Suspension tuning - dampers, spring rates, etc.

[Xian]

What are the better camber kits these days? Specifically, I'm looking for engineered products, not cheap knock-offs like Blox/Buddy Club/Skunk2/etc. I'm researching rear UCA's and leaning towards King Motorsports, but they are spherical bushings. I drive my car on both the street and track, so rubber bushings are preferred for long-term durability and ride comfort.

What are you running for the front? My R is on stock suspension, but I want to start looking into adjustability. Rather not go with Skunk2. Expo supporters FTW!

I have Skunk2 sitting in a box (for years now.) I agree, I'm not a fan for multiple reasons, the largest being them taking down the Expo/NWP forums.

I'm keeping an eye on Honed development parts. I aim to purchase their rear UCA's now that they are back in stock:
https://honeddevelopments.com/product/h ... amber-arm/

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Those rear arms are pretty slick... I’d definitely give them a shot.

For front arms, PCI has some trick ones that also let you adjust camber. If I were doing a front scratch car right now, that the route that I’d go.

http://www.pci-racing.com/product/control-arms/

[g3teg97]

Those rear arms are pretty slick... I’d definitely give them a shot.

For front arms, PCI has some trick ones that also let you adjust camber. If I were doing a front scratch car right now, that the route that I’d go.

http://www.pci-racing.com/product/control-arms/

I've been looking at Honed parts for a little bit. They explain stuff on their instagram page and it's sort of over my head lol.

Would it be beneficial for a relatively stock Integra to have the PCI front UCA and the Honded rear camber kit? I'm looking to get some sort of suspension, but not sure what. I want some adjustability in height and rebound/compresson, but not sure if stuff is way too much money for what I'm doing (just HPDEs).
Looking at KW V3s for 1800 on Tire Rack, but not sure if that's overkill.
Tein has Flex Z for $821 at Evasive. Saving 1000 going with Tein. It's it decent? Will I want to upgrade later down the road? I'm currently on stock suspension. I'd like to have adjustability for a slightly firmer ride, i.e. ability to play with settings at HPDEs.

[Xian]

Obviously just my $0.02 but I wouldn’t sweat adjustable arms if you haven’t settled on a damper package yet. Depending on ride height, you may not even need the extra adjustments.

If you can stomach not having the ability to fiddle with knobs, I’d get in touch with Whitener and order his (Bilstein based) setup. Valving is essentially an improved version of what Moton uses in their remote doubles. Price is in the middle of the 2 options you referenced. Performance is better than both. He can also help you with suggestions on rates.

[DC2Iggy]

Not sure if this is at all relevant but thought maybe someone might know something that could clear things up. I’ve heard of people adding washers to the front lower control arms for caster or in the rear for camber but what would be the point of adding washers to the front upper control arms.

Previous owner added washers to the upper control arms and I have no idea why. Only thing I can think of is for more range of motion.

Thoughts??

[g3teg97]

Obviously just my $0.02 but I wouldn’t sweat adjustable arms if you haven’t settled on a damper package yet. Depending on ride height, you may not even need the extra adjustments.

If you can stomach not having the ability to fiddle with knobs, I’d get in touch with Whitener and order his (Bilstein based) setup. Valving is essentially an improved version of what Moton uses in their remote doubles. Price is in the middle of the 2 options you referenced. Performance is better than both. He can also help you with suggestions on rates.

Yeah, I'm just looking for some feedback. I'm sort of lost with suspension. Do I need adjustability? Will I even be messing with that at the track? I'm not positive on what the car needs, only done 7 track days, but I'd say maybe more rotation. About how long does it take to get the parts from Whitener? The website is just a picture, nothing really there about info.

[DC2Iggy]

Obviously just my $0.02 but I wouldn’t sweat adjustable arms if you haven’t settled on a damper package yet. Depending on ride height, you may not even need the extra adjustments.

If you can stomach not having the ability to fiddle with knobs, I’d get in touch with Whitener and order his (Bilstein based) setup. Valving is essentially an improved version of what Moton uses in their remote doubles. Price is in the middle of the 2 options you referenced. Performance is better than both. He can also help you with suggestions on rates.

