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Acura Integra GSR Customizing and Modifying
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'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
http://community.webshots.com/storage/1/v3/2/50/89/29725089SoQhrlcgvt_ph.jpg
On his GS-R he has 400F/500R GC on ITR Bilstein Sports.
Harry, have you been sporting the jacket everywhere yet?
Actually I have not worn the jacket outside the house at all. It's a light jacket, like for Fall or Spring and it's too cold out now to go out with it. Then again I could wear a couple of undershirts, a T-shirt on top of that, buttoned down heavy duty flanel shirt with a wool sweater on top of it and then the jacket. That might work
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Garados will be busy for the next few months getting hooked to this whole new Honda/Acura world of modding and processing all the info from H-T.com
I posted something there a week or so ago (yes I 'm VTEConly) and saw that I had about 1,100 posts. I had not posted anything in about 6mos and have not been very active in about 1yr. Imagine if I kept posting at the same rate I was the year before that ('00 was my most active year, in '99 there was no H-T so I was on H-A.net where I was approaching 1k posts). I 'd have 2-3,000 posts and it 'd look like I have no life :-)
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
http://community.webshots.com/user/chem123
Mmmm...custom-valved GCs...sometimes the normal spring rates are on GB but for the custom rates, it seems like it would cost the same/be better just to order from GC. BTW, I am "kent, clark" on H-T.com...I don't post much but I do IM people and use the Search function for hours on end
Its' $354 plus tax for installation,life time balancing, rotataion etc.
There is a deal going on in Costco. $50 off for a set of 4 tires. Re730's are priced at $101.
I am trying to choose between ITR sway+BSQ kit and
Comptech kit. Comptech 22mm sway bar plus kit is listed for $234 in most of the places. ITR plus BSQ kit should also cost the same
Harry I remeber seeing one of your old posts where you were talking about the polyurethene bushings of the Comptech??
Which one is best for day to day driving?
Which one is easier to install?
Btw I have 99 GSR Sedan
Oh, yeah that's right. I do have a question for y'all. I have been reading about having camber problems when dropping a car over 1.5". Is this true? Also, I'm planning on getting some lowering springs from Eibach and I want to have some other opinions about the prokit and the sportline springs. Which ones will give me less dive in braking and less body roll in turns? Well, there is hardly any body roll anymore due to the upgraded sway bars =D, but that's not the point to this question. Anyway, what I'm trying to ask is which set will give me the best handling? Thanks.
Don't worry, I won't forget to check in on all of you and make sure this forum isn't getting out of hand. =P
Nice Boxter! They 're very capable auto-xers as well as road racing cars.
A guy in my club is the '00 SCCA auto-x A Stock champion. He drives a '99 Boxter with custom valved double adjustable Konis. He usually gets FTD when there are no high end go-karts (A or B mod). BTW, my PAX (in DSP) is about the same as AS which means I should be getting the same times as him, but hey, if the CSP, SM and CP guys can't beat him, why should I? It just goes to show you how a National Champ can kick people's butt that are in much higher classes than him/her. The same with Ken Fry who is also in my club and was this year's C Stock Champ with his MR2 (double-adjustable Konis again). He usually comes in the top 5%. But then again we shouldn't forget that these people have spent several thousands of $$ in their "stock" cars for the high end shocks, custom alignment, custom cat-back exhausts and the very expensive Hoosier auto-x tires (about 60-70% more than Kumhos cost) that don't last too long.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
My camber readings in the front from the last alignment I had last June-July, were -1.6 and -1.5 which are pretty much borderline but I like that because I get better handling. My rear were like -1.0 and -1.2 I think which is fine. Negative camber is good for handling but excessive negative camber will wear your tires quicker. I think on the print out I got, -1.6 was the limit in the front (don't remember the rear) so it was good for me because I auto-x. So anything over -1.7 or -1.8 might not be beneficial if you want your tires to last a long time, although not it's not bad. -2.0+ you should definitely worry about. I would recommend getting some aftermarket shocks with them though. Don't keep your stock shocks because they 're not going to last long, the car will be bouncy, and won't handle as good as if you had heavy duty shocks. Adjustable shocks are the best. The cheapest are KYB AGX ($330-340), the middle of the line Tokiko Illuminas ($420-440) and the higher end street/race are the Koni Sports ($500-550). If you 're not looking to spend much and won't be doing any auto-xing or any type of formal racing, go with the KYB. Anything is better than the stock shocks and will improve the handling.
