S2000 Under The Hood S2000 Technical and Mechanical discussions.

Preloading springs

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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 06:41 AM
  #1  
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From: ahwatukee
Default Preloading springs

Well im sure this has been asked several times. I have been searching for awile and having no luck with my problem. I plan on reinstalling my springs this weekend and I need some advise on preloading the springs. First off what does preloading the springs mean. Do you do it off the car or when they are on the car. And does the spring have to sit a certain way on the shock. WELL any help would be great and if anyone can tell me some dos and donts that would be nice also!
Thanks for your time!

John
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 07:18 AM
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What type of suspension do you have? Preload is the amount of force imposed on the spring by the damper when the suspension is fully extended. It is really only an issue in coilover setup, since preload is adjustable. With traditional shocks, preload is not adjustable.
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 07:26 AM
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I am running neuspeed springs. They are on the car right now and it sits uneven on each side very noticable. So im sure I have done something wrong when installing. I am tring to figure out some options I can do to fix this issue! This was my first time installing springs so I just through them together and put them on the car. Is there anything I should check for. Thanks for your help gernby!!
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 07:51 AM
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The springs are probably not completely settled. It takes a few weeks for them to settle into the upper perches. The rubber in the upper perches have "foot prints" from the OEM springs pressed into them. If the new springs aren't aligned with the original foot prints, then they will have to create new foot prints. You will need to get an alignment done after they are finished settling.
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 08:01 AM
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I installed the springs about a year ago, I just installed 19 inch WHEELS
and thats when i noticed that there was a problem. So I DONT KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM COULD BE!! THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 09:57 AM
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How much of a difference do you have between corners? Are you sure that the ground is perfectly flat and level? I haven't seen a patch of concrete yet that was flat enough to give acurate corner height measurements.
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 10:01 AM
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maybe you put a spring for the rear into the front and vice versa
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 10:38 AM
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Originally Posted by mwy23,Sep 9 2004, 01:01 PM
maybe you put a spring for the rear into the front and vice versa
That would be a MUCH more obvious problem that wouldn't have taken a year to discover. The spring rates would be WAY screwed up, and the car would handle extremely different on corners depending on direction (ie. oversteer to the left, understeer to the right).
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 10:50 AM
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I know the springs frt and rear are correct, left side sits about 1/2 inch lower than the pass side. Should I try twisting the springs so that they are all lined up the some way on the shock or would this not matter. I notice that each spring is setting on the shock differently(meaning the bottom of the spring is on the inside on one side and on the other side the spring bottom is facing outside does this matter or no! Thanks for your help everyone.
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Old Sep 9, 2004 | 11:16 AM
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If I remember correctly, the lower perch is metal, and formed for the spring to sit in it a certain way. Do the springs look like they are resting fully inside the lower perch?
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