I never thought I would be trying to go 'higher' with coilovers lol.

i bought some coilovers used (maybe frowned upon but I've had good luck with the last 3 sets I bought used) and have been having a slight issue with them.. My car is too damn low. I have a general understanding of coilovers. I know how to set preload and I know how to properly adjust ride height. So with that said, I've nearly unscrewed the entire body of the strut out of the bottom mount and my fenders are still eating my front tires.. I've never had this problem before.. The only odd thing I've noticed is that the nut that bolts the top hat down is threaded down pretty far on the bolt. So the end piece you use to adjust dampening is nearly touching my hood when it's closed...

could this mean I need to have them rebuilt? They ride fine and there's no leaks coming from anywhere..

i guess i should add a few details..
2000 Honda S2000
Buddyclub N+ coilovers

 

You forgot the stop washer. This is really important. Stop driving and fix your installation.

And you really can't expect to get back to stock height with coil overs. That being said, I was able to achieve about 1/2-3/4" drop on my s2000 with ground controls and stock shocks.

 

Thank you!! Seriously! I've never heard of a stop washer though so I'll have to look into that.. I don't expect to get back to stock height either, I just don't want my fenders eating up my tires it makes a terrible sound when I go over a bump or base of an incline with my wheels turned. The fender was literally collecting chips of my tire so it's been parked while I try to figure this out...

edit: this is what the top end looks like by the way.. I think I might have the stop washer you're referring to?

 

Your bushings look out of place like it's all stacked in the wrong order.
This is the bump plate. Only goes on one way, under the top hat and bushings.

 

I thought it looked odd -.- could I just use the oem struts as a reference? If not I'm sure I could figure it out online. It just helps to know already that it's out of order. I don't even know how it got that way because it came pre assembled.. and this is my first time playing with the suspension on this car. All previous coilovers were on different cars so I just thought this one was setup weird

 

actually i might be speaking outside of my experience here. ive never owned chinese coilovers so i dont know how its supposed to be.

if they came preassembled, was that the way its supposed to be from the factory? or you bought them used? who did the installation?

 

Yeah this was the way I got them and he said they were on his car like this lol. I got them used. So I installed them after fixing the preload because he had the springs way too compressed

 

wait, what?

what do you think that means? when the springs are "way compressed", youll get a higher ride height. which is what you wanted...

if you loosened it completely and lowered the perch, then youll be slammed.


and looking at this pic, it looks like something else is wrong with the installation. you really need to disassemble and figure how its supposed to be installed correctly.

 

yeah I understand that bit, but I shouldn't have to have the preload so compressed just to raise my car. I could add some preload but I would have to really compress the spring to get some proper height which shouldn't be necessary.

Judging by the picture you posted, it almost looks like my top hat is upside down lol. the top hat on my coilover is oem. Buddyclub didn't include a top hat with this set of coilovers because you're suppose to reuse your original top hat. The one in the picture looks aftermarket. I didn't get a chance to compare my oem strut with my coilover just yet but I still think it's in my best interest to just pull a coilover off and disassemble it to see what the hell is going on.

 

You need about 2.5 turns of preload once the collars touch the spring, and starts to apply pressure. Once that is done, set it, and forget it!

Now you only have 1 adjustment which is ride height via the lower mount. The damper body must be in the lower mounts atleast 1.5-1.75 inches at the very least. So that would give you the max adjustment height. If your top mounts are installed correctly, the top, and bottom bushings each have a washer then your good to go. If you have done all that, then the height you get is what you get unfortunately.

I am not surprised though if this is a S2000 chassis, and you have Buddy Club coilovers, those really didn't have much height adjustment to begin with. At the highest setting you probably only have a finger gap if that. If those don't suit you, and need a coilover with more height adjustment shoot me a pm, or if you have any questions. I been building coilovers for over a decade. I may have some parts laying around that I could use to build you a setup for a price more suitable for your budget if you get rid of those. Have a good one. Hit me up if you have any questions. Highly unlikely they need a rebuild.

 

why? why wouldnt you continue to use the lower perch to raise the height?

 

Because there isn't much droop travel with those coilovers. He isn't going to get much height adjustment from the spring. The majority of your height adjustment will be from adjusting the length of the shock via the lower mounts unlike your normal fixed long shaft shock.

 

Right, my preload is set that way. I'm glad you mentioned the max height setting though. I've always wondered how high you could safely go, and it doesn't really stop you at any point and I couldn't find any information online for the life of me... I think what you're saying is what I'm struggling to accept if I can't get more than a finger gap then, because that's about as high as I can get them and my oem wheels and tires are rubbing like hell. That's just ridiculous for only throwing some coilovers on..

I did did take a coilover off today though just to make sure it wasn't setup wrong, and I think it just might be.. According to this illustration, I'm missing a washer at the bottom, and seem to have an extra washer at the top.... Soooo item "8" is on the wrong side? I compared the top hat to the oem top hat from my oem suspension and it sure does have an extra washer under the top nut...





could this one washer really be holding me back from at least another half inch of height? If not, then I will definitely be contacting you to see what you've got in stock because I can't even enjoy driving my car like this...

 

Andy is correct. Buddy clubs don't have much droop. People with too much preload end up lifting a tire at the track. They are incredibly short and allow you to slam the car.

Minimal preload should be used on these. Set it and forget it. Then turn the shock bodies up or down into the bottom bracket for height adjustment. The S2000 starts out low to begin with. Even a relatively modest (compared to other cars) 1.5" drop will result in the tire being close to the fender. So these coilovers may just not have much max upward height.

Though, if OP is never planning on tracking the car...the spring can be preloaded further to raise the car a bit. But you're not going to get much height with that method either...and the ride will suffer.

But...why is the tire eating the fender? What size wheels and tires are on this car?

 

Item 8 may or may not be used with these coilovers. You may need the bumpstop plate...but maybe not, looking at the shock shaft. item 8 is not what tyson had pictured.

Try getting buddy club install instructions to see how the coilovers go together.

To me, it looks like item 8 is missing altogether and should be installed between the bottom tophat bushing and shock shaft. It will net you 0 height.

The S2000 has metal reinforced tophat bushings. They do not need a washer up top.

Buddy club should have their max available height in their instructions as well. "1 finger gap" may not be far off their max height.

You may need to buy something else.

Try posting your issue on S2ki and see if someone has a pic of a S2000 at maxed height with buddy clubs.

 

this is really all I want to know and to fix o.o I'm running oem wheels and tires... So the basic 16" wheels with 205/55 in the front and 225/50 in the rear... They're hella sunk in too which looks goofy but I thought that would mean they clear better, but obviously not lol.

i I don't mind the coilovers. They provide a decent ride and I haven't put them on the track yet but from the spirited driving I occasionally do in Mexico, they seem to handle quite well. I'm just bothered by the fact that I can't 'not' be #hellaflushyo.

Ill keep searching for the instructions but all I've found so far was for the newer coilovers they make now which use different top hats :/

 

Alright, I pulled the top hat off today to see what's going on.. The washer doesn't really have a place in this application. It's a curved washer, and doesn't really sit flush with anything. But what I did notice is that having the washer on the bottom of the top hat raised the top hat higher from the piston, which results in the body of the strut being positioned further down when the top hat is mounted to the upper strut mount. I'm sorry if that doesn't make much sense.. It's kinda hard to put it in words. But here's a picture of the washer below the top hat. It raises the top hat and kinda "extends" or "lengthens" the assembly as a whole which would actually provide more height.

So then a light bulb flipped on in my head.... Could I just add some washers below the top hat to give myself some extra height?? The washers would be compressed so they wouldn't move around freely while driving, and I would want the top nut to have at least ~5 threads coming out of the top of the nut ( like OEM) and no less. It kinda seems Jerry-rigged but could it work? If not, I'm parting these ***** out and going with a brand that actually has English instructions or will give me realistic ride height -.-

also, according to that illustration, my top hat has everything except item #8 unless 8 is this weird curved washer. So I don't think it's so much of a top hat issue anymore. Maybe I am low on gas/hydraulic fluid in the strut? I don't flippin know. Since I've already got one strut off I just want to go back to OEM so I can enjoy driving the car again - like it was meant to be. Lol

 

Sorry for 3 posts in a row..

What if my front and rear springs somehow got swapped? I just checked the tears and they don't look like they could ever get as low as the front could, while my front could never go as high as the rear could.. This is judging off the amount of strut body screwed into the lower mount. The front in max out where I can't raise the car anymore with the strut body, while the rear is