Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Remove Preload from Coilover?

The problem here

is when the suspension extends all the way the spring comes loose and can come of the seats. Then as you're driving, besides having a shift in ride height, you'll get massive thunks when they shift back, if they do at all.

When I have the stiff springs on my Ledas, I have to use some helper springs. They are very soft and keep the springs under compression at maximum extension.

Matt

 

Yep

Here's a photo of a Hypercoil helper spring....



these are shaped to keep the spring centered as well, but depending on the details you may need spring stackers that keep the two ends alligned. I've got Hypercoils so these work great for me. I may have two more around somewhere, I'll do some digging...

Matt

 

If you start swapping springs...

Get intimately aquainted with the specs of your struts and springs. There's a lot going on here, like bind length, corner weight, geometric factor, free length, strut travel and on and on. It's easy to mess up.

Matt

 

1.65 is a big difference, but I don't think the design of the coilovers is 100% to blame. Our rear arch openings are vastly smaller than our front arches. To get the wheel gaps even, one has to REALLY rake the car forward and drop the front much more than the rear. If you lower the car evenly front to back, you will have more gap up front. (example below).

I'm not sure the RMW's are any different in terms of getting the front "slammed". I know a few friends with the RMW Cross's that can't get their fronts "low enough". The cross's really weren't designed with stance in mind as they're really aimed at being performance coilovers.

Another thing you're going to have to be careful of is travel. With this design of coilovers where the ride height is independent of preload (threaded body design), they often sacrifice a little travel. If you start lowering it with the preload perch, you start cutting into your travel. MINI's already have very little travel up front to begin with.

Here's an extreme example, but a good illustration of the uneven arch diameters. You can see by the sideskirts that the car is raked forward a good deal. I've dropped the front more than the rear, but you can see that rear still tucks more. This is very common among newer hatchback designs and among BMW's (think about the rear tuck on an e36).

 

The springs are a determined length. He already has them set with little to no preload so they are at their max length. His plan is to remove the preload fully by spinning the perch down. Spinning the perch down removes the preload, but it also moves the mounting point of the spring downwards, thus lowering the car. This is the method that most coilovers use for height adjustment.

 

You decrease pre-load

by lowering the lower spring perch. That lowers the car and results in a larger space for the spring when the strut is at full extension. If the spring is too short, you end up with a gap that can cause problems.

Matt

 

Do you have a picture of how the springs currently sit? I take it you've replaced them with Swift springs correct? I have the Cross suspension also but the regular kit (8k/7k) F/R spring combo. I'll see if I can get a picture of mine on the weekend and compare.

Cheers,
Steve

 

I'm not sure if I fully understand what's being said here, but if you're looking to lower your ride height then you should be using the bottom bracket to adjust ride height. Loosening the collar just to achieve a desired ride height can have an adverse effect on your coilovers. Coilovers that do not have independent ride height adjustment ADD pre-load to the spring, not loosen it, so that the vehicle will sit lower.

 

Looking at your photo it looks like you have the strut at its max height. On my setup I only have about an inch between the upper and lower locking rings.