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Hey Bobby,
This is old news but I assume your rear camber settings were the same on both suspension systems when they were installed. This would more likely result in the rubbing issue? Maybe you're running more neg camber now in the rear?
And regarding this,
"If you refuse to actually fix your clearance issues the proper way, a better idea than just trying to crank the shit out of the dampening would be to lower your car about a half inch more than you want (using the lower bracket) and then raise the car back up to the previous height via preloading. this will give you a little more stiffness without altering the ride height. again this is more of a band aid than anything because it sounds like the main problem is your wheels dont fit."
I wanted to just make sure that people don't misunderstand this. I'm not tryin to make any enemies here, i'm a newbie too but I been around coilovers for a pretty long time as well. It just seems there is a contradiction in your statement and would simply like it clarified.
You said to lower the vehicle with the lower bracket and then raise it back up by adding preload to the spring, yet it "won't alter the ride height". I see a "raise it back up" and "won't alter the ride height".
But from my experience with these types of coils, you will never ever ever lower the spring so that there is slop in the springs position. Therefore the spring should always be snug and ride height should only be adjusted by the independent lower bracket. Preloading springs I would more suggest for someone who either has a lot of "ass dyno" time, understand the physics behind it, or pays someone to corner balance their car.
In regards to the coilover quality, name brand thing and so forth. I do believe it is a toss up and definitely believe that end users pay more to name brand companies because those companies have expenses to promote the marketting and "race proving" of their product.
However, I think one of the items that many people fail to consider are the small details.
- Material quality, spherical bearings, bushings, etc....
- Spring Quality, any spring dynos out there for these people? While many people believe a linear spring is truly linear, are being misled. A linear spring has much more "linear" properties than a progressive spring. Some linear springs are better than others because they have a constant spring rate over a larger range of compression. Some spring will only reach ideal spring rate after 35% compression and approach "coil binding" properties near 75%, spring rate goes thru the roof. That's only 40% of stroke that retains a constant spring rate. Keep in mind with your car on the ground, you've loaded suspension and probably used up about 15% -20% of your stroke right there on a coilover.
GOOD Springs like ERS, Swift, Zeal X Coils, have a much broader range of linearity. They will reach optimal spring rate at 20% and maintain it upwards of 85% to 90%, yielding about 70% of linear stroke. Since your suspension loaded starts you at about 20% compression these spring rates are much more "accurate" than the aforementioned. So there's money to be found in that technology. I rarely ever see anyone discuss spring dynos. I've taken shitty cheap ass coilovers, put swift springs or Eibach Racing Springs on them and yielded a much less bumpy ride. Might be a cool upgrade for something like this. See if you can buy it without springs and then order some Swift ones.
- Serviceability is very important. Do they overhaul or do full damper replacement. What's the turnaround time for that and the cost of such. I know these coilovers are cheap and you would just buy a whole set, but if under warranty it will be good to know how long your car will be on jackstands.
- Does the company provide legitimate technical data supporting the quality of the Valving. A lot of this can be propoganda also. Was the dyno taken after 15mins or 20mins to check for fatigue as well? Changes in the damping rates over extended time?
- Definitely is it monotube or twin tube, is there a free floating piston to separate the oil and gas to prevent cavitation?
- Do you have the ability to not only choose your own spring rates but also have the valving modified to suit them?
So obviously some of these truly "penske, moton" type services won't be offered and you save a lot of money, but you lose some "flexibility" as well. I just thought i'd spit that out there so people can have a proper judge of value.
Most monotube coils have to be rebuilt in three years anyway. If they're this cheap i'd just buy a new set of dampers/shell casings.
Peace.
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