I've just spent a frustrating couple of hours setting the height of the rear coilovers - well it wasn't frustrating at the point of doing it, but I was well annoyed when I measured everything up at the end!
Essentially I have the rears set to the exact same ride height and and the dampners are set to the same value as per the manual as well.... but when I lower the car down and measure up the wheel arch gaps there's a centimeter difference between the left and the right!
I fully appreciate the car doesn't weigh the exact same on all four corners.. but I was surprised by the difference. The fronts are also a bit off... so I'll need to do them too... is this the "tedious" bit of setting the ride height that I've heard people refer to?
How different has everyone else had to set their ride height in order to get the wheel arch gap equal on all four corners??
Front and Rear springs will be different 'rates' - are you sure you've got them the right way round? The softer springs should be on the front.
Is the ground your parked on level ? Would this affect it ?
Which coilovers is this?
I set mine to a handy guide on here.
IIRC I set the gap between spring seat and hub bracket 27mm at the front and 53mm at the rear but that's specific to meister R's. It looks fine and handles better.
Plus... I wouldn't rely on wheel arch gaps... The arches are flimsy and can be repositioned with ease! I'd measure rode height at the sub frame on perfectly level ground for reference.
Hey guys - thanks so much for the input.
Coilovers are tein mono sports.
They are labelled RR for rear right etc, and with the adjustable top mounts on the front I've definitely got them round the right way.
Car is parked on levelled concrete garage floor... pretty sure it's level! but will still check..
I'll have a look at measuring from the rear subframe...
It's sounding like each axle should be set to the same values and that's the end of it... :-/.... wonder what I've missed somewhere...
I lied- there is a very slight slope from side to side for water run off... Its still within the two lines on a level so it's a couple of degrees..
And then when I measure the cars level across the boot- it's corrected...?
Did you take it round the block to settle it before measuring?
Anyway, if its higher on the right, thats good because it'll be level with the driver in it.
No.. no drive round the block as yet... I'll go back and check everything again tonight and the raise the fronts up to try and get the same ride height as the back as I was aiming for 5cm wheel arch gap all round and the fronts are at like 3.5cm..
I would drive it to get a feel for how it drives. You could spend a lot of time fiddling only to find you want to change it. I prefer to have the front lower than the rears.
Quote from: "Topdownman"I would drive it to get a feel for how it drives. You could spend a lot of time fiddling only to find you want to change it. I prefer to have the front lower than the rears.
Will do.. was just conscious that I might have made a mistake somewhere... will re-measure everything tonight and attempt to take it for a drive.. :-) :-) :-)
My wheels are PFL so 15 all round.. don't know if that would make a difference to what front vs rear ride height should be?
Sent you an email with specs.