What kind of rear sway bar do you have?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
I got about 11k mi. on my RE730s and they look fine with lots of tread even though I did 17 auto-x events with them in '00. The only thing I 'm worried now is that they might get hard after I take them off in Mar-April (to put R tires on) and they sit in the garage for another 7mos hardening up and loosing their composition. They already sat there from May-Dec. '01 while I was racing on Kumho R tires.
Tires need to have regular heat cycles to keep their original composition and perform well.
Anyway, like CJ said the Comptech bar comes with its own end links which are actually better and more heavy duty. My Acura dealer charges $210 for Comptech one plus 1hr labor to install. I like that because that means for 12mos if anything happens they 're responsible and will take care of it. Although nothing usually goes wrong because the installation is not complex. The only problem is that you need 2 people to put the Lower Control Arms back in place. My Neuspeed 19mm has lasted 2yrs of constant racing and it's still holding up well. It also came with its own polyurethane bushings. Although I know at least 10 people I auto-x with that have the 22mm Comptech bar on their Integras, I have not heard them say anything about the endlinks breaking or falling apart like CJ said, so I 'll have to ask them this spring because I know some of them have had them for 2-3yrs.
The ITR bar + BSQ kit is a little cheaper but involves a little bit more labor. Both bars are equally good and Acura recongizes both of them as OEM parts and don't void your warranty. My Acura dealer sells the whole Comptech line and stock many of their parts. They also give everyone 15% off list on all of them. I will be upgrading from the 19mm to the 22mm Comptech this spring only because I don't want to go through the extra hassle of ordering the bar and then all the parts from BSQ and then finding someone to install it. My dealer already told me they won't install aftermarkt parts on my car unless they 're Comptech. I 'm not as patient as I used to be.. All I have to do is make an appointment with the dealer which charges $210 for the bar, and pay them $73 to install it. That way I don't have to pay shipping charges or wait for the parts, or anything. 1 phone call, 1 visit and it's all done. Now I 've called another Acura dealer and they said 1.5-2hrs to install, so I 'm hoping this dealer doesn't go back on their word because I know the service mgr. told me 1hr labor. I know they 'll probably use the full hour or close to it, which sounds weird, because dealerships usually charge you twice the labor of what they actually work. No dealership today charges you for the exact amount of time they worked on your car. They go by what the book says. So I 'm a little suspicious of that.
One other thing about the poly bushings is that they all squeak in the winter or in cold temps. When it's 40 or higher I don't hear mine at all. Even when it's 30 out, they 'll squeak a little until the car has been moving for 5-10min. So it looks like they need to lubricate themselves or move around a little and then they stop. When it's 20deg. or less, they 'll squeak almost every time your suspension travels up&dn a lot or on bumps, but not that bad once you 've been on the road for 10-15 min. or have reached highway speeds. If I have the radio on, I don't hear anything at all. For me it's not really an issue at all. Under normal driving and regular roads I rarely hear them squeking. It's under severely uneven roads and VERY cold temps that they squeak, but it's not loud at all, and not there when the radio is on.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
If I were you, I 'd get some Brembo blanks with aftermarket pads and do the suspension like you have done already. This should put you in FSP with VW golfs & Cabrios and you can still take out the back seat. You 'd do a lot better in that class than SM. Unless you 're planning for a motor swap in the future, in which case SM is where you want to be.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
2)My tuner said that I can buy a perf. muffler, take it to a muffler shop, and have them install it with all new bigger piping from the catalytic converter back to have a "cat-back exhaust system" for cheaper. Sounds good... true?
