Ruined cars

[TomNorris]

Go on, be honest, who's modified their car and made it worse?
What were the mods and how did you rectify it?

 

[TomNorris]

I'll go first though I have to say - I didn't modify the car, it came from Japan this way.

18 inch alloys. They look good. And they were expensive (SSR wheels) so I don't have the heart to change them but they rub all the time. No matter what you do they rub. Haven't rolled the arches yet but I think that's the only solution.

Coilovers. Blitz zzr's. Not sure if anybody else has these...... They're firm. Great when pushing in but at slow speed they really aren't great. The issue I have with them though is the way they were set up. Far far too low, no camber arms on the back which only made the rubbing worse and handled like a bag of spanners. Quick visit to grinspeed sorted this aside from the rubbing.

Not in this section strictly speaking but the air intake. Not sure the brand, looks ridiculous and makes the throttle very snappy. I've driven stock cars and they're loads better. It does sound a bit better but the jerkyness isn't worth the trade off. Not sorted yet but will be getting a standard airbox soon.

There. No judgement. Let's hear what else people have done.....

 

[Crazylegs]

Are you ready....? Ha ha ha ha!!

Well, having now owned two of these cars in quick succession, once they're tinkered with it really does ruin them imo, completely my opinion of course but handling wise once anything has been done to the chassis it makes them worse.

The problem you have is they look a beautiful car when lowered but when standard they don't. I know that's brutal but it's true, then once you lower them it makes them handle worse so you can't win. They're already skittish enough from factory.

I've owned several Hondas now and the chassis on the DC5 is up there with the worst I've ever had in a car. Both CRX's I had were excellent, the VTEC CRX in particular was very good but I ended up changing all the bushes for polybushes and it ruined that car, wish I'd replaced them with Honda OEM. The VTEC CRX, 306 GTI6 and an E30 325i are without a doubt the best handling cars I've had with the Peugeot probably just pipping it.

I do believe they should be left as they are or better still, replace or refresh all the suspension components for OEM Honda. I know others will disagree.

 

[TomNorris]

I actually totally agree with you.
Unless it's a serious track car in which case, yes, mods might be worthwhile but for normal road cars I do think they're best left alone.

End of the day honda spent millions on R&D and set up, it's hard to see how coil overs, no matter how expensive, which the car wasn't designed and built around could be a better compromise.

 

[Crazylegs]

Exactly, Honda have put a lot into the setups of these cars but it's in our nature to tinker and mess about with them. That's one of the reasons why I reverted to Mugen Showa dampers as they're as near to OEM as you can possibly get. I do think as a dedicated track car then coilovers might be better. My old man always used to tell me leave cars alone, can't help but agree with him now. Lol

 

[dave7368]

Yep mine's fornicateed now.. ha...



:xlol:

 

[TomNorris]

Bloody hell dave, It looks incredible!

How is it to drive now and what are the mods?

Also..... What wax do you use?

 

[lewis87]

I suppose it comes as no surprise that Honda got it right first time but do you think the DC5 is that bad a chassis Crazylegs??

My car is standard suspension wise and so was my DC2 and I loved the handling of both, a bit skittish on a rough Road due to the LSD'S but I always just found this more fun and involving when pressing on.

 

[Ricky11]

I'll go first though I have to say - I didn't modify the car, it came from Japan this way.

18 inch alloys. They look good. And they were expensive (SSR wheels) so I don't have the heart to change them but they rub all the time. No matter what you do they rub. Haven't rolled the arches yet but I think that's the only solution.

Coilovers. Blitz zzr's. Not sure if anybody else has these...... They're firm. Great when pushing in but at slow speed they really aren't great. The issue I have with them though is the way they were set up. Far far too low, no camber arms on the back which only made the rubbing worse and handled like a bag of spanners. Quick visit to grinspeed sorted this aside from the rubbing.

Not in this section strictly speaking but the air intake. Not sure the brand, looks ridiculous and makes the throttle very snappy. I've driven stock cars and they're loads better. It does sound a bit better but the jerkyness isn't worth the trade off. Not sorted yet but will be getting a standard airbox soon.

There. No judgement. Let's hear what else people have done.....

My car came over from japan with Blitz ZZR coilovers as well! I have not known anyone who runs them as the majority use all the common brands like yellow speed, Tein ect....
I think there good, would really benefit from a refurb as god knows when there were last serviced, they retail for an insane amount on the internet I think i saw $1300 from a US website.

 

[daniel-cmyk]

To be honest, I have never modified a car to make it worse. I'm a little too anal with what I do BUT....

a big BUT... I changed gearbox oil on my first car along with modified gear-linkages (Volkswagen Polo GTI 6N2) which was known to have chocolate gearboxes. Changed the oil myself and 4 days down the line, the gearbox literally cracked in half whilst driving.

