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Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
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I 'm not surprised at all when you said you think you might have FTD at the BMW CCA club, because when I went to my first BMW CCA auto-x event I was a complete novice (like my 2nd or 3d event) and came in within the top 10 drivers out of 50-60 drivers. I was ecstatic that I had beaten dozens of Bimmers with my humble Integra that had almost no mods then except for a 19mm sway bar! Those BMW guys don't auto-x that often at all and they only do it like once or twice a year. The BMW club I go to once in a blue moon in Jersey only holds like 4 auto-x events a year. Nevertheless, congradulations are in order. good job! The funny thing is that I never see as many "wipe outs" as I do at the BMW clubs. They drive too fast (being that they lack experience) because they don't know their cars too well and don't have time to slow down on the turns. Most of these Bimmers are pretty fast (we get a lot of Z3s, Mcoupes, M3s, etc.) so they carry a lot of power and speed into the turns and the slaloms. I predicted almost every time someone wiped out because I could tell by their speed and driving (on street tires) that they weren't going to make the transition in time. On one event we had 2 BMWs crash right into the sidewalk of the parking lot which was kind of close to the finishing slalom (about 20ft). Still I don't think there was an excuse for these guys to come flying down the slalom at 40-50mph when you only had 3 cones that were getting closer to each other and the finish line was 10ft after the last slalom cone. They both had sustained a lot of damage with cracked wheels/rims, bent hub/spindles, cv/ball joints, bent control arms, and one guy had oil leaking on top of everything else. It looked like he had blown a rear or front main seal from the shock of hitting the tall sidewalk sideways so hard. I felt sorry for them, and the slalom was too close to the sidewalk (and parallel), no doubt about that. I think that was the last time I went and I know that hurt their attendance because the word spread that they don't design safe courses. I 'm going to try and make it to a NASA auto-x event this weekend. We 'll see how it goes because my presense is requested at my parents' house for dinner and I 'd feel bad if I showed up just as they were sitting down to eat, but then again I gotta get my fix! :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Oh yeah, Harry, I wanted to mention the strategy I used to drive this course, 'cause I'd like to get your take on this as well. First, it was much different than the kind I'm used to with the Atlanta region. It was shorter (my fastest time was 48.7 secs) and much, much tighter and therefore slower in overall speed, than what we typically have with our regional SCCA events. After my first run, I couldn't figure out if I should stay in first gear for most of the course, or try second gear and be down a bit in the power band. Except for the very beginning of the course where there was a nice straight leading in to a right-hand sweeper, there was no place to really carry any speed to stay in second gear. Bottom line, I was really between gears (1st and 2nd) on this course; it was nothing like I'd ever had to deal with at other events. So, what I finally decided to do is what I learned in the Evolution phase I course -- get the car into second gear and leave it there, and then focus on car control, position, and smoothness. And it worked like a charm. The other thing it allowed me to do (b/c I wasn't having to concentrate on shifting) is that I could really concentrate on "looking ahead" (Evolution strikes again) so that I was able to get on the throttle at the soonest possible moment when exiting a turn. This may be old stuff to you, Harry, and to some extent, it is to me too, but what a great way to reinforce some of the very basics that make you a better autocrosser. So, even in my torque-less wonder of a GSR, I was able to best several more powerful and much more torquey 4 bangers and 6 cylinder beasts!
do u guys know where i can get some H&R sports springs for cheap. the cheapest i found on the net is at optauto.com for $175 shipped. i already have my shocks, the KYB AGX's came in last night. and i already set aside a lil bit of money, just in case i need to correct my camber.
im almost there!!! took 3 years but hey that's how it is when you're a poor college kid...
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Your course sounds very similar to most of the courses I race at. 40% 1st gear, 60% 2nd, and usually not top of 2nd, and/or not sure if we should go to 2nd, stay in 1st, etc. Yep, have much experience with those. You did the right thing staying in 2nd. You have better control of the car and you don't waste precious time downshifting and upshifting again. You also go through the slaloms faster in 2nd than in 1st which tends to jerk the car (ie: mess up your line), spin the wheels and gives you more torque steer. 2nd gear = smoother = faster times. Except for that 25sec. course on our test&tune event I spoke about. That was a 1st gear course. I was mostly at around 6-7K RPM in 1st. I tried 2nd but it just didn't have the acceleration I needed to produce better times and I was .3 to 1/2sec. slower. 1st gear just accelerates much quicker especially from like 4K to 7K RPM which is mostly what this course was. This course had 2 small slaloms and 2 sweepers, that was it.
