I'm trying to set the ride height using Cusco Zero 1 coilovers.

Up front I measured from a specific point at where the coilover mounts to the car at the bracket to the lowest ring which I'm using to lengthen the entire assembly. I make the distance equal on both sides. I don't adjust the two rings which have the spring perched on at all .

In the rear I only used the springs seperate from the struts to make my adjustment. I have made them identical as well from drivers side to passenger side.

I lowered the car onto a concrete slab and am finding there is a slight difference in height from my fenders to the ground at all four corners. Obviously, fronts are gonna be different from rears, but from passenger to driver side should be identical. This is after going for a 50 mile drive.

I compared the stock struts and springs and they seem to be identical in height, so making the coilover setup the same but lower of course should be right, no?
Am I going about this all wrong?

Should I be making any other kind of adjustments as well?

Your help is always appreciated, thanks guys.

BTW, I did some searching but came up empty.

 

anyone?

 

You lowered the car correctly, though you'll want to look at also shortening the rear dampners as well to maintain proper piston stoke, plus that's the way the rear suspension set's rear spring preload.

You correctly kept front spring preload as the Cusco had set them, which should be minimal. Since the car does not weigh the same at each corner, even though you did exactly as you were supposed to by setting the dampner lengths equally and the rear spring seats the same, you will not get exactly equal ride height measurements. You can toy with making small changes to try and even things out or you can have a professional corner weight and align the car.

Curious, did you do anything to rear dampner lengths as far as setting them?

 

I was hoping you would tune in, thanks.

I actually bought them off another member and he had the suspension maxed out to the bottom (rear for sure, but not 100% about front) . I raised the front 1/4" and rear 3/4".

As for the dampeners, I left them untouched. I don't know how to properly adjust the dampeners so I chose not to tamper with them. I don't have a manual or anything which kinda sucks. The Cusco site was useless as well. I am finding the rear a little sloppy. The previous owner had aftermarket sways in the rear alone to stiffen things up a little. How do I stiffen the rear, can I do it using the dampeners at all or is it solely done by spring rates? Also, how do you know what settings you are at if you don't know where they were at intially?

 

GT-spec bars...

 

first and foremost before you start buying what could be useless parts, get an alignment

the car will not necessarily be symetrical side to side if you lower the heights by the same distance...cars differ in height

Also, you have to make sure you are absolutely checking on a level ground

Zero1 have no dampening adjustability - they only adjust rideheight

 

wouldn't that be overkill without going with beefier sway bars?

 

no not at all, but Adam is 100 percent correct I have the drift Coilovers from tein, and my driver side is set slightly higher (about 2 turns higher) because of the turbonets turbo....the weight is different...it's going to be interesting after the corner balance, and the Alignment.

 

Didn't realize there was no dampening adjustment, I guess that is a good thing for me as I won't ef things up. Also, I already have scheduled an appointment for alignment which is tommorrow and that is why I want to get my ride height corrected ASAP. Since I have raised my rear by 3/4" I guess I need to lengthen the rear dampener. I guess the threaded rings on the dampener are there to adjust the length to suit springs.

Corrected my post, I'm at work and trying to do a couple things at once.

 

also realize that as you raise rear, you are lowering the front - I'd recommend having a specialty shop handle the height adjustments and alignment for you

 

I do realize this, but it can't be that significant. You really think I am that fargone that I should have someone else do it? I haven't made that big of an error so far. In all honesty, how badly can I ef things up with the amount of adjustment available to me. So far I have set the car to an overall desired height, just some tweaking needs to be done. Also, I am getting the alignment done by a pro but think I can handle the height with some help from the knowledgable members on this site.

 

Don't attempt to address what your initial feelings are telling is a measure of rear sloppiness. What sway bars are you running now and what are they set to. You really need some time and mileage on the setup to really get a true feeling for how it behaves. What at first may feel like a problem may end up giving you more traction to claw out of the hole and a more forgiving throttle.

 

it actually can be a very significant change

if you are paying someone to do the alignment, and given the fact that height and alignment are in direct correlation to one another, youre best bet is having the same place do both. You also make no mention of having any means to adjust front or rear camber or rear toe, which will significantly impact the amount you can lower the car without running it completely out of alignment spec

 

once again...Adam's statement is Solid....

 

I wanted the car alignment done to suit my chosen height.

I have a fair drop in ride height, nothing like some of the Zs on this site. The front is slightly lower than the rear but that is by choice as my exhaust hangs pretty low. So with the alignment I figured see how bad it is after adjustment and then go from there. I will be putting on front camber arms and getting another alignment done. One thing I found very odd is that the shop said I had no camber adjustment up front which I thought was the case for the rear.

I scanned the printout from my alignment.

 

your shop is right...

the car has no adjustment for front camber at all, and for rear, its so insignificant it's not worth mentioning

you need camber arms up front and something like the SPC kit out back to have full control over front/rear camber/toe