Yeah, I'm just looking for some feedback. I'm sort of lost with suspension. Do I need adjustability? Will I even be messing with that at the track? I'm not positive on what the car needs, only done 7 track days, but I'd say maybe more rotation. About how long does it take to get the parts from Whitener? The website is just a picture, nothing really there about info.

Adjustability is nice but not needed, especially if you are just sticking to HPDE and Autocross. A mild drop in suspension will give you a good amount of camber to increase grip in turns. If you want more than -2 degrees you'll probably want to upgrade to adjustable camber arms. Also keep in mind, the more moving parts the higher potential for issues.

[aw614]

I found I prefer concentrating on my driving, reviewing previous videos vs fiddling with knobs with just the bilstein shocks on my integra. Most of my improvements on my driving I need to make are on me vs the shocks/springs

Also considering buying the Whitener Shocks since I feel I am ready to make the move to them and I rather not deal with thinking too much with adjustability knobs. The quick release for quick spring swaps is also appealing.

Does his kit come with springs too? Going to weigh my options in a few months and probably message him to see since I am unsure of the rates I want to do since the car is going to hopefully see some dates at the FIRM in addition to autox and street use

[Xian]

Not sure if this is at all relevant but thought maybe someone might know something that could clear things up. I’ve heard of people adding washers to the front lower control arms for caster or in the rear for camber but what would be the point of adding washers to the front upper control arms.

Previous owner added washers to the upper control arms and I have no idea why. Only thing I can think of is for more range of motion.

Thoughts??

I’ve never seen or heard of putting washers under the front, UCA’s. Seems like it wouldn’t impact caster (swapping arms left to right does that) but it would steepen the camber curve and potentially add a little static camber. Honestly, it’s not an awful idea, I just haven’t seen it done/haven’t tried it and don’t know how much impact we’re actually talking about.

Adding washers to the rear is much more straightforward, yep.

[Xian]

Obviously just my $0.02 but I wouldn’t sweat adjustable arms if you haven’t settled on a damper package yet. Depending on ride height, you may not even need the extra adjustments.

If you can stomach not having the ability to fiddle with knobs, I’d get in touch with Whitener and order his (Bilstein based) setup. Valving is essentially an improved version of what Moton uses in their remote doubles. Price is in the middle of the 2 options you referenced. Performance is better than both. He can also help you with suggestions on rates.

Yeah, I'm just looking for some feedback. I'm sort of lost with suspension. Do I need adjustability? Will I even be messing with that at the track? I'm not positive on what the car needs, only done 7 track days, but I'd say maybe more rotation. About how long does it take to get the parts from Whitener? The website is just a picture, nothing really there about info.

1- nah, you don’t really need adjustability but it’s nice to have if you understand what the knobs do. If I had to choose from the shock packages you listed vs. the one from Whitener... I’d forego the adjustment in lieu of shocks that I know have the right valving; adjustments aren’t much use if the base valving/curve is crap.

2 - if the shocks have the right valving and curve, you won’t need to fiddle with them much. Losing the adjustment becomes a non-issue and lets you focus on your driving.

3 - more rotation is a bigger rear bar away... a bigger solid bar or the 32mm ASR bar are the easy button here.

4 - not sure what his turnaround time is. He’s a one-man operation so it won’t be fast but it’ll be the right package for your car. If you haven’t already, take listen to his podcast interview on SlipAngle or Autocross Talk. Jabaay bought a set of his shocks for his wheel to wheel car and LOVES them. Plenty of folks are running them for autox and are equally impressed.

[Xian]

I found I prefer concentrating on my driving, reviewing previous videos vs fiddling with knobs with just the bilstein shocks on my integra. Most of my improvements on my driving I need to make are on me vs the shocks/springs

Also considering buying the Whitener Shocks since I feel I am ready to make the move to them and I rather not deal with thinking too much with adjustability knobs. The quick release for quick spring swaps is also appealing.

Does his kit come with springs too? Going to weigh my options in a few months and probably message him to see since I am unsure of the rates I want to do since the car is going to hopefully see some dates at the FIRM in addition to autox and street use

IIRC, they come with springs. I believe he’ll custom tailor rates if you want. Believe he tends to suggest closer to square rates than I typically go to... he’s definitely got more experience (and trophies) than I do but I think it’s mostly personal preference.