Change ride height with coilovers installed

[costofit]

Ok, so i've been thinking about it for awhile, im not at home at the moment to mess around with the car, but i have megans, and was wondering if i could lower the car with the coilovers on the car, and by that i mean, not taking out the 2 bolts connecting the coilovers to the assembly. Or even, would it be possible to only unbolt the top 3 nuts, drop the coilovers enough so i can full twist the coilovers, because if im correct, probably not, to lower the height, you would need to turn the entire coilover while holding the base still. Yes great n00b question, just help me understand ways i can do this without taking my suspension apart agian. thanks

[ZX88]

no you need to spin the bottom collar and bottom piece for height adjustment dont mess with preloading the springs unless you know what your doing.

[costofit]

no, i already preloaded them before i installed them. Now all i want to do is lower it without messing with the preload or taking off the 2 bottom bolts, because they are so annoyign to deal with. I'm just wondering how you guys do it without taking them off. I know you loosen the bottom collar, but wouldnt you need to physically spin the bottom (base with the 2 bolts going through it) for it to actually lower?

[SturgeonGeneral]

you will need to take the two bottom strut bolts off and physically spin the base of the coilover. You cant do it from the top, the mount will just spin and not the strut tube. A 2nd jack always comes in handy when doing this so you can raise and lower the control arm so that the knuckle meets the new location of the strut.