Sounds like you did everything right though. If you 're not sure whether you should be in 1st or 2nd, normally you shout be in 2nd and the trick is that once you upshift to 2nd, you have to stay there, unless you 're phenomenal with heel & toe and can downshift to 1st without slowing down the car too much.. Hek even if you were in 3d gear you got FTD, that's all that matters!
In general I have found that in <30sec small tight courses I do better if I stay in 1st when there are no straightaways to pick up speed. When confronted with a 30-60sec. course I 'm always in 2nd even if I 'm not at the top of 2nd (but usually around 5-6K).
No doubt you are becoming better and better Casey and that's the way it's supposed to work. A DSP Prelude with Hoosiers should 've killed you by 1.5 sec. There 's no doubt in my mind you 're a better driver today than last year and much better than that Prelude's owner. Evolution school helps a lot too!
I 'm glad I have at least 1 Evolution school instructor that I regurarly race with and many other SCCA National champs in my clubs that I believe I 've gotten enough advice from over the years that I think I 'll save the $200 for something else at this point in my auto-x career (I tried registering for Evolution school last year but it was too late).
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
actually, i already have a set of used prokits in my house. but i wanted a bigger drop. so imma sell the prokits on ebay, and use that money to get the H&R sports. good plan?!?!
http://php.indiana.edu/~bchang/Pics/Spring_Rate_Table.html
im trying to kill 2 birds in one stone, looks and performance. i feel like H&R sports can do both. believe me, i've been wrestling w/ this decision. i don't really auto-x or im not building my car for show. i just love to drive.... fast whenever possible. i've done a few bolt ons. its more for replacing wear and tear stuff.
hawk HPS, im wearing out my falkens, looking to get kumhos by the end of the summer, got exedy clutch cuz it was due, iceman intake, tanabe rm, and itr sway bar. i think the only thing on the list is a short shifter. and when my brake pads are due, i might change my rotors to brembo blanks. my rotors are slighty warped. and depeding on the money situation, i might upgrade my brakelines to some SS .
www.daveturner.com
www.racerwholesale.com
Any other recommended places to buy?
I am also considering buying a set of 14" HX wheels and putting some Azenis on them for a second set of wheels. What do you guys think about this? Just kinda throwing this out there.
The HX 14" wheels are a very good idea. You should have a 2nd set of wheels. I 've always had since I can remember and it makes things a lot easier. Also you might want to get a cheap car jack so you can swap them out yourself in a matter of minutes (I do like all 4 in about 25min. and I don't even have a power tool, just my torque wrench). THe HX wheels are supposed to be pretty light too. 11.5-12lbs I believe. It would also be a good idea to use them in the winter if it snows where you are. You shouldn't be on 16" wheels in the snow. The only problem with those is, that they 're only 5" wide I think. Can't put too big of a tire on that rim for auto-xing. You want the widest tire possible for auto-x..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
About the HX wheels, I figured they would be cheap and light but was worried about the width. I was planning to run 185 width Azenis (which would be more like a 195 or 205 width tire). Any other ideas for cheap 14 or possibly 15" wheel (though I know most of those)?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I had an old Simpson helmet before which had a manuf. date of '87. I bought it 3yrs ago from a Porsche Club member that used to road race a lot. I was a novice then and was at my first auto-x event which happened to be with PCA and didn't know about the Snell requirments. The guy was racing with it too so I was suspicious of anything at all.. The price was really attractive ($30!) too. The first couple of years I raced with the old Simpson they 'd tell me (most of the time) "you have to use one of the loaner helmets" and I said OK, but always used my helmet
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
my boy has a 93 integra, the older bodies. anyways he also has prokits and 17's on and he has one finger gap. it looks pretty clean.
also, i forgot to put this on the email, the springs will fit either coupes or sedans.
I 'm not sure if motorcycle helmets are as safe as race car helmets or not, but I would think they would be. Probably have different rating because with one you hit the pavement (from a bike) and the other remains in the car and possibly hits objects inside the car and not the road.. so maybe they protect different parts of the head/neck, etc? don't know..
You should be able to find a set of used wheels on h-t if you post on the wanted/buy section. I used to see K1s and others there for sale all the time. You might find someone close to you so you can go inspect them and pick them up.
