Ride height issue

D

Deutsche_Blonde

Member
 Fareham
Hi all. I recently had some suspension work done to the car, which included fitting some KW V1 coilovers. When i got the car back there was a bit of reverse rake, so set about lowering the fronts a touch. However, one side is completely maxed out. The car nowhere near slammed (see photo). I'm aware corner heights are often different, but the driver's side still has 1.5" of adjustment to play with, but is sitting at the same ride height.

Any ideas on what is causing this, or how to sort (ie, go a bit lower on that side)?

Cheers

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No, standard droplinks. I did wonder whether adjustable/shorter were required, but garage fitted standard without problems. There's no knocking, which I'd read could occur if droplinks were too long

Thats promising though, so adjustable would allow the front to be dropped a touch?

It has had 1wk to settle.

Cheers
 
I’d be checking the bottom of the shock is definitely seated correctly.

That seems like far too much variance to me. I can’t believe the garage didn’t bring this to your attention as something is clearly very wrong here.

Also, don’t know if it’s an optical illusion, but it looks like you have a shorter adjustment thread on one shock than the other? I’m wondering if KW have had a bad day packaging stuff in the factory? :?
 
Please excuse my ignorance but do these adjustment rings actually adjust the ride height or adjust the spring stiffness?
 
[ref]Deutsche_Blonde[/ref], have you made sure to at least roll the car back and forth a few meters after adjusting, or even better going for a short ride? Because in order for the suspension to settle you need to allow the wheels to "find their happy spot" as they move sideways when suspension compresses.

Nictrix said:
Please excuse my ignorance but do these adjustment rings actually adjust the ride height or adjust the spring stiffness?
Click to expand...

They adjust the spring pre-load to be exact which in turn adjusts the ride height as it means the suspension will compensate the car weight at a different position in the stroke of the damper. A proper ride height adjustment would be done by changing the length of the strut as it is often done on aftermarket coil-overs which allwos to have an independant ride-height and spring pre-load tune.
The spring stiffness will only be changed by the spring itself.
 
If the drop link is too long then it’ll stop the suspension moving enough and it’ll probably bend when you drive it.
 
Thanks for the responses.

True-Blue said:
I’d be checking the bottom of the shock is definitely seated correctly.

That seems like far too much variance to me. I can’t believe the garage didn’t bring this to your attention as something is clearly very wrong here.

Also, don’t know if it’s an optical illusion, but it looks like you have a shorter adjustment thread on one shock than the other? I’m wondering if KW have had a bad day packaging stuff in the factory? :?
Click to expand...

The garage did say it was maxed out, but didn't appear to be too concerned. Your point about the threads is interesting though! I count a different number of threads, though difficult to do exactly cause the unsure where they end on the one that's maxed out.

Rockhopper said:
If the drop link is too long then it’ll stop the suspension moving enough and it’ll probably bend when you drive it.
Click to expand...

I've driven 200 miles. It's not bent and feels fine (actually really good) when driving :| I was edging towards this being the cause, but you'd think that it'd also be the same on the other side?

axelleveau said:
[ref]Deutsche_Blonde[/ref], have you made sure to at least roll the car back and forth a few meters after adjusting, or even better going for a short ride? Because in order for the suspension to settle you need to allow the wheels to "find their happy spot" as they move sideways when suspension compresses.

Nictrix said:
Please excuse my ignorance but do these adjustment rings actually adjust the ride height or adjust the spring stiffness?
Click to expand...

They adjust the spring pre-load to be exact which in turn adjusts the ride height as it means the suspension will compensate the car weight at a different position in the stroke of the damper. A proper ride height adjustment would be done by changing the length of the strut as it is often done on aftermarket coil-overs which allwos to have an independant ride-height and spring pre-load tune.
The spring stiffness will only be changed by the spring itself.
Click to expand...

I had driven 200 miles before looking to adjust.

I think now I need to double check the dampers are definitely the same! If so, i guess I'll have to source some adjustable droplinks and see if that does anything.
 
Rockhopper said:
If the drop link is too long then it’ll stop the suspension moving enough and it’ll probably bend when you drive it.
Click to expand...
The drop link just attaches the anti roll bar to the shock. It wont make that change and is not linked to anything with the suspension issues. Mine rides much lower than that and has standard Meyle HD links fitted.
As for height, as said, check the shock is fitted correctly in the hub upright. It did it to me when I changed bits, so easily to miss that its not seated right.
 
I’d get a tape measure and measure the length of the threaded area on each shock.

The more I look at your photos the more they look different to me :?
 
I can't tell 100% from the pics. I will have a proper look when home at the weekend.

If they are that could be an interesting conversation. I'd expect them to cover the cost of fitting, removal AND refitting (due to inconvenience). Let's wait and see.
 
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