coilover help needed.... plz

[Bosrudorfer]

Hi Guys,

Ok here is the story. I had the car on KTS coilovers and decided Wednesday to lower it a bit more. Previously the front had a lot of preload and the rear had alittle.

To lower it I make 'near none' preload in the front and (marked the bracket) rotated the rear a couple times. Everything was fine, before the car would pull to the right while the steering wheel sits slightly to the left.... this disappeared after I lowered the car.

Now being the dumbass I am I decided yesterday that it wasnt low enough in the rear. So I moved the preload even down farther. The problem is to have an "even" tight finger gap I had to lower the passenger preload a couple turns more.... the weird thing is the driver and passenger side coilover assemble length is the same (I used a ruler)..... after this the car went back to pulling to the right and imo even more than before.

Could the car have gone back to it's way because the preload is not even in the rear? I didn't even tough the front except for adjusting damper.

*** I'm going to return the back today, 1 full turn on the driver side, and 2 full turns on the passenger and see if that helps. I'm going to try to get even preload and if need be adjust the rest by shorting the assemble.

Thanks all!

[naed240sx]

Gotta make sure the preload is the same on both sides. When adjusting coilovers, you MUST start by adjusting the lower brackets. After doing this, thread the spring perch up untill it just contacts the spring (Zero preload). Measure to make sure that both assemblies are the same length. After this, add preload by turning the collars on each side the same exact number of turns.

I still don't understand why you are running preload at all, but whatever.

Another thing to realize: Everytime you change the ride height, you must get an alignment. Pulling of the car could easily just be a result of a missaligned car.

[Exar-Kun]

Also, I think that you're mis-using "preload" in your description. If preload is in reference to corner weighing, and unless you're jockeying with that (and using corner scales) you're not really adjustping preload.

Also, it is impossible to adjust preload on all 4 corners, as the car will just settle to where the spring would drop after the weight falls on it anyway. Probalby didn't explain that the best, but I'm in a rush to get to studying economics for my final tomorrow.

More alter, if I can breka free from work/school.

He is correct about the alignment. You amy also want to check your hight from ground to inner fender at each corner to determine if there's another issue causing the pulling problem.

-Chet

[naed240sx]

Also, I think that you're mis-using "preload" in your description. If preload is in reference to corner weighing, and unless you're jockeying with that (and using corner scales) you're not really adjustping preload.

Preload is simply the force being applied to the spring when it is not loaded by the wheel/car. If you have an 8kg/mm spring, and you thread the spring collar up 1 mm from it's static point with the car off the ground, that is 8kg of preload.

Also, it is impossible to adjust preload on all 4 corners, as the car will just settle to where the spring would drop after the weight falls on it anyway. Probalby didn't explain that the best, but I'm in a rush to get to studying economics for my final tomorrow.

You can certainly adjust preload at all four corners, as I explained above. Preload is used to adjust length of compression travel available, as well as for corner weighing.