Over the weekend I took off the Kumho V700s and put on the RE730s on the GSR and went for a spin in the back country roads behind my house (there are some nice twisty roads by some lakes, ponds, etc.). It was a perfect day. Temps in the high 60's and sunny. I had the Konis set pretty firm (3/4 turn front & full turn in the rear) so the car could hold the road well at med-high speeds. Anyway, every mile or so I 'd hit the brakes a little (medium force) so they would stay warm in case I had to stop or slow down really fast because of a cop or whatever. All of a sudden I come around a turn at about 60-65mph and there was an eagle eating roadkill in the middle of the road (was bigger than a hawk anyway, but wasn't a vulcher so I assumed it was an eagle, it definitely looked like one). The Metal Masters performed awesomely! The car stopped with such a force it made me real happy. The G forces were so great that my whole body/butt slided forward (on the stupid leather) under the seatbelt which tightened up against me really hard, and my chest was almost up against the steering wheel (I had a seatbelt on as well). I ended up almost kissing the steering wheel! I could not push my body back into the seat by pushing on the steering wheel, that's how great the braking force was. ABS never kicked in! Thanks to the excellent grip of the RE730s that didn't slide, I guess. I had never slided forward from my seat before but then again I had never slammed the brakes at 60mph+ down to 3mph before. Even when auto-xing, I rarely brake from 65mph but the few times I did, I slowed down to 20mph or so, not to a full stop. I was assured the brakes still worked great and then further down the road I tried braking hard again from about 60mph and the stopping distances just seemed very small and the force really great. Aftermarket pads are awesome when they heat up. It was a great 15min. of pure driving pleasure. The car stayed completely flat on the curves even at speeds of 70+mph and what more can one ask for but great controllable braking? (and no other cars on the road, well I had to pass a few that were in my way..).
I was going to order some HP+ or R4S pads in another month or so but I 'm definitely staying with the current setup for a while. If it ain't broke, why fix it, right? :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
The thought I want to share about helmets is that some HPDE/track events require SA-rated helmets. Don't ask me why, 'cause I dunno. But the fact remains that they do, and they'll check to make sure as well. It was for this very reason I opted to get an SA helmet (a Bell Sport II, like you mentioned, Chem) from racer wholesale for about $225. Sure, that's a lot of coin but it'll be good for autocrossing and track events for the next 10 years. Also, the only thing I've heard the distinguishes an M vs. SA rated helmet is that the inside lining on a SA helmet is fire retardent, and the M is not. Maybe they don't think motorcycle riders ever catch on fire or whatever, but there's a huge price difference between the two so I completely understand why people opt for the M rate one. Also, make sure you can try on the helmet before you buy it. I was all set to buy something less expensive (like a G-Force or a 95 Snell Simpson) but they didn't fit my deceptively large cranium, even in the XL size!!
All Integras have the bolt pattern of 4x100 except for the ITR which is five lug.
Ground Controls are higher quality than the Skunks but many have success with both. I'm fairly sure that all coilover sleeves can be set at stock height. You probably won't want to lower any more than 1.75"-2" because then you will really be killing your ride and any handling performance you gained with the better springs and your suspension travel will be severely limited. Such coilover sleeves usually can lower up to 3"-4".
Of course you were missed, Casey!
ok thanks for reading the long intro. btw i needed to change my tires by the end of the summer. i have stock rims and have falkens 205-50-15's v-rated tires. my options are:
fix the rim/buy one from the junk yard....no more than $150 and buy a set of kuhmo tires since imma change them anyways $300 mounted. total $450
my uncle might get me some rotas in the philippines its about $250-$300 there. i was looking at 16 in. subzeros and mount some kumho for $375. total $625-$675
last buy the rotas at groupbuycenter same rims and tires mountated for: $875
i should know if my tito (uncle) can hook me up by this weekend. he's coming over next week.
so what should i do!?!?!?! money is kinda tight, but im graduating and i already told me friends to return what ever they got me and give me the money. its kinda shallow but....... i need the money more to get out of this jam.
thanks for reading
check out groupbuycenter.com i think they have a groupbuy on eibachs, skunks, and groundcontrol
lowering cars cost alot of money!!! make sure u plan for everything. took me 3 years to get the parts. now i might have to wait a lil longer cuz of some stupid bricks
I 've had deer jump right in front of me in the past and only god knows how I avoided hitting them. One of them last year jumped right in front me while I was going down hill at 65mph in the backroads going to my house late one night. I could swear I hit its white tail with the driver's side mirror. It was like milimeters away. A co-worker's Saturn coupe was totalled by a white tail a couple of months ago that ran right in front her and proceeded to bounce off her hood and roof! So no matter what we run over on the street it could always be worse so count your blessings..
