I just installed some Koni Yellows with Ground Controls on my 4th gen Prelude. I measured the coils and made sure that the driver's front was set at the same height as the passenger front, and the driver's rear was the same as the passenger rear. But now even though they are set at the same height on the coils, they do not sit at the same height when I look at it. The driver's front and the passenger's rear sits higher than the other two. The driver's front is the worst, it has st least a half inch more wheel gap than the passenger front.

Is there a reason they are not sitting at the same height? The setup I have is used, but still in good condition. And should I leave them at the same measurement on the coil, or should I adjust them so they sit the same when I look at it and have the same amount of wheel gap?

Also one more thing. When I took my stock shocks off I was going to use the stock bumpstops on my Koni's, but the front ones were all crumbled and discinigrated when I took them off. So I ordered some soft bumpstops from Ground Control.

The problem is that I want to lower the front a little more, but I don't have much distance to go until the car is pretty much sitting on the bumpstops. I am not slammed by any means; I want a good height for a daily driver where it has the wheel gap filled, but not tucking tire. Right now it has about 1 1/2 to 2 finger widths in between the tire and the fender in the front. But I don't know if I can go much lower without it sitting on the bumpstops.

Do I need to cut the bumpstops? I just don't see how it can be that close to them when the front isn't even lowered that much.

 

A car isn't level from the factory, and for it to be level the coilovers will be on un eqaul levels

 

If you want to go lower you will need stiffer springs or different shocks. The stiffer springs will compress less under the cars weight and will give you back that little bit of suspension stroke at ride height.

 

Alright so it isn't a problem to set the coils at different heights to make the car level?

And the springs I got are the standard spring rates from Ground Control for Preludes (380f/250r), so I just thought it was weird that I can only go that low in the front.

 

what about lowering springs? they are the same left/right, yet dont usually suffer this problem.

 

Most transverse mounted engine cars (all FWD Hondas except the 5 cylinder Vigor) and not balanced (50/50) left/right, and don't sit level stock.

Lowering springs, don't change this imbalance. They are generally stiffer than stock, which will make the car slightly more level, but it still won't be level.

 

i know, what im saying is, lowering springs are the same size (height) left/right, and dont make the car too noticeably different height-wise left/right. so why is it any different with coil overs set to matched heights?

 

Lowering springs aren't any different, in regards to leaving the car uneven. Both lowering springs and threaded spring perches set at even heights will leave the car uneven. How uneven depends on the spring rates, with stiffer spring rates making the car more even.

What is different, is that the owner can adjust the height of a threaded spring perch in very small increments.

If you can't adjust it, you don't go looking to see how level it actually is. When you can adjust it, suddenly you look at it very closely. How many owners have noticed that their stock car isn't level? I certainly didn't, until I lowered it...

I should probably also add, that cheap "coil overs" (I hate that term) probably don't make too much effort to be certain that the bottom of the spring perch is exactly the same height from unit to unit, as any variance can be corrected through adjustment once on the vehicle. This might make it more likely to have a less level car after installation.

Not a real problem, per say, but the car will have better handling if you set the spring heights to the same and leave the car uneven.

When a car intended for race uses is corner balanced, the lower (heavier) corner is generally lowered further, making the car even less level, but distributing the weight better.

 

another good question, when a car is corner balanced, will the perch location usually end up being closer to the same left/right, or will then end up with the ride height about even left right? or is there no correlation at all?

 

the perches are normally adjusted to get an even crossweight depending on who does the balancing. This will leave the perches all different there isnt really a general correlation.

 

a perfect level ground with a laser should level the whole car,iv done dis and got milmetre close!

 

So couple questions.... I bought a set of used coilovers but the two coils for the front were both right side. Would that make it uneven???? An when i swapped the rears out i broke the tie rod bults on the passenger side so i had a si tie rod layin around an went ahead an stuck it on there is there a difference between a dx tie rod an si in hieght????

 

No.

You don't mention what car, but if you have a strut based car with the tie rod attachment point on the strut itself, this arrangement won't work. It should on most shock based cars though.

The rear doesn't have tie rods...

Why bump a 6 month old thread for this?

 

I have a 91 ef hatch... I took the struts off my old Acura an had to replace the passenger side tie rod bcuz i snapped the bult so i replaced it with one of a 90 si hatch. But my car isnt level by any means the passenger side sits half inch maybe inch higher.... U think its the si tie rod or the front coils bein both right side???

 

What are you talking about tie rods? Tie rods are the arms coming off the steering rack up front that connect to the wheel hubs to steer the front wheels. There are no tie rods on the back end of a Civic.

Are you talking about the rear lower control arms (LCA's)?

Also you need to tell us what car the parts came off of, what brand and model of coilovers (and any other aftermarket parts) you're using, etc.

As for the front shocks, there ARE left and right-side specific versions if the shocks have a welded spring perch and brake line brackets. So Koni Sport shocks do not have left and right-side specific since you use your original brake line brackets. But most other shocks do have left and right-side specific versions.