whats the lowest amount of shock travel possible on coilovers?

[ZenkiKid]

I am thinking about lowering my car even more on my gab sport revo 2 coilovers, but the thing is they dont have height adjustable mounting points like alot of the coilovers out there, they only have the perches to adjust the height. I was wondering.. is less than an(including bump stops) inch good enough shock travel?

[PoorMans180SX]

um....NO

I would say get new coils.

[jspaeth]

I called TEIN technical staff to ask them this same question.....they said that many of their setups are deisgned for as little as 1/2 inch shock travel.

One thing you may want to do, is to take off the bump stops, and saw them or cut them in half, height wise, so they are still there, just not as thick

[veilside180sx]

There is no mac strut setup that is meant to run on 1/2" of shock travel.

[jspaeth]

...or i could be wrong haha

[cdlong]

maybe you're right and Tein is full of idiots.

[serturbo]

It all depends on the setup and your driving style. Softer spring rates and spirited driving will require more suspension travel.

[racepar1]

Pics of current ride heighth? I know it looks sick to slam your car, but resist the temptation. It fucks up the suspension geometry and causes more body roll.

[ZenkiKid]

Originally Posted by racepar1

Pics of current ride heighth? I know it looks sick to slam your car, but resist the temptation. It fucks up the suspension geometry and causes more body roll.

[serturbo]

That's pretty much where mine is at right now, but I have Apexi coilovers (N1 ExV). They are relatively stiff and I still rub my front fender liners/rear fender with my tires during spirited driving. And that's with Whiteline sway bars. This is just to give you an idea of how much suspension travel I have. During normal driving, I could probably get away with an inch of travel (compression).

Are you a spirited driver? Do you do canyon runs? If so, you'll need more than an inch of travel. Hitting bump stops in a turn an be hazardous. It'll upset the balance of your car and possibly causing you to crash. If you remove the bump stops and bottom out your damper, it'll eventually fail.

[98s14inaz]

Originally Posted by jspaeth

I called TEIN technical staff to ask them this same question.....they said that many of their setups are deisgned for as little as 1/2 inch shock travel...

Of course they told you that, they want to sell more product when you break your stuff.

[racepar1]

Judging by those pics I'd say your ride heighth is ok where it is. Maybe a LITTLE BIT lower. Bottom line is you need bigger wheels and better coils to make it look right. My ride heighth is about in the same spot, maybe just a bit lower, but I'm running tein flex which have full length adjustment. Honestly I don't blame you for wanting to go lower, but bigger wheels will make it look MUCH better.

[ZenkiKid]

yeah i figured if i went 17s.. id be more lowered than i already look. I already scrape the frame going out of some driveways, some of my friends with dumped s14s on 17s say they dont even do that.

[cdlong]

are the tires stock diameter?

[spool_sample]

Put zipties around the shock pistons, on the end of the bumpstop between that and the top mount. Go drive around or do a few laps of a track or whatever, and see where the ziptie is. Keep raising the car until the ziptie is just a few mm away from the top mount.

This is an easy way to determine how much stroke you have since this method quantifies it somewhat. It's useful if you're not entirely sure that you're hitting the stops.

[ZenkiKid]

hey guys i got a new question.. whats the ratio for the amount of shock travel lost for every inch lowered via perch?

[PoorMans180SX]

It's not really a ratio. It's a measurement.

amount of spring lowered=amount of shock travel lost.

[cdlong]

it's 1:1 on our cars since both shocks attach to the spindle, not a suspension arm.