GSR94: If money is tight always go with used and look at junkyards. I 'd just replace that 1 wheel that's damaged because $150 sounds like a lot of money and it's not like your mechanic is an expert at fixing alloy wheels. Besides, for $200-300 you can get a whole set of used GSR wheels so I can't why he 's charging you so much. I bet that wheel will never be like before, unless the $150 incudes anything else that's bent or broken besides the rim? Steel rims can be repaired 95% of the time and they 're easier to hammer to straighten out a dent. Alloy wheels are a lot harder to work on.
BTW, I don't know if I mentioned this but I had a small accident with my '01 Civic a few weeks ago. An 18wheeler lost one of its mudguards as I was on its side passing it. This shiny metal (aluminum probably) huge mudguard that was about 24" x 18" came flying towards the passenger side of my car. I accelerated quickly and moved to the left lane (I was in the middle lane) as fas as I could. By doing this avoided major damage to the doors and the body but the mudguard caught the rear right wheel, cut the hub cap almost in half and tore the lower bottom corner of my rear spoiler/bumper cover. That thing was coming at me like a knife at 70mph! The truck driver had no clue what had happened and kept on going. I pulled up next to him beeping and signaled him to pull over, because I knew I had some damage from the big thump I heard when it hit my car. He was really cool about it and saw that he was missing the mud guard or whatever that thing is (he called it something else). I called the State Police and they filled out the report. I finally got it in the mail (you can't pick it up in Jersey apparently) so I 'll be calling the guy's insurance and taking the car to a bodyshop soon.
I 've also had several hot pieces of rubber hitting my car whenever those big trucks have a blowout. Never had any damage except for some rubber stuck on the windshield that's very hard to get out. The blown tire sounds like a shutgun going off in your ear and litterally makes you jump off your seat while you 're driving. It's happened to me 3 times now and every time I was right next to the truck or right behind it when one of those re-treads went up in smoke. Very scary, but the 2nd and 3d time I knew right away what was happening and I was able to either accelerate or get into another lane because I don't want to be in the path of those huge pieces of rubber flying all over the highway. You only really have like 1 to 2 sec. at the most to react when you 're as close as I was. Once you hear the "bang", that rubber reaches your car in usually 1-1.5sec. (the worst is when you 're right behind them). Although I still got shaken up with the loud bang I reacted fast and the best course of action is to try and be far away from the truck or ahead of it if you 're next to it when it happens. Sometimes there's nothing you can do.. The 1st time, hot rubber (smoking) pieces hit my windshield and then I saw the bulk of the tire flying up in the air over my car. Looked in the rear vew mirror and saw it hit the car behind me and bounce off it. The guy paniced and almost lost control of his car at 65-70mph. Many times the truck drivers keep going if they have their stereo on too loud or they pretend they don't know what's going on which I think is what happens most of the time because they don't want to bother with police reports, insurance, and get delayed, etc. when they 've caused damage to other cars. Others hear it and pull over. I 've seen people swerve and almost get into accidents when it happens. Most of these people also don't go after the truck drivers but I see them pulling over after a 70lb tire hit and damaged their car. Without the trucker's insurance info, now their insurance will have to pay for it and their premiums will go up. I don't know what these people are thinking.
Anyway, you see my point.. Anytime you get into that car and drive, any number of things could happen. As long as you walk (or drive) away from it all the time, that's what really matters.
