Wondering if extended top hats will ruin the comfort of my ride. I have H&R full coilovers which consist of a full length springs which are a progressive spring rate. The Pre load is light enough for me to put oem top hats on without a spring compressor. this is wth the coilovers set at the lowest position(in the front) and the rear at mid level. The preload in the rear is a little heavier. But still doesnt require a spring compressor to install top hats. Would installing extended top hats cause the car to ride on the stiffer portion of the spring dues to the springs being more compressed?

 

any help or send me in the right direction?

 

No, it will not affect anything when the car is on the ground and suspension is fully loaded.

As has been discussed in other threads here in the suspension forum, increasing spring preload does not, in and of itself, affect ride height, alter spring rates, or change ride characteristics in any way... that is unless your suspension regularly comes completely unloaded while driving (i.e. wheels leave the ground) which we hope does not happen.

Picture the full spring/shock (coilover) assembly installed on the car, fully loaded with the car on the ground. The spring and shock are compressed a certain amount due to the amount of load (weight) pushing down on the top hat. Now picture the top hat extending itself while still installed on the car. The middle portion of the top hat extends up, as does the shock piston. But the spring position and lower spring perch does not change.

Ride height remains the same, and the spring's compressed length remains the same while fully loaded.

Note that this applies to changing to extended top hats only. Other adjustable coilovers with separate ride height and spring preload adjustment act differently when you increase spring preload, but the concepts are the same.

Increasing preload will not do anything for you except reduce available suspension droop travel. In certain situations such as track use, this can cause wheels to leave the ground easier than before (particularly the inside rear wheel under hard cornering), which can be bad. Assuming the dampers are matched to the springs on your setup, you would hope that the dampers could handle whatever your ride height is.

 

I am running H&R coilovers on my Integra and have been for the last 6 years. H&R designed their coilovers to work with OEM tophats so anything else is unnecessary. There is enough travel in the coilover unit for most applications so i'm not sure there's a reason to consider extended top hats.

 

The purpose of the extending the top hat is to keep the shock shaft from bottoming out and give back some travel on cars that are very low. Since you are a having to compress a little bit to put the stock hats on you dont need extended ones.

 

op, no.