, but IMO, it's the cheapest suspension available for our cars that has anything better than marginal performance.
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
I now have Sportlines and good shocks rides 10X better then before.
I'm surprised you are doing so well with Sportlines. To each his own, but I think that anything more than a 1" drop with stock length shocks is too much.
Rob