Oh one more thing that most of you probably don't know, but I think Casey does. I had a really big accident in '98 with my '97 Civic. A truck 2 cars ahead of me lost its rear axle and myself and 11 other cars drove over it. I had the most damage of all when I ran that thing over at 65mph. This big long axle was about 8-9" off the ground! Plus I had pieces and gears from his differential fly into my windshield and crack it like a spider web while I was doing 65mph! I hear a gunshot go off in my ear upon impact and the car goes flying up in the air for a sec. or so after I hit the axle (could't go left or right, it was rush hour and cars on either side of me, I was in the middle lane). Then there 's like CO2 smoke all inside the car and I can't breathe. My right cheek feels like someone smacked me really hard. Then I see a big PINK deflated baloon hanging down in front of my glove compartement as I 'm trying to steer the car, which has no power, to the shoulder and manually trying to brake really hard because the car wouldn't stop.. Then I see another balloon in my lap. Then I realized the airbags went off.. 10 other cars pulled up behind me with bent and cracked rims, bend front spoilers, etc. My car only had 40k mi. at the time and it was never the same after that. $5800 damage! So I 've had my share of "running over things". I wish it had been 3 bricks I ran over that night :=)
Casey, where 've you been, we missed you :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
BTW, he is selling the GS-R (80K mi, asking $10,900) for this:
http://www.vwvortex.com/features/12_01/12_28/index.shtml
Yep, I've been totally slammed at work, and not a lot of free time at home, so my Net surfing time has been minimal of late...
I can't wait to auto-x again. It's been 3 weeks and this Sunday my wife won't let me go. She insists I attend to my social duties like in-laws 50th anniv. party. I don't think I can get out of going to that :-) So now it'll be 4 weeks without racing! That's a long time for me.
I was going to race with NASA last Sunday but it was pouring so I stayed home. The weekend before that I had to work..
Luckily there 's an event almost every weekend because this is the NY metro area and there are lots of clubs. I have to take advantage of most of them because I 'll be working 3-4 weekends this summer because I 'm doing major changes in my company's network (if I 'm still there). Monday they 're supposed to announce the outsourcing company which rumors have it might be IBM. A couple of weeks after that I 'll be working for the new company. My company made a deal with "them" that everyone is offered employment for at least 6mos. So that's not too bad.
So are you going to do both the BMW & SCCA clubs this year?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
And now, back to the subject of the Acura Integra GSR! ;-)
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I couldn't take it though. We were only 5min. away from the auto-x event so I snuck out of the catering hall for about 20min right around when I knew they 'd be doing fun runs. Sure enough when I arrived they had just started fun runs, and I found out only 67 drivers showed up so they got 7 timed runs! Got into a friend's E Prepared BMW 320 (500lb coilovers/Konis, motorwork/headwork, stripped in every way, etc.) as a passenger and went for a fun run. Man do those Hoosiers stick! I touched them afterwards and they felt like bubblegum. Your finger almost sticks to them! So I had one fun run and got it out of my system
I was back before anyone knew anything (I told them I was going out for a smoke) in less than 20min! It worked out perfectly. Now if I could only do that and race at the same time, that would be something!
Last year I was on call and racing one Sunday. I was getting paged from my job because the network was having major problems which happens often and I talk our techs through stuff on the phone and give them advice while I 'm lined up with my car! This time it was different. I get a call from the VP saying that I need to go in and check everything out personally! I told him I was out enjoying the day with my family but that I 'd go home and dial in and check everything out. I left my local club after the morning runs. Was home in 15-20min. Dialed in, spend about 30min. checking everything and by that time the LAN group (not mine, I 'm WAN) had fixed a switch that was causing all the problems, so everything was up. Called the VP, gave him a status and drove back just in time as my group was lining up for the afternoon runs! So Casey you might have to drive a little longer than me to race, but do you work at the same time?!?!! heheh I 'm probably the only that does that! Some guys from the Network Control Center that call me usually ask me first, "sorry Harry are you in the middle of racing?"!! I 'm really supposed to be available when I 'm on call and be able to dial in or drive to work in case of an emergency, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying my hobby
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Ah hmm, naah, they wouldn't fit your car.. but you can sell them to me. I 'll give you $595. Or you can put me in touch with whoever is selling them..
No, seriously, they 'll fit fine on your GSR. Do they have any extra sets at $550? I 'm interested in the 15"!
Whether you go with 15" or 16" the offset is fine and you won't have any problems. I 'd personally go with the 9.2lb ones. 15" tires are also cheaper than 16" ones.
The 16" TE37s are very light too and that is the preferred wheel by most especially for daily street driving. 3.5lbs lighter than our stock GSR wheels. If I weren't racing my GSR I 'd probably go with the 16". Can't go wrong with either one and the offset is ok too. You can even go with a 38-40mm too if they make one but you don't want anything bigger than 43. I have 45mm (15x7") and the rear wheels are 2mm away from the iron fork (upper control arm).
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)