3)I have to replace my hood (damaged)... is OEM quality carbon fiber a good idea?
4)After exhaust, would ya'll do CAI or Header first?
Thanks alot
1: yes, 205s fit fine
2: yes, that can be done, but be sure they use a good tube material (like aluminized steel) or it'll rust in a couple of years. Also, make sure they use mandrel bending, as opposed to crush bending. Crush bending will seriously impede exhaust flow, and you don't want that. You'll also have to figure out what to do with your resonator (keep, toss, replace), especially if you go up to 2" or 2.25" diameter tubing.
3: there are good quality carbon fiber hoods out there, but getting it to fit and close properly can be a pain. Also, they are A LOT more fragile than the OE hoods and can break if you close/latch the hood too harshly. Some folks will tell you that you also need hood pins to prevent the hood from flying open at highway speeds (>70mph), but I don't know too much about that. One more thing, if you plan on autocrossing your car replacing body panels will move you to SM or some prepared class where the competition and level of car prep is very stiff.
4: I'd go with an AEM cold air intake -- it's much cheaper and you'll get more whp and torque from that than you would a header. Have fun!
Now the Axxis Ultimates are a road racing pad and just like the Hawk (HP+?) and Porterfield R4 they 're tougher on your rotors. They also dust a LOT more. I have the Axxis Metal Masters (or MM for short) which is the middle of the Axxis line. It's a street/race pad comparable to the R4S. I have comments from 11 users of this pad and they all told me they 're easy on the rotors with a life span of at least 20k mi. with some auto-xing. They do dust like all the others though. If a pad doesn't dust then it won't give you the grip you want, and it shouldn't be called a "performance" pad IMO.
The SS lines don't help very much with stopping power but give you better and stiffer brake pedal feel. I like that my brake pedal doesn't travel half way down anymore before the brakes start working. All I have to do is touch the pedal a little and they grab very close to the top. This also helped me with my times in auto-x. It shaves milliseconds and even 1/10's of a second because the brakes respond quicker to your foot with less pedal travel. I don't think you should do any of these changes until you start auto-xing. Your stock brakes will be fine for the first few events. After that you 'll notice some degredation. I auto-xed the GSR on stock brakes for more than 1 season (a few events in '99 and the full '00 season, about 22 events). The GSR rotors are more heavy duty than the Civic's though. After about 10-12 events I started noticing the brakes going down hill. I think this is because I was doing a lot of Porsche & BMW events then, and their fast courses are harder on the brakes. The local SCCA clubs don't design their courses to be as fast because they incorporate more turns and slaloms and try to get as many transitions as they can in that space, where as the above clubs design theirs to be like mini road courses with a couple of 90 & 120deg. turns. It sucks going 60-65mph and then having to stand of the brakes to make a 90 deg. turn. These type of courses quickly take their toll on factory brakes.
Like Casey said, you 'll be in a Novice class probably most of your first season (and you should be). The way they rate you though, is by an index according to what class you 're in.
For example: An Audi A4 2.8 (novice) in A Stock has an index of .79 and if you 're in FSP you probably have something like .84 (or .81, can't remember). The Audi has a best time of 41sec. and you 're best time is 40sec. The Audi has done better than you and gets the trophy, because 41 x.79=32.39
Your "indexed" time is 40 x .84 = 33.6 Lower # wins. This # is also called PAX. All cars are paxed in the Novice classes. Well in most SCCA clubs anyway. I doubt there are clubs out there that let you run against Novice Corvettes & Porsches and the guy with the best times wins. They have to use an index or handicap..
