edumak

I have a set of coilovers that I wasn't happy of the height because it was rubbing on one wheel, so I wanted to raise the car a little bit. The problem is that whatever I adjust the thread to raise for the height by, the spring also compresses by that much. Is that normal? It is to my knowledge that the preload and height are independent of each other.

I'm fairly confident I'm adjusting it correctly. I'm following the instructions in the manual and also watched a few videos.

s2000Junky

Its normal if your just adding pre load to the spring, which will raise the car as well as bump stroke. Do you have a separate lower lock collar which frees up the lower mount and lets you turn the whole shock body? There are two lock collars if its pre load and height independent. But if your intending to just raise the car via pre load and you loosen the lower body collar by mistake, I could see the confusion here.

B serious

I'll assume you're talking about a coilover that has seperate preload and height adjustment.

Yes its normal. The bushings are binding and they will compress the spring as you lengthen the shock body.

A photo of your coilovers will help.

edumak

I have the HKS Hipermax IV GT.

How would I "reset" the settings and start over? According to the manual, the spring length should be between 7.8 - 7.9" and thread length should be between 3.4 - 4.8". Should I set the spring length first, then adjust the height and just disregard whatever change that does to the spring length?

Is it also normal for the left and right side to have different settings to achieve even height?

http://www.hksusa.com/content/Suspen...-AH001_J-E.pdf

b_ron

I just installed my IV GT last weekend. I left the rears as it came from the box and it sits exactly how I want it.
I have to adjust my fronts tomorrow since, while I was adjusting the height the preload might have shifted (possibly the reason making one side still sitting at stock height).

I would adjust the preload then the height. I believe in general, the spring seat should be "snug" to the spring before locking it (I've read Ohlins need the 2mm preload on theirs). When you adjust the height, the spring length shouldn't change.

I don't know if this will affect the height or spring settling, but make sure you clocked the bushings before tightening bolts.

edumak

I brought them lightly used. The thread length for the fronts were under the 3.4" minimum and the tires were also rubbing so I adjusted it to raise the car. As I did that, the spring length preloads also decreased (compressed) by the same amount and got out of the manual's 7.8-7.9" (about 7 3/8) specs. That's why I was asking about it.

Yes I did clock the bushings. I raised up each of the 4 sides until it barely got off the jackstand and torqued it down.

I want to basically start over again and didn't know if I should worry about the preload first and then height, or the other way around.

B serious

Yes. Set the initial spring length when the coilover is NOT installed to car.

Make sure your tophat center nut is tight. It sounds dumb. But check it and tighten it before going further.

Then install to the car.

Then set the height via the height adjuster.

Unless you want to change the amount of travel the shock has....you'll never need to touch the preload on the spring again. Diseregard compression or extension from bushing bind.

Clocking bushings may not have been done if you have significant side-to-side differences. Or maybe it would show some accident damage or large disparity in weight.

Small side to side differences are normal.

edumak

Instead of taking the whole coilover out, I'll just take out the two top nuts from the strut tower and then do the preload adjustments. I think that'll make it easier to reinstall.

Once I uninstall the coilover, does it matter what the height settings (thread length) are before I set the preload?
After setting preload, I should expect for spring length to still change when I'm making height adjustments right?
Should I clock the bushings before or after height adjustments, or it doesn't matter?

b_ron

Like he said, the spring length (preload on spring) should not have to be touched once its set. If you do height adjustments on the car correctly, the spring length shouldn't change. You just have to make sure the entire spring, spring seat, and lock nut are spinning together while the shock is being threaded in/out for height adjustment.
You should clock the bushings after you finish height adjustments.

B serious

Taking out the 2 top nuts won't do anything. The spring is being compressed by the bushing bind. You'll almost never get the preload correct if you do it while its installed.

Clocking bushings has to be done to your final ride height. Do it with a floor jack under the LCA...before putting the car on the ground.