Suspension stiffening

[emptygroves]

Hiya all,
My poor ol' tourer has a hard life. As a result the rear suspension tends to spend a lot of its life, er, lowered.
I tow, I carry, I lift share and shunt. Bikes, people, luggage, caravans, trailers, the lot, and the tyres thus pay the price by losing their shoulders really quickly (short suspension trailing arms?).

My question is to do with stiffening said rear suspension, there are a few established methods for doing so,

1. rubber bungs,
2. new springs,
3. inflatable bladders etc.

I've done the first, suffered the second and have not tried the third. I'd like to try a method such as the inflatable/adjustable stiffening, but am open to suggestion; can anybody recommend a tried and tested method? I've seen one or two threads here, but can't seem to find anything that substantial...

 

[Fierycorn]

the best thing to do is install an aiir-ride system... it will allow u to raise or lower the rear at ur will..and can maintain its high under heavy loads.. buses use this so do most trucks and van with a level loading......anyway arirides.co.uk should be ur first port of call... but this isn't a cheap mod... buying coillovers would seem like small change lol

 

[emptygroves]

Well everyone around here are lowering their car with standard Honda lowering kits or aftermarket springs.
You are the first one who wants to make a passenger car into a commercial vehicle :lol: Realistically if you are pushing you Accord that much it will be better and cheaper to get a car suited that sort of usage.

Heh heh! What and spoil my own fun?
I had the chance to run around some french roads in good weather, someone else's car (alfa romeo MTO), with someone else's fuel and on someone else's time recently, and the only thing I missed was the Accord!

I have no complaints about 'me mota', just the odd dash bulb (VSA switch, headlamp adjustment etc next to my right knee - should anyone have experience of changing these...?), so reverting to something that can hold 4 bikes at the back without sinking to its knees would definitely be a backward step. To be honest the way this car handles what I throw at it, it never occurred to me that I was 'pushing' it, merely 'using' it. This is the first car that doesn't throw its bonnet in the air, when I ask it to fulfil a duty outside of the 'run to the mill'.

Cheers anyway!

 

[emptygroves]

the best thing to do is install an aiir-ride system... it will allow u to raise or lower the rear at ur will..and can maintain its high under heavy loads.. buses use this so do most trucks and van with a level loading......anyway arirides.co.uk should be ur first port of call... but this isn't a cheap mod... buying coillovers would seem like small change lol

Thanks for this, I'll look into it and report back...
From your comments, I imagine that you might be right in thinking that this maybe a step too far (read, expensive!).

 

[93 accord]

Just get a company to make you up a spring, eibach or some other reputable company.

What you want to do is keep the same spring rate, but add 1.5"-2" extra free length, youd be looking for about £30 a spring roughly

or if your dampers are in good nick, then you could add 10% spring rate at the back keep the same length.


failing that just drop the front :lol: