Ground Control Coilover Sleeves Compatability

[EKFour]

Hey CC. I was thinking about purchasing Ground Control Coilover sleeves for my ’98 Civic Hatchback, to fit over my stock shocks. Due to budget constraints, I was planning on getting these to fit the stock shocks and then upgrading to performance shocks in the future. I know that the sleeves made for the stock shocks will not fit over Koni Yellow shocks, but will they fit over another performance shock such as Tokico Illuminas? If it will fit, should I consider getting custom spring rates in order to prepare for the future? I'm looking to lower the car less than 2 inches. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Otto85]

I'd personally suggest getting yourself a set of lowering springs the ride would be allot nicer then if you went coil overs


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[EKFour]

I have a set of eibach pro kit springs right now. They perform okay, but I was just hoping to go a little bit lower. I figured the GC sleeves would be an upgrade in aesthetics and performance.

 

[Otto85]

I don't think so performance wise they make your ride bumpy as hell but that's just my opinion on them tho


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[EKFour]

What do you mean bumpy? As in rough or bouncy?

 

[Otto85]

Coil overs are a lot stiffer so they don't take the road environment no where near as smooth so it would be a bump ride because all of the spring tension is put into a 6 inch spring. If you use lowering springs for a 1.75 drop it would be a lot smoother because the spring tension is spread through a taller spring but that all depends on the spring rating if their to stiff rough ride if their to soft you'll end up bottoming out the struts


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[Jay Jay]

Coil overs are a lot stiffer so they don't take the road environment no where near as smooth so it would be a bump ride because all of the spring tension is put into a 6 inch spring. If you use lowering springs for a 1.75 drop it would be a lot smoother because the spring tension is spread through a taller spring but that all depends on the spring rating if their to stiff rough ride if their to soft you'll end up bottoming out the struts


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Agreed. You'll almost always have a better quality of ride with lowering springs vs coilovers. A lot of the time the lowering springs have progressive rates so they get stiffer the more they compress. If you are going the coilover route I would avoid the coilover sleeves and go with a full coilover. I personally went from Pro Kit springs to Koni / GC to full coilovers. The Koni / GC setup would clank around alot when going over some bumps. The shock would fully extend causing the GCs to unseat and then bang back in place once they compress again. I have The Tein Street Advance coilovers on my 99 Civic and they ride much better than the Skunk2 coilovers I have on my 97 Civic.

As for the Ground Controls, the Koni version includes an adapter ring that sits on the ringclip on the Konis. If you are only looking to lower less than 2 inches and are on a budget it might be better to go with a spring option like Eibach Sportline or H&R Sport.