Changed the linkages as I knew gears were not selecting properly. Little did I know the gearbox mount was ruined and fitting the linkages made it even worse which then literally killed the box.

Not quite a 'modification' but I tried to improve the car but totally ruined it haha.

12 years later, I'm so anal with modifications etc on cars, my past experience has made me this way! For the better of course.

 

[carl hammond]

I have modded too many cars but an very anal with doing so, I only tend to buy good proven and genuine items and mainly do one thing at a time so I can feel any benefit or lack of to each change in order to ascertain what's the next best thing to make the car how I personally want it to drive.

The DC2 and DC5 (as said above) are amazing chassis but the main missing factor here is that although Honda spent millions designing and developing things they were done so for the Japanese market and roads (well the 5 anyway). The 2 as there was a UK variant means that it was different and more compliant for the UK roads.

The DC2 out the box imo is far superior by means of power to weight and handling, but with the right changes the DC5 can be better (far better in places) due to the engine and gearing, but both are superb cars with superb capabilities.

I have gone too far with a couple of cars one being my Lancia Delta. When the Headgasket went I decided to go full hog on it and had everything custom made by Barry Waterhouse of Evo Engineering (RIP), The car was built into a Hill Climb race car but 6 months later my daughter was born and I lost heart in racing so it had to go. I sold it and it was used as a race car and regularly at Goodwood events for about 8 years. Not seen it in a very long time so I assume its dead or locked away but the regret there was 1 - selling it and 2 making the decision to change it as I did as it became undrivable on the roads so I didn't actually get to really enjoy all the work I put in :-(

So far I have no regrets with the work carried out on the DC5 as it's a great car, handles and grips well, the chassis is solid and although I have spent loads on parts, then selling and replacing them to try new setups I am enjoying the journey as it's nice finding the changes made and how the impact the car and it's characteristic's.

 

[daniel-cmyk]

I have modded too many cars but an very anal with doing so, I only tend to buy good proven and genuine items and mainly do one thing at a time so I can feel any benefit or lack of to each change in order to ascertain what's the next best thing to make the car how I personally want it to drive.

The DC2 and DC5 (as said above) are amazing chassis but the main missing factor here is that although Honda spent millions designing and developing things they were done so for the Japanese market and roads (well the 5 anyway). The 2 as there was a UK variant means that it was different and more compliant for the UK roads.

The DC2 out the box imo is far superior by means of power to weight and handling, but with the right changes the DC5 can be better (far better in places) due to the engine and gearing, but both are superb cars with superb capabilities.

I have gone too far with a couple of cars one being my Lancia Delta. When the Headgasket went I decided to go full hog on it and had everything custom made by Barry Waterhouse of Evo Engineering (RIP), The car was built into a Hill Climb race car but 6 months later my daughter was born and I lost heart in racing so it had to go. I sold it and it was used as a race car and regularly at Goodwood events for about 8 years. Not seen it in a very long time so I assume its dead or locked away but the regret there was 1 - selling it and 2 making the decision to change it as I did as it became undrivable on the roads so I didn't actually get to really enjoy all the work I put in :-(

So far I have no regrets with the work carried out on the DC5 as it's a great car, handles and grips well, the chassis is solid and although I have spent loads on parts, then selling and replacing them to try new setups I am enjoying the journey as it's nice finding the changes made and how the impact the car and it's characteristic's.

Ditto!

My first car was where I made mistakes but it's all a learning curve.

Second car - only mistake on that was that the arches became rusty as I did look after them well! Tbh, I bought it with rusty arches, I just didn't fix them quick enough. Here is the beauty below.

After the 3rd Gen civic, I became very anal with my cars and coming from my previous car (Audi S1 Quattro) a newer german car, going to a DC5, an older japanese car, I will do anything to make sure it's exactly how it should be! Obviously had many cars in between.

 

[Crazylegs]

I'm very close to putting mine up for sale soon once we get our own house but up until very recently, I've had thoughts about keeping it and having it totally refreshed to factory spec but with an uprated Clockwise Motion engine. I've worked it out as costing around 23k which I just don't want to spend on an old car but it would be a very special motor and I think I'd enjoy driving it more.

 

[carl hammond]

I'm very close to putting mine up for sale soon once we get our own house but up until very recently, I've had thoughts about keeping it and having it totally refreshed to factory spec but with an uprated Clockwise Motion engine. I've worked it out as costing around 23k which I just don't want to spend on an old car but it would be a very special motor and I think I'd enjoy driving it more.

Really does all depend on your wants and needs from it mate. I always buy my cars in as OEM form as I can in order to do the changes myself so I know they are done properly and to a high standard and I also wont even consider cars from certain areas lol (due to previous bad experiences). There are far too many DC5's I would never even view if I was in the market due to their changes, a good fully detailed build thread really helps people see how well a cars been maintained and cared for and shows the quality of work completed and by whom etc.

