pikkashoe

I just recently finished installing Koni yellows with Ground controls. Ive run into a small situation, and Im not sure if this is normal or if there is something wrong. It involves the front suspension. In order for me to get both the front left and front right to the same height, I have to set the right front suspension at different heights. What I mean is that the front right ground control is set 3 turns higher on the perch than the left front. By doing this, the spring is also more compressed more. Now my question, is this normal, the only reason I am concerned is because the left front by being less compressed, is also the only wheel rubbing when I hit large bumps. I checked to make sure I did not put the wrong weight springs, I also took the shocks out to make sure they where both fine. Any one have any ideas or tips, or is this just normal??

Also, will stiffening up the dampening reduce the rubbing effect? I am getting the car aligned tommorow, but I have a feeling - camber is not going to help me much here.

SSR GT'3 18 x 8 front.

pikkashoe

Well I took the whole front end suspension assembly apart and took out the shocks and springs. Took everything apart, and reassembled.

Before pre loading the suspension, the left and right sit at the same height (18.5 inches, measured from fender to bottom of the center of the hub). I set the ground controls to the same exact height, and loaded the suspension. The left sits at 18 inches and the right sits a tiny bit higher like 3 mm higher. What is causing this, or is this within the normal tolerance from honda?

Once I drop the car, the right again rides about 3 to 5 mm lower than the left. When I higher the right, i am compressing the spring at the same time. So I am basically loosing suspension travel? Why is this. I am just worrying over nothing.

Could this be a defective spring that is compressing more than the other? i dont think its the shock.

Help!

pikkashoe

Anyone?

RED MX5

Did you preload the suspension when you tightened the shock mounting bolts?

Fongu

I don't think you have to worry about the ride height difference that small. That difference can be caused by some slightly different weight on each tire, uneven or not perfectly level floor. Also you are probably measuring the height without any weight in the car. The ride height will even up when you sit in the car. Just make sure there is no binding in any of the springs or the front anti-rollbar.

The first post where you balanced the height and only the left tire rubs. Just guessing the ride height was measured when the car was empty. The left side is probably lower when you're sitting in the drivers seat, so greater chance to rub.

You're reducing the usable suspension travel by lowering it period. The spring rates are the biggest factor to control rubbing. Lower the car, less travel, requires higher spring rates to reduce the amount of suspension travel, reducing the chance of rubbing. Increasing the damping will slow the travel, which doesn't change the travel over consistent loading, like in cornering, but may for road bumps. Mucking around with damping to reduce rubbing is just wrong, since the adjustability is for tuning handling.

The 18x8 wheel spec's is not enough info to figure out rubbing. You also need the wheel offset to show how much the wheel sticks out from the hub. But most likely the wheel is farther out than stock, so bigger chance of rubbing the outside edge. To fix this you can:
- increase negative camber
- put a thinner tire on front
- roll the front fender or get a widebody fender
- get a different wheel with better offsets/width

Note that all these changes will change the handling. So don't be surprised if handling is compromised.

pikkashoe

Yeah, the suspension was preloaded before tightening everything.

I basically have given up on trying to figure this out.

Its either
1. Tolerance is off somewhere on the front right
2. THere is more downward weight on the front right
3. Or just every place around my garage is uneven enough to make the front right sit lower than the left

Ahh who cares anymore, time for an aligment tommorow.