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
2. The tie bar helps strengthen the subframe points where the control arms mount. It actually mounts at the same points (holes) where the control arms mount on the subframe (the tie bar comes with big washers & longer screws because they have to go through both tie bar & lower control arm). This reduces flexing at those points where the control arms usually pull on, when your car makes a turn. So in essense the tie bar "ties" the 2 lower control amrs (LCAs) together, thus called the "tie bar". This also decreases camber changes and reduces the forces on the control arms, all resulting in more rubber on the ground. With an aftermarket rear sway bar it's barely noticeable though but it still helps. I have a Neuspeed lower tie bar BTW (it was only $69 for the black one w/yellow letters "neuspeed" on it - looks good).
The Neuspeed rear upper tie bar (ties the 2 shock towers together in your trunk) was a little bit more noticeable, but again, nothing spectacular. It gives you slight oversteer characteristics.
My dealer charges $320 for the set but I know someone that got it for $295 through EBAY (new). If you got the money and don't mind, get the Comptech set with both sway & tie bars. The Comptech tie bar is bigger (wider) and most likely more sturdy than my Neuspeed which is basically a 3/4" (approximately) round bar. The Comptech one looks more rectangular with a larger surface (looks like a DCSports one without those annoying holes).
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Integraguy16, you are correct that a cat-back system can be made that is cheaper than a pre-made one. Two things to consider before you make your own: buy a muffler (ES Oval and Magnaflow seem to be the most popular, research honda-tech.com) that has a decent baffle/silencer system built into it if you care at all about having a quiet exhaust = less cops, less annoying, more sleeperish. Also, when getting the piping done by the muffler shop, have them mandrel bend it and make sure they aren't using some cheap material. It's more expensive, but you will get a better-flowing, longer-lasting exhaust as a result. As far as diameter of piping, it all depends on what you plan to do with the car. I would suggest something between 2"-2.3". My GReddy SP is something like 2.27".
Harry, thanks for the really nice info! So you know of many people that like the AXXIS MM? For some reason, I have heard many on H-T bash them (they said that they would rather stick with OE pads). I will need to look into them more. That's some horrible luck you were having with your Civic rotors! OT but, have you ever noticed your clutch squeaking the day after you drive the car hard? This seems to happen every once in a while and I do not think it has anything to do with me driving the car improperly. Wow! That is really interesting how the index numbers work between classes and within the novice class. Oh yeah, three topics up for grabs for you:
1) autox-oriented wheel alignment (worth it, or better to just stay within stock specs?)
2) Brake fluid (Valvoline Syn any good?)
3) Are SS lines something I can install myself (and how often do you bleed your brakes)?
Truth be told, Harry has indeed "learned me good." Like Garados said a little while ago, this was the first place anyone ever answered my questions, too. Back then, Harry and guy named Stephen were the only regulars on this board. (btw, what ever happened to Stephen?!? He's been MIA for almost a year now...) This place has be a great refuge for me, especially b/c H-T.com and others boards can be so full of b.s. and other noise. The other benefit of coming here is that my main interest (other than Integra issues) is autocrossing, and Harry has provided me some great 1-on-1 Solo II advice. He's seen me go from a struggling autocross novice newbie to a trophy winning (2nd place is my best finish so far) STS regular, who still has a LONG way to go... Harry, you must be so proud.
2: I don't know much about synthetic brake fluids. Harry swears by Honda brake fluid (I believe it's rated at DOT3) and I use ATE Super Blue fluid (which is DOT4). The ATE stuff is expensive and is probably over-kill for autocrossing, but I plan on doing a few track events this year (first one's in March -- woo hoo!) and you really want to have good quality brake fluid for track events because your brakes take an unbelievable beating there and get totally cooked! For autocrossing, you can get away with bleeding your brakes once or twice a year. For doing track events, most guys I talk to bleed them before each event, and at the end of each day if the next day is another track day.
