sillyboybmxer

I know this thread is old but instead of starting a new one this needed a 13 yr old bump.
After installing new coilovers, i set the car on the ground and took the fender edge to center cap measurement then got the car in the air with the wheel removed, proceed to jack it up until the center of the hub and fender edge are to what they were with it on the ground, this would essentially be the same as trying to squeeze your arms between the wheel with the car on the ground as well as eliminate inconsistencies with just jacking up a corner till it comes off a stand, correct??

Sylvan

All your bolts were loose when you initially set it on the ground?

Either way your initial ride height when you set the car down was probably not correct, since the tires resist being pushed out when set on the ground. You would have had to roll it back and forwards a few feet to get the height to settle. Not sure how much a difference it will have on the end product, but was there a reason you didn't just preload them when it was on jackstands? It's a pretty simple procedure.

sillyboybmxer

Correct all the bolts were loose when put on the ground and then i rolled the car a few feet in both directions and then jacked it up from the center jack points. The reason i didnt do it the "normal" way was because all the internet chatter about it being not 100% correct the typical way...so i thought for a while how nice it would be to have an alignment rack for that procedure and opted for the next best thing....or so i thought

Sylvan

Well it sounds like you took reasonable precautions, so it probably turned out OK.

Slowcrash_101

You can just jack the car up with all the control arm bolts loose, and then put the jack stands on the lower control arms to load them up, use blocks of wood or smaller jack stands for safety. Then you can tighten all the bushings and they'll be properly pre-loaded. The rear upper control arms are a pain in the butt with the damn spring in the way. Thank god for extra long ratcheting wrenches, cause 95 ft lbs isn't easy on your back especially when you don't have much space. I just torque the front rear upper control arm bolt and use the force as a guide because it's damn hard to get a torque wrench on the rear bolt.

A lot of people miss the front rear lower control arm bolt, because usually we do an alignment right after we install a new suspension, so we figure no need to pre-load since we're going to be loosening them to do the alignment anyway. It's fine for the front because the two bolts that hold the lower control arm are the camber and caster adjusters, but in the rear it's only the rear most bolt and the toe arm bolt that handle the alignments and the front lower control arm bolt is just chilling there.

B serious

Preloading is the weird word to use, BTW. You're unloading your bushings, not preloading them. Technically, the correct word is clocking.

If you're installing coilovers, you can clock bushings before putting the coilover in. It makes it 100x easier. Just jack up on the LCA to simulate your desired height. Then tighten all the hard to reach bolts. Then install the coilover. You can tighen the (remaining) shock-to-LCA bolts when the car is on the ground.

Here's how I did it on a TSX. Obviously...different car, but similar procedure.

http://acurazine.com/forums/tires-wh...hile-i-928923/

Slowcrash_101

And just an fyi if you plan to change ride height more than 3/4" you should re-clock your bushings.

B serious

Correct. Bushings should always be set to current height.

Acethriller

Going to be installing new springs but have a few questions I'd like cleared up before doing so;

1. When installing the springs, do I jack up only the corner I'm working on or the whole axle?
2. When preloading the suspension (clocking the bushings) to torque the bolts, do I jack up only the corner I'm working on (with 3 other corners resting on the ground)? or would the whole axle be on jack stands (opposite side also in the air)?
3. Am I preloading the suspension after all the springs are installed or can I do this right after installing a corner?

May be over thinking this but would like to have more insight. Thanks in advance.

Slowcrash_101

You can put the car on a lift then lower it on the control arms with jackstands then tighten everything in one shot. After you installed everything of course, just leave all bolts a bit past finger tight, then preload then tighten.