prelude180

Are there problems with dropping a large amount on full coilvoers systems? I'm talking about maybe a 3inch drop on a s13 frame. Can most middle price coilovers, like silk roads, spls, d2s, ... so on handle this kind of drop. I know there is the issue of bottoming out the car, but I'm used to driving extremely lowered cars.

orion::S14

Coilovers like Tein HE (and possibly some of the ones you mentioned) have adjustable lower perches, so you can lower it as much as you want, and the suspension still has full travel. So you just preload the springs a little, then adjust the height with the lower perch...and aside from bottoming out or wheels rubbing the wheels well, the shocks handle it just fine.

- Brian

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Sil Beer S13

As for the wheels rubbing that all depends on size and offset.

Maeda

Middle price?
Those are cheap.

The damper doesn't move. The spring does. You shouldn't bottom out the car with a manly spring rate.

When the car gets lower the rest of your suspension arms will follow. This means that all of the arms are a bit out of stock geometry but nothing to worry about. Since the arms are all lower they WILL, I repeat WILL hit things.

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S14DB

You'll start scraping various exhaust parts first on speed bumps. Then your aproach angle for ramps will change cause you don't want to rip off your front bumper.
The nice thing about coilovers is their ajustability. I can drive around all week up high to clear everything. Then drop it if I want to show off.

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Maeda

Oh yah. and you will NEED an lsd to get up any driveways without scraping. =)

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s0ldats

my frame rails scrape

prelude180

Can you explain adjustable perches more? Will coilovers that don't have this feature have problems where the shock body hits the top plate? Also, how do you preload springs?

Sil Beer S13

Adjustable perches.

Allow you to lower your car, without sacrificing shock travel. Meaning slammed car good ride.

Shock body hits top plate? I dont understand.

speeddreamz

dual adjustment (height) coilovers are best. Like outlined theres a perch and u can adjust height a little too by preloading. My silk roads are set to the minimum height drop, and that shit is still atleast like 1.75-2inch drop already. and the front is dropped liked 2 inches. and i think it can go about 1.5 more on the front, probably like 1.5-2 more on the rear. Tein lists their height drops min/max on front/rears. but the HE's and HA's are well priced and will drop low as hell.

orion::S14

Turn the lower spring perch so that it holds the spring tightly in place, maybe compress it 1/4" or so. And then do ALL of the height adjustment by the lower mount, like in the pic above.

And more preload can be added to adjust the handling..,or if you get it cornerweighed. But more preload does not necessarily mean better anything...FYI.

- - - - -

Unlike some "OBX" coilover sleeves, where you adjust the lower spring perch to drop the car, here you get full shock travel, and a REALLY low ride.

- Brian

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prelude180

So basically preloadin a spring is like raiseing up the car but then compensating by lowering the shock?

Sil Beer S13

No preloading does not raise the car. Lowering on a full coilover system has nothing to do with preloading.

prelude180

Ok then Im lost. I know that preload is basically, when the shock is fully extended the spring is not. The spring will never be fully extended it is alwyas under a load. I just don't know how you adjust this?

Maeda

Move the perches so they compress(preload) the spring.

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prelude180

Isnt that the same thing as raising the car? You move the perches up with the spanner wrenches?

S14DB

The shock only expands so far. Then you start squeezing the spring.

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prelude180

Ok there is a adjustable perch that allows you to change the height of the car by twisting it higher or lower. Then there is a lower perch that allows you to adjust the shock height in reference to the lower bracket. I'm not seeing anything that lets you adjust preload?

ALTRNTV

Do Tein HA's have an adjustable perch?

S14DB

you're getting it wrong. You don't want to change the height of the car using the upper perch. you adjust the preload on the springs using them.

The lower perch adjusts the height of the car by making the total length of the shock body longer or shorter.

See how the rear springs are the same length but, the one on the right's lower perch is lower making the total length longer. The one on the left will make the car lower but, they will ride the same cause the upper perches are the same.

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prelude180

ohhh so the top pereches adjust preload and the bottom adjusts height. Are you only allowed the height adjustment till you hit the bottom of the rear holder there. That dosen't seem like much height adjustment on those teins. The jics above seem to have much more height adjustment. does it vary this much between brands. Also is it ever possibler to increase preload so much that the shock hits the bumpstop?

S14DB

It's over 4" on the rears. I don't know how far you can go up and not be safe.

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prelude180

does a ground control koni setup work the opposite way? Where you adjust the spinners on the gcs in order to raise the veichle? Also is adjusting the preload similar to adjusting the suspension's softness?

projectRDM

Christ mang, go buy a book, read it, then come back.

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prelude180

It dosent seem like I need to. Everyone on this forum is so nice and helpful.

orion::S14

1) Yes...so to lower a car with a GC setup, you have to limit the shocks stroke or travel. In this case, with a dual-adj coilover...you can lower without sacrificing shock travel.

2) Yes and no..it's not that simple. You need a tiny bit of preload ot hold the spring in place, so it doens't rattle or come off the seat. That's all you should be concerned with.

More preloading can be used when cornerweighing the car, or to effectively make the spring stiffer. Either way, it's used for fine suspension tuning, not just a low ride.

- Brian

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Wei240

just know that lowering that low will screw up suspension geometry like others have said, so i'm assuming you don't plan to track the car, unless you get other adj suspension goodies...

btw, i love lowered cars, but hate driving them, so many scrapes on my car, not even funny...

prelude180

I plan for now just to get coilovers and rear upper control arms. I plan on getting a medium range coilover. As you can tell, I know very little about suspension. Eventually in the future as I learn more and more I would like to get the extra bits needed and take it to the track.

morpheus8486

If you plan on taking it on the track and want to fix the suspension geometry check out splparts.com. They have all sorts of goodies that correct the change in geometry.

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Wei240

yeah, you can search a whole bunch, but you want to get adj everything to get good suspension geometry:
coils, tie rod, lca, ruca, tension rod etc etc...

which in the end will lead you to most ppl who mod a lot -> being broke...