1st Setup!
Brand & model: Eibach Sportlines + KYB GR-2
Price paid and from where: $204 + $238 (Respectively) From TireRack (new)
Pros: Relatively inexpensive, good drop, slight increase in handling over stock, kept decent ride quality
Cons: Voided warranty pairing them together, uncertainty of how long they would last,
Final verdict: Got this setup when my budget got smaller, but still wanted to get on new suspension. I read reviews of people both blowing these in 6 months or going a few years strong. I decided to buy them new and see what happens. It was to be a temporary setup just to experience something new. I had the itch to go lower, lol. I had this setup for about 10 months and they haven’t blown. I avoid all potholes but still pushed this setup hard in the canyons. I still have them but switched them out for my next setup. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this setup because you don’t know how long they will last and you void the warranty so you’re on your own. I would say get this setup new or not at all.
Current Setup!
Brand & model: Koni Yellow/ Ground Control
Price paid and from where: $1199.43 from Ground Control directly. Rates: 600lbs/550lbs: 10.74kg/9.845kg (F/R)
Pros: Lifetime Warranty for both Konis and GC, Great increase in handling, reduced understeer and body roll, adjustability of damping and ride height, truly great ride quality for the drop and stiffness, bouncy when I go over a bump or road imperfection (could be bad to some) I personally like it, lol. Fronts are turned to max damping (easy to do too, love this).
Cons: Expensive, not as stiff as I thought they would be. I think I was expecting coilover stiff, like lots of bounciness, lol. I put it as a con because I could take a stiffer ride, but I would need to revalve to do that.
Final verdict: I’ve had this suspension in for a few weeks now and wow I’m impressed. My handling has greatly improved and the ride quality is very good for the drop and stiffness. I enjoy having it on the stiffer side; I enjoy the bounciness going over road imperfections. I feel more capable and confident driving now. I went about as stiff as I could go, although I think I read somewhere you could go 650lbs max, but at the time but I didn’t want to push it, lol. Two big factors for me getting this suspension was the lifetime warranty for both the shock and spring and the reputation of all companies involved, ie, Koni, Ground Control, and Eibach. I’m very impressed with this setup, I’m very glad I did it. It’s exceeded a lot of my expectations and I’m enjoying my driving experience that much more.
Brand & model: Eibach 23mm Rear Sway Bar
Price paid and from where: ~$180 from…sorry, I forgot from where
Pros: Greatly reduce understeer, car feels planted, car feels safer at higher speeds, around turns and in a straight line.
Cons: I installed this sway bar with some cheap endlinks just in a hurry to get it done. I have learned from this mistake. Sway bar started making a noise after a few months, remembered cheap endlinks and swapped them out for moog, I then got the full effect/function of the sway bar. This is a con on my part. No cons other than my own mistake, I felt it was appropriate to put it here.
Final Verdict: This is a great mod for our cars to reduce that understeer. It’s also relatively inexpensive and really changes how your car drives. Great mod, worth every cent. It’s also worth looking into Progress’ 24mm rear sway bar.
Brand & Model: Moog Sway Bar Endlinks
Price Paid and from where: ~$100 for all 4 but purchased F/R at different times. I don’t remember where I bought them from, online somewhere, lol.
Pros: Effective in stabilizing the bar, I have almost 200k miles on my accord so I felt it would be a good idea to replace them all. I also added polyurethane bushings to the front while I was at it and paid $12.27 online from amazon, so far no noise, and no complaints. (sorry didn’t want to create a new sections for just the bushings, lol).
Cons: None really
Final Verdict: Bought these for the rear first to replace the cheapo ones (lesson learned) and then I figured it would be a good idea to replace the fronts so I did that too. I’ve read a lot of positive things about them and I have no problems with them. They function to hold the bar, and they do their job well.
Pic of car with suspension in and springs settled:
