I just had a brand new set of lowering springs installed on the car two days ago and notice that it's a bit higher in the rear than it was before....

Does anyone know how long lowering springs normally take to settle in to their maximum drop?

Should I add weight to the other three corners of the car to even out or speed up the process?

 

What kind of springs? It should not be higher at all if they are lowering springs. Maybe they mixed them up or forgot to compress the suspension when tightening bushings.

 

They're Espelir springs.

To elaborate, I measured everything out and it worked out to be:

Front driver side: 2 finger gap
Front passenger side: 1 finger gap
Rear driver side: 2 finger gap
Rear passenger side: 3 finger gap

My question is will these gaps even out over time?

How many miles would I have to put on them before I notice a difference?

 

Springs do not settle or sag. If they do then they're either broken or cheap POS's.

What most people think of as "spring's settling" is actually the suspension bushings stretching or even tearing. You need to tighten all control arm bushings at ride height whenever ride height is changed. Take your wheels back off, loosen all the control arm bushings, put a jack under each corner and raise the suspension up to load it, and then tighten each bushing back to factory torque spec.

 

Yes! The finger measuring system!

 

Honestly... measuring with your fingers? Come on. Come OOOONNNNN.

http://www.officemax.com/omax/...ry_Id=

 

Thanks to those who actually had the patience to deal with a n00bish question and offer useful advice.

The measurement was meant to be a rough point of reference, but my point is that there is definitely a noticeable difference.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PhatRoyale &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks to those who actually had the patience to deal with a n00bish question and offer useful advice.

The measurement was meant to be a rough point of reference, but my point is that there is definitely a noticeable difference. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Fenders can move slightly.

A better reference point would be to measure from the ground to the side jack points, both the front and rear.

Additionally, the car will be a little uneven. It wasn't perfectly level stock, and won't be after lowering, its just more visible with the smaller fender gaps.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Springs do not settle or sag. If they do then they're either broken or cheap POS's.

What most people think of as "spring's settling" is actually the suspension bushings stretching or even tearing. You need to tighten all control arm bushings at ride height whenever ride height is changed. Take your wheels back off, loosen all the control arm bushings, put a jack under each corner and raise the suspension up to load it, and then tighten each bushing back to factory torque spec.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is correct. Failing to "clock" the bushings correctly could result in a higher ride height until the bushings rotate/wear/tear on their own.

The only bushings you can't clock like this are the large trailing arm bushings. You need to press those out, rotate, and reinstall, to set to the new ride height.

I didn't bother with those (TA), just the rest, and my car didn't settle. Those large TA bushings do seem to be wearing faster than the rest, though whether thats due to how they deform under use or my failing to clock them, I can't say.