3: S/S brakelines: You can do it yourself but it's a challenging job. I asked my Atlanta region DSP buddy to help me with mine b/c he had done his car and one other already. So I'd recommend finding a friend who has done it before. I also recommend having a service manual (Haynes or otherwise), a flare nut wrench (forget what size) so you don't strip the nuts holding the brake lines in place, a good/heavy duty pair of long-nosed plyers to remove and replace the small metal brackets that hold the brake lines in place (where the flexible line meets the hard line), lots of rags to wipe up all the spilled fluid, small baggies to tape over the ends of the brake lines to prevent dripping when you pull the old ones off the car, and plenty of brake fluid to top off the master cylinder (you'll be surprise how much fluid you lose in this process). Oh yea, and a brake bleeding kit is helpful, too. Hope that helps.
Anyway, it's the pads you want to upgrade more than anything. As far as the AXXIS MM go, back in '00 I had spoken to about 12-13 people that used them. 1 guy had bad things to say, another said they were so & so and 10-11 other people said it was a very good pad and gave them little or no trouble. I will admit the only "problem" if you can call that, is that they don't bite right away when they 're cold but I 've heard the same thing about the Porterfields and others so I think that 's a regular trait in a performance pad. What I do is tap them a little once the car is warmed up and I 'm moving after I leave the house. Under normal braking or on the street, the brakes will feel normal, unless it was early in the morning, cold out, and you had to make a panic/emergency stop blocks away from your house before you had a chance to use them at all. Where I noticed it first, was on a cold morning (~55-60 deg) auto-xing. The car seemed to travel a bit further, very slight difference, but I felt it. I can feel the slightest difference in my car especially when braking hard. I have a pretty good idea how the car should behave. Now that was only on the first pedal depression. After that the brakes were fine throughout the run. In warm/hot days I don't notice any difference on the auto-x course even though I get in the car after it's been sitting there for 2 hrs and line up at the start line. Anyway, I don't doubt for a sec. that there are better pads out there. Afterall these only cost $55 for the front & $35 rear, $90 total. There are others out there that are twice as much, but lets not forget the Axxis MM is a middle of the line pad, or a middle performer. It doesn't compare to the Ultimates or the Porterfield R4 as far as stopping power goes. These are road racing pads. I didn't want anything extreme because auto-x is not as demanding on the brakes since you 're braking from lower speeds, and I didn't want to chew up the rotors with these other road racing pads. So I feel the MM is an excellent pad for me and for my car's purpose which is auto-x. I found them to be an improvement over the stock pads and that's all that counts. If I find out I gotta replace my fronts lets say tomorrow, I would still buy these again because $55 is not a lot and I 'm happy they lasted the whole auto-x season plus another 5k mi. of hard street driving. Now if I drove the car daily and had to change the pads after 5k I 'd probably be upset but with 20 auto-x events in between I 'm happy.. My next pad will probably be the R4 since I want to do 1 or 2 track events, but I doubt the R4's performance will be relative to its price (double that of Axxis, about $200 for all 4). If it is, then I 'll get whiplash for sure
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Now I 'm not selfish, and wanted you to be the most you can be, which is why I directed you to H-T.com back when you first came here, to complete your education, as I did with Thomas and many others before you & him.
The Integra Adv/Opin.#2 (which I started, as well as this one) had over 1,000 posts before the Edmunds black hole (software bug) swallowed it. The #1 topic before that had almost 2,000 posts and I was there almost from the beginning (Feb-March '99)! So you can imagine how many people I 've advised. But you Casey have greatly developed into the most well rounded Integra owner/modder/auto-xer & mentor to others, that has ever come to this thread, so I salute you and if I lived close to you I would present you with the Edmunds/Harry "faithful Integra topic" Award! Just kidding, I would 've at least paid you a visit and meet you in person. It's probably because you 're one of the very few people here that 's about my age and believe me there 's not that many of us! I used to know more people in their 30's owning Integras but a lot of them have sold them in the last 1 or 2 yrs and got sedans or family cars. So we 're a dying breed. Long live Integra owners! :-)
Next time this thread falls in the Edmunds abyss, you can start the next one Casey!