I really enjoy making changes to cars but they can bring a real love/hate relationship. For example I was on track last week and the car was better than ever, first proper shakedown with the Bilstein B16's and the car performed far better than I expected, however driving home it happened again, one of the camber bolts (passenger bottom has slipped) again and thrown my geo off slightly.

I have limited ways to stop this happening:

1) Run one set of bolts (meaning I lose camber), not a good idea as I need more anyway
2) Drive less agressive on track and stop using the curbs, no chance
3) Custom Nitron or Grinspeed topmounts. The Nitron one a mate who races tried and in the end after a few races it bent the top collar of the B16 meaning it was junk, the grinspoeed ones look amazing but I don't want to risk breaking a shock
4) Sell the B16's and buy another setup. I have today bought a new setup and with no limit on spends I have actually opted post some chats with Area Motorsport to try out their re-built area motorsport Yellowspeed's, they are made basically for the track and I decided that the knowledge and professionalism Area have shown with replies and information means they are well worth the shot. I will be buying AST, Aragosta, Nitron, YCW or Quantum if I don't get on with them but this is unlikely now my minds at rest that these are not normal YS's but completely overhauled for the track and circuit whilst still being road compliant. The good thing with these is they have revised them to give more camber and caster which is key.

I will be fitting these early Oct when I get my car back and will do full reviews on them vs my 2 other previously used setups on the DC5.

All trial and error Marc which is sometimes annoying and painful but once you get it right you reap the rewards

 

[Crazylegs]

I suppose it comes as no surprise that Honda got it right first time but do you think the DC5 is that bad a chassis Crazylegs??

My car is standard suspension wise and so was my DC2 and I loved the handling of both, a bit skittish on a rough Road due to the LSD'S but I always just found this more fun and involving when pressing on.

Yes mate, genuinely don't rate it. It's too hard for starters. It doesn't feel stable under braking or at high speed. It moves around everywhere all of the time, they don't feel great in wet conditions but that's probably more down to tyres than the chassis. The suspension constantly creaks and makes noises. Components such as CV joints, Track rod ends etc I find are noticeably weaker on the DC5 than in other cars I've owned. They seem to break easier and I'm not sure why.

 

[kazmo]

I have a mild geo set up and it's improved the handling no end. Running oem dampers and spoon springs. Breathing mods and a K100 @dave your car looks amazing.. @crazylegs if they are that bad why buy another dc5? I'm on my 3rd now and really never experienced any of your issues...

 

[ste01]

Yes mate, genuinely don't rate it. It's too hard for starters. It doesn't feel stable under braking or at high speed. It moves around everywhere all of the time, they don't feel great in wet conditions but that's probably more down to tyres than the chassis. The suspension constantly creaks and makes noises. Components such as CV joints, Track rod ends etc I find are noticeably weaker on the DC5 than in other cars I've owned. They seem to break easier and I'm not sure why.

It's the age of the car. You're comparing cars you had years ago, you have one of those other cars now it will be the same or worse.

Jap cars always make noises anyway 😂 not exactly famous for quiet rides unless it's a lexus are they? Haha

 

[Crazylegs]

I have a mild geo set up and it's improved the handling no end. Running oem dampers and spoon springs. Breathing mods and a K100 @dave your car looks amazing.. @crazylegs if they are that bad why buy another dc5? I'm on my 3rd now and really never experienced any of your issues...

It did cross my mind at the time but I wanted to try another and see if it felt better and it didn't. As simple as that really. Think they're just not suited to me and vice versa. I'm an old man now lol, need something a bit more comfortable.

 

[TomNorris]

My car came over from japan with Blitz ZZR coilovers as well! I have not known anyone who runs them as the majority use all the common brands like yellow speed, Tein ect....
I think there good, would really benefit from a refurb as god knows when there were last serviced, they retail for an insane amount on the internet I think i saw $1300 from a US website.

I do really rate them. I'm surprised more people don't run them because when the car is set up right the handling is beautiful.
I took the car to Wales recently and on the roads there I really couldn't fault them. The issue I have with them is all the country roads around where I live are really bumpy and poorly surfaced and that's where I feel a standard set up might be a bit more compliant.

I think what I've learnt is not to buy a car with any modifications so you can get it exactly how you want it, and when you do modify do one at a time. The only actual complaint I have with the car is the rubbing and that should be an easy enough fix.

Marc, if you do end up selling could I buy your exhaust? I can't get over how much better yours sounded when I was following you.

I've stuck a picture on.... Doesn't take a genius to work out why I have rubbing issues eh?

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[BAD3GG]

Marc, if you do end up selling could I buy your exhaust? I can't get over how much better yours sounded when I was following you.

Yours sounded fairly savage when i was following you in Wales to be fair! Wouldn't say it sounded bad necessarily though!

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