Some Suspension Questions

[StuckeyOG]

Okay so basically long story short: Bought an accord I thought to be clean title for 1500, turned out to be salvaged. Frame was pulled so hood appeared closed but was only half closed, hood flew into windshield replaced that. Was dailying it for a few months and on April 20th my car was full and I hit a dip downhill going about 50 or 60 and when I went to downshift my outer tie rod and steering rack broke out pulled me into a Toyota Sequoya bent my axle, snapped control arm as well when I hit, also destroyed the fender.

It has since been to the bodyshop and I'm paying them about $600 for some used Honda suspension to be thrown on the corner that blew out and for them to put a plate over the chewed up inner fender, pull the frame straight enough for passenger door to close and for a new fender to be painted.

I'm sitting here debating whether or not to sell this car and use the 5k I have saved for a new car on something else. I'd prefer not to and keep saving if I can daily this car safely but right now I feel as if it's trying to kill me lol.|

I want to perform a full suspension upgrade for my daily, could someone point me in the direction of some quality parts through PM? I'm not sure exactly what I should replace as I'm not fully familiar with the suspension components of our cars. When I check eBay all I see are these energy suspension bushing kits and then some "OE brand" corner suspension type kits that are about 80 bucks a corner? I've heard of people on S14's upgrading their stock tie rods to Teins because they're much thicker and safer, I was wondering if theres anything similar I could do to upgrade our suspension parts?

Thanks for your time tuners, any help you can give me is appreciated

[deevergote]

Why through PM? Don't you want future members to benefit from the information you get?

Try the sticky threads in the Suspension section of this site. There's a long list of parts, showing their specs. If you don't know what the specs mean, you'd be wise to learn before making a purchase.

My suggestion is a set of Koni Yellows and springs from either H&R or Neuspeed (Sport if you don't want to go too low, Race if you want to be quite low...) A camber kit from SPC or Ingalls, and new bushings from Energy Suspension.

Remember, most aftermarket shocks made for our cars are NOT designed to be used with springs lower than 1.5", or with a spring rate more than 15% over stock. Most springs on the market exceed these limits. Your options are pretty much Koni Yellows (or Reds, but the Reds are annoying to adjust), or Tokico Illuminas (which most will agree are inferior to the Konis, and are just about as expensive.)

Also, there are a LOT of crappy full-bodied coilovers on the market. Don't assume that something is good just because it looks fancy. Honestly, I'd avoid pretty much all of them, personally.

[dahubby]

You may want to look at changing the upper A-Arm bushings, upper and lower ball joints and sway bar bushings. This will definately get you atarted int he right direction. I justhad to do a complete front end resto on mine and it only took about 3 hours.

[accordztech]

Do follow these guys. Wish I listened years ago only to do what they said later.

Always look for good prices. Koni yellow is expensive. But koni on tire rack is on sale

[Joey GT-R]

Based on your recent troubles the accident would have been the straw that broke the camel's back in my opinion. I would cut my losses and look for a clean CB7 to start from scratch. You've only invested $1500, I'm not sure if you had insurance to pay out anything but let's say they didn't for now. You could probably scrap it for $300 still. With $5,000 you can find some very clean cars down south. And still keep money in the bank for upgrades or just other personal affairs. I'm the firm believer that after so many accidents or a certain amount of damage, so cars just are never "right" again.