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
They should've gotten the GSR Sedan like me and bemathew! = )
I think that I need an alignment soon because of the combination of rear upper strut, rear sway, and rear camber kit throwing off my toe in the back. I think I may experiment with 1/64" toe on each front wheel (and zero in the back). The thing is, I was going to have the alignment done by my friend in auto-tech at the school but someone broke into the school garage and took (among other things) the alignment equipment.
I think I will research the differences between the Valvoline Syn and Honda fluid but will probably end up going with the OE brake fluid.
Today my modified suspension came in handy on the street when I had to avoid a sudden accident involving one of those big ole' Club Wagons ramming a Camry from behind. A little braking at the limit, engine braking, and a quick swerve were all it took but I did scratch my right front wheel very minorly on the lip of it (approx 2") when I skimmed the curb ever so slightly. Car still drives very straight and stable so I'm pretty sure nothing went wrong. I didn't even hear the wheel scrape at all. That was the drama for today.
Quick OT question:
I have heard good things about the SSR Competitions being very light and durable (as well as expensive). These are the wheels that the Realtime ITRs run. Someone else told me that they are really basically track only wheels because they are made for rotational durability (autox, RR) not impact durability (everyday street driving--potholes, etc.) Is this possible and/or true?
Oh yeah, and does anyone notice that clutch squeak after hard driving like I do?
I got my RE 730's today. Not yet installed.
Probably I am the only one around who is having a Stock GSR here.
Squeaking clutch noise: Had the same thing in my '97 HB! It came and went, but after about 100k mi. it was always there but to a lesser degree. The cable probably needed some greasing.
I now get it once in a while right after I come back from an auto-x run with my GSR! I 've noticed it as I drive back into the pit area. It only does that after the car has been aggressively driven (shifting at redline). Maybe the clutch fluid needs to be replaced. But wait, doesn't that feed off the brake fluid?
'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)
About SSR wheels~ yes, those babies are very nice -- about the same weight and price ($299/wheel - ouch!)as my dream wheel, the Volk TE-37s. A guy at the solo II divisional event this past August had them on his Civic Si, and I was very, very jealous. As I understand it, they only come in gun metal color, which does me no good cause I want my next set of wheels to be white. And Chem, you're correct in that these wheels would not hold up as well in everyday driving because they're really not made to withstand the abuse our roads dish out. A good sized pot hole, one that our stock wheels would sneer at, can cause these types of wheels to crack or otherwise break apart. And at that price, you really don't want to replace a wheel very often, if at all
I doubt your 're 5yrs older than me because that would put you in your early 40's. I just turned 36 in Dec! When you first came here (almost 1.5yrs ago?) I was 34. I think you 're 1-2 yrs older. But if I 'm not mistaken, Bemathew may be the winner in that department..
So now since you have undoubtedly earned your position in the "Acura Integra GSR - Advice & Opinions" board of directors (Hall of Fame sounds better), the next step for me, is to carefully watch your auto-x racing career and inspire you to be as successful as I was in '00 & maybe '01.
Bruce Bellom (Evolution School instructor and Nationally ranked driver) at my award ceremony gave a small speech about everyone that received a regional class championship award. About me he said (I thought he gave a pretty long speed about me compared to others) that I had improved by 200% from the previous year and that I have the makings of a higher level champ (divisional?) and that this year ('01) I was recognized throughout the region as the class leader in other non-SCCA clubs, etc. He also said that I had surpassed my brother! among other things..
So now set these as your goals Casey :-) I know you can do it! I did it in only 2 1/2 auto-x seasons (I started late '99). Ok, your next semi-annual review will be in July 1st :-)
Oh btw, I just finished doing my goals at work and had my review so that explains the above
'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)
I 'm very confident that you 'll improve a lot more and do very well this year, so good luck to you and have a successful '02 season! 2nd place in a competitive class like STS is a great accomplishment especially in your first season.
