issues... coilovers... :(

[viperbite]

i posted this on 240atlanta... no one is awake... my car is on jackstands and i dont know what to do right now... soo i hope someone here could help?
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okay i dont know what to think about my coilovers right now...

ill try to explain what happened

i lifted my car up in the air and decided okay im gonna check everything out and search for my oil leak. well i looked... and was like okay i cant find it blah blah i called tyler and dave and asked them what they thought... both told me the same thing... probably cuz they were in the same room... anyways.

after i stopped working on the oil leak... i was like okay im gonna raise my car up so that my rear camber is a little better and my front doesnt scrape on even the mildest speed bump...
so i take all 4 wheels off
adjust coilovers with meausreing tape.
tighten everything back up check everything...
tripple checked everything... no joke i checked it all multiple times.

so after i did that i went for a ride.
car handled okay... little soft cuz i removed my preload off the front springs. but it handled great.

well i came back in and i was gonna raise the front up a little more cuz it was sitting kinda weird leaning forward.

well i lift it up and take the fronts off.

i did pass side first. then drivers side.
when i got to the drivers side i was like huh theres play in the spring... wtf m8

so i went back to the pass side and was like okay this one has play too... so i must have forgotton to put preload on the front.
the lock nuts were tight so i asumed this is what i did wrong

i then went to the drivers side and looked at it again. and my jaw dropped...
the spring had 3 inches of play.

so i immediatly asume the teeth on the coilvoers had stripped themselves smooth and the spring pushed them down... seemed logical to me...

*i had previously overtorqued the lock nuts... and recently fixed that over torquing. i was also running a good bit of preload. thought that all that added up could have made the teeth go bad. then when i ran the spring somewhat loose the spring poped the lock nut and broke it*
HOWEVER
this was not the case.

after taking the front coilovers off and inspecting them. the lock nuts are fine. not great. but fine. they didnt strip out. and thats not hte problem.

I DONT KNOW WHY THE COILOVER HAD THAT MUCH PLAY!

so i took the coilovers apart. and sat them next to eachother. with just the core shock part of the coil over....
they are the SAME.
omfg please someone shed some light on this i have no freaking clue.

i need my car by wednesday at the latest. preferably tomorrow i had plans..... and at the worst i can track some stock springs and struts down and use those. but i dont have my stocks anymore. i sold the rears cuz the struts werent blown. and the fronts i tried cutting the springs then trashed.

i relaly dont know what the problem is / was... it was definatly NOT RIGHT ...
ehhh
i relaly hope the strut isnt broken...

i think the strut could have been pulled outward too far for some reason... i dont know how this could have happened though.
im so confused...

SOMEONE PLEEEEASE shed some light on this

[yudalicious]

i was like okay im gonna raise my car up ......... i removed my preload off the front springs. but it handled great.
......theres play in the spring... wtf m8
SOMEONE PLEEEEASE shed some light on this

what kind of coilovers, do they have separate spring preload and height adjustments?
to clarify: you removed preload off the front springs (via spring perch), meaning you lowered the car, which caused the springs to be loose on the perch (up/down play). That seems to make perfect sense to me, unless I'm not understanding something right.

If you have a separate height adjustment mechanism, you should set preload so that the spring is not flopping around up/down, nor should it be too compressed or preloaded too much, this should be a good starting point. When you get everything feeling right, take it for an alignment.

[viperbite]

what kind of coilovers, do they have separate spring preload and height adjustments?
to clarify: you removed preload off the front springs (via spring perch), meaning you lowered the car, which caused the springs to be loose on the perch (up/down play). That seems to make perfect sense to me, unless I'm not understanding something right.

If you have a separate height adjustment mechanism, you should set preload so that the spring is not flopping around up/down, nor should it be too compressed or preloaded too much, this should be a good starting point. When you get everything feeling right, take it for an alignment.

they are megan racing coilovers.
full coilovers not fake sleve ones.

i had about an inch and a half of preload on the springs before i decided to mess with them.
ive been driving these for a long time.

then i took the front preload OFF. so its neutral. so that when lifted in the air the spring is flush with the top perch and the lower part. i just reduced how much preload i had.

i think the strut portion of the coilover extended too far outward. im not sure though

[yudalicious]

they are megan racing coilovers.
full coilovers not fake sleve ones.

i had about an inch and a half of preload on the springs before i decided to mess with them.
ive been driving these for a long time.

then i took the front preload OFF. so its neutral. so that when lifted in the air the spring is flush with the top perch and the lower part. i just reduced how much preload i had.

i think the strut portion of the coilover extended too far outward. im not sure though

So, your problem is, that when you set the preload at neutral, then you drive for a bit, you find that the spring perch and lock perch have somehow loosened and moved down, thus giving more up/down free play in the spring than previously? Try cleaning/brushing the threads w/ a wire brush or tooth brush, then measure the length with a tape measure against something that doesn't change and see. Btw, are you sure you're not just spinning the perches in the wrong direction somehow?

As for the strut extending too far outward (literally topping out), Japanese coilovers with these fancy lower brackets tend to be short on travel, but I doubt 1.5" of preload (reducing reobund travel by 1.5", increasing compression travel by 1.5") will make it "top out."

[RBS]

so.... your saying you adjusted your coilovers and jacked up your car and now you can wabble the spring around? . . . seems normal unless im missing something

[viperbite]

not that i can wobble the spring around...
that it was literally 3 inches below it.

i called a friend and he checked em out.
he said they were fine and that if i had kept driving it would have blown the shocks.

thanks for yalls help anyways

[speedminded]

so.... your saying you adjusted your coilovers and jacked up your car and now you can wabble the spring around? . . . seems normal unless im missing something

exactly. The dampener extends itself when the weight is lifted from it but a stiff spring doesn't need much distance to be uncompressed. What's the spring rate? Just as an example, if the front springs have a 500lbs per inch spring rate on a 2,500lb car with a 50/50 weight balance then both of them are supporting 625lbs. 625 divided by the spring rate (500) means it was only compressed 1.25"...

Are your wheels off the ground when you jack a car up 1.25" inches or even 2 inches? The suspension has alot more travel than the spring can extend, even if you adjust the pre-load and rebound it won't keep it completely secure, especially on a mid to low grade budget coil-over dampener. This is the reason Eibach makes "helper springs", to keep the spring secure against the top when the car is lifted.

See the small spring on top? That allows the shock/dampener to safely extend


Here is another example of that same helper spring being used under the main spring, it all depends on the application...


Even JIC & Tein use helper springs:




You will just about always have this issue with higher spring rates, it simply cannot extend as long as the dampener and the lower you put the spring perch the more travel and space that will be above it. Hope this helps!

[RBS]

^^ i knew i was right lol, thats why many coilovers come with those little helper springs, to help keep the spring in place i guess . . . lol

[viperbite]

okay
that doesnt answer my question at all
good info though.

i set my coilovers up. when the car is lifted off the ground.
spring is slightly preloaded
bam everything is good

then i go driving
come back

jack car up take wheel off and the spring has 4 inches of travel.
between the lock nut and the top piece

but my coilovers are fine. the shocks arent blown and they dont extend too far.. idk what happened but they are fine now.