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Ride height wtf
I used to have FM springs on Koni Str-T shocks on my 99...it sat great, but the shocks sucked. I swapped the shocks with factory 99? 10AE? Yellow bilsteins. It's much stiffer, but my height from center hub to fender measures 13" front and 13 1/2" rear! Wtf?!? I did notice the bilstein spring perches are a bit thicker...what's wrong here?
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what was it before?
that sounds about right for FM springs. |
Possible noob idea…… I swapped shocks recently and had similar ride height. My issue was bushings were too tight before all the weight was on the car. Rolled it back 15ft, put it back on the stands and retorqued. I'm sure you've tried it but its an obvious thing to double check.
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yeah, the lower shock bolts should be tightened with the car on the ground.
The perches could also be in different physical locations from each other. |
I'm pretty certain I checked the perch location between the 2 shocks, looked the same. I do think the bilstein shocks have thicker perches though.
How much of a dick move would it be to nip a little of the spring off? |
Why not ditch the springs and go with ebay sleeves? You can then custom order your desired front and rear spring rate, have more room for wheels, and infinetely adjustable ride height.
You wouldn't even be too far in the hole after selling the (uncut) FM springs. |
why not tell us what the ride height was before so we know how much the car was raised?
or tell us if you tightened the shocks under full load? or you know what, just go cut the dead coil off them and end this thread. |
Ride height was roughly just under 12.5 in the front and just under 13 in the rear before.
I'm not going to cut my springs, if I cut any springs I'll cut my stock ones. Yes...I did tighten everything up with the car in the air. I'll try to loosen everything up and retighten under load and see what happens. I'll have to post pics of how she's sitting, cause it looks like lift kit city. |
Thats your issue… or at least a major contributor. Keep things loose, roll the car around a bit, then torque to spec. My car settled a few inches after I made that mistake the first time.
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there's no harm in cutting the dead coils fwiw -- fm designed them that way.
but yeah, loosen the lower bolts and retorque, while on the ground. |
If getting under the car with it on the ground is an issue, you can also put the car in the air, and jack up under the lower control arm of each corner before you retorque the bolts. It'll load up the suspension on the individual corner the same as if it were on the ground. This is how I did it, and my ride height came out fine.
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Originally Posted by Braineack
(Post 1111085)
there's no harm in cutting the dead coils fwiw -- fm designed them that way.
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I cut 1/2 a dead coil off the fronts, jacked the car off the ground by the lower control arms before tightening up everything. It sits at 12 3/4" from center hub to lip of front fender. I guess I'll cut another 1/2 a coil off and hopefully it'll be where I want it. I even drove it and thrashed it pretty hardcore just to "insta settle" the suspension.
A whole coil just seems like a lot to me, no? |
Corner jacking the car before torqueing may or may not get it done. The jack lifts the suspension inboard of the tire so the leverage is different. I continue to jack mine up until the fender to hub distance is correct. In my case the tire has to go about 8" in the air. Then I torque.
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I guess my question is, how low is too low for a daily driven street car before it's starts to bottom out on every speed bump/ set of railroad tracks i cross over while driving to work? I want to keep it close to the 12.5 front/ 13 rear like fm claims, but if it ends up more like 12.25/ 12.5 am I going to be regretting it?
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I don't street drive mine a lot, but it isn't a problem when I do. My front pinch height is just 4.2" giving a fender to hub of 11.5". But my fenders are rolled and pulled, so I wouldn't pay attention to my fender height.
The chin spoiler is another matter. Just 3.5" off the ground, so I need to do steep driveway approaches at an angle. Again, no problem as long as I remember. |
1 Attachment(s)
Originally Posted by thirdgen
(Post 1118835)
I guess my question is, how low is too low for a daily driven street car before it's starts to bottom out on every speed bump/ set of railroad tracks i cross over while driving to work? I want to keep it close to the 12.5 front/ 13 rear like fm claims, but if it ends up more like 12.25/ 12.5 am I going to be regretting it?
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396878017 |
Personally I wouldn't want to go lower than the FM specs. I avoid scraping most everywhere except a driveway where there was just a little too much of a peak at the sidewalk and the FM frame rails paid for themselves by taking the abuse. If it was any lower it wouldn't have made it. The stress isn't worth it for DD, IMO.
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Low is overrated, I'm going to be raising my car a bit soon. Y8's car looks great to me.
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Originally Posted by Fireindc
(Post 1119054)
Low is overrated, I'm going to be raising my car a bit soon. Y8's car looks great to me.
Lowering a car lowers it's center of gravity which enhances grip. Lowering reduces airflow under the car which decreases both drag and lift. Less lift also enhances grip to some degree. Stiffer suspension can compensate for reduced suspension travel, and stiffer suspension reduces suspension roll moment which also enhances cornering grip, but at the expense of passenger ride comfort. |
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