41 eh? gosh you 're old :-)
For some reason the number 37 stuck in my head. Oh well I 'm glad I 'm not the oldest
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
Harry and Casey, what have you guys heard/experienced with the Falken Azeni? I have heard that they are a pretty nice street tire, cheap, STIFF sidewalls, weigh a little above average, and have low treadwear (to be expected). If I do get into autox like I think I will, I think I will get a set when my Kumhos wear out.
My last wheel alignment was May '01 at the dealer who didn't adjust anything because the caster was way off. I have that printout somewhere and I 'll look for it tomorrow. The toe had gone out a bit more front & rear. The front was about .019" or something close to that (which is slightly over 1/64", like 1/52"), and I was satisfied with that. The rear was less, like .008 which is very close to 1/128" so that wasn't bad either. These are total toe #s. Now I know the suspension has settled more since, so after I replace the control arm which will hopefully fix my caster problem (from the big pot hole I hit in May last year), I 'll get it checked again. I would like to try 1/32" toe out in the front next time around since I don't drive the car that much. I do put on 3-4k mi. driving to the events though. This time around I m' going to put the wheels w/R tires in the trunk though and put them on when I get there and then take them off again. This means I 'll have to get there earlier and do some extra work (god forbid I work out a little..) but I can't drive on the R tires back and forth to these events. I 'm sure I had some irregular tire wear on the Kumhos but it's very hard to tell because after 4-5 events, the tread is almost non-existent. Plus all those extra heat cycles driving back & forth on them doesn't help either. They wear out much faster..
So I gotta go to Home Depot and buy a nice jack now.
The Falken Azenis are really good tires from what I hear and great for auto-x. Can't beat the price. I saw a few guys using them on the last 2 events of the season and they did pretty well with them and good things to say about them.
So I would say, that if you really want to auto-x, go with 1/128-1/64" of toe in the front and 0 in the back, and get the Falken tires. I have been driving on my RE730's for the last 8 weeks (a couple of days/week) and I don't see any additional wear yet with my 1/52-3" toe. I don't think you get any serious tire wear anomalies until you go higher than 1/32". I 'm not saying that 1/32" won't take 2k mi. out of your tire life either, but that's not bad. Stick with 0 or 1/128" in the rear because right after I put the springs on, my toe was too high in the rear. This caused the tail to snap out a little too soon (I was on stock shocks then, but had the H&R springs) and one time when I changed lanes really fast doing about 90mph, I almost lost it when the tail started dancing. I thought it was the new RE730s, but later found out about the consequences of too much toe out in the rear and put 2 & 2 together. I think the rear toe was almost 1/32" before I got the 1st alignment! So stick with the lowest #s in the rear. From my experience, fast transitions at high speeds, and high toe out in the rear, don't mix well.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
right age for a van or SUV?? I am planning for some mods in the near future. Now that my 99 GSR
(22K miles)is in Salvage-Restore title I don't have to worry about my warranty!!!!
I have fixed everything in the last two to three months. Complete Leather interior from a 98
four door GSR, Trunk lid with spoiler from 96 GSR.
Wiper, seat belts, floor mats, stereo everything fixed.
Only thing to be fixed is one part of the dash board. The place where glove box is attached is broken. Buying a used dash and uninstalling the existing one and installing the new dash could be expensive. A used dash (without air bags, vents, cluster) can be bought for less than $150. But I think insllation could be expensive. Any thoughts or ideas?
You were lucky those thieves didn't go under the hood.. but it looks like the interior can be just as expensive. Nevertheless I 'd rather have to restore the interior than get a new motor. I would 've put Sparco racing seats (probably red, <$1K) but I 'm sure you got a good deal on the used leather ones.
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)
How did your car get stolen in the first place? Are you taking extra precautions now? Is insurance the same for a salvage-titled car or lower?
'06 Civic LX coupe
'11 BMW 335i coupe xDrive
'13 Honda Accord sedan (wife's car)