Hey guys, so I installed my coilovers, but the rear spring is loose when i adjust the collars to the lowest position. It is only loose when the car is jacked up. I'm a little worried, because i don't want to damage the shocks. Any advice will help a lot guys.

 

I asked couple of tuning shops they said it's fine, but I'm pretty worried. The shock travel is adjust properly as well.

 

Anyone???

 

That's normal when you lower the collar that much. If you are lowering it beyond what HKS recommends then expect shorter life span on your shocks.

 

Adjustable body shocks , just shorten the shock a little

 

The shock body is shortened at its max. How would i know the authorized limit of hks? I bought them used.

I'm assuming the limit is when the spring is snug and the shock body is shortened to its max. Please correct me if i'm wrong. I will be adjusting it back tomorrow.

 

Are you trying to lower the car? because it seems like you did it the wrong way, is this your first set of coilovers?

When you adjust the shock body by legthening it or shortening it you have to adjust the spring to proper preload which is what is happening here. Your spring doesnt have the proper pre load to stay tight on the collar. You need to adjust your springs first, than adjust your shock body according to the spring IIRC. If you dont like what was said before your going to blow out your dampers sooner than later


1. Jack up your car. Dial in the preferred ride height by adjusting the perch rings in the rear. Lower the car off the jack to check the car height. May need to install the shock and installed temporarily but you will remove the lower shock fork bolt afterwards.

2. Jack the car back up. Notice when the car is fulled jacked up, the rear spring may have some play or looseness. Jack up the bottom of the spring bucket just enough(not too much) until the spring has no play or can't be moved/spinned by your own brute strength.

3. you'll noticed that the bottom/lower bolt hole of the shock fork will not align with the arm hole. That's when you will need to adjust the shock's threaded collar to move that up or down.

4. Important step: This is where you adjust the shock collar. You will need to adjust the shock so that the hole WILL NOT align, about 8mm above the hole. In other words, the shock will be about 8mm short.

5. This will require you to jack up the bucket an additional 8mm up to get the shock fork hole aligned. This will preload the rear spring.

Further explanation, the shock is what prevents the spring from fully de-coiling. With the car jacked up, it simulates the fully extended travel. Hope this makes sense.

 

Yah it is my first set of coils.

Ok i got it. I will give it another try

 

Ok cool, you did a good job on picking some coilovers, but you adjusted them backwards thats all, just follow those instructions.

 

At the end, the spring shouldn't have any play right?

 

Thx a lot man

 

I understood how to adjust the preload now. I don't want to damage the shocks by passing what hks recommends as max drop. If everything is bolted and the car jacked up there should be no play with the springs at the end?

 

Im assuming no since there will be 8mm of load on the springs

 

there should be no play in the spring because you are preloading them. After you preload them adjust the shock body to fit the spring. You wont damage the shock because it will just hold the car while your dropping it and setting the height. you can tell when the shock has met full travel because it will hit the bumpstops on the top of the shock.

Easier way to do this without dropping the car every five mins would be to remove the springs while the car is jacked up, put a jack underneath the tire and jack up the tire until the shock fully compresses down and you will find the travel range that way.

 

Alright thx a lot man I will fix it tomorrow

 

no problem let us know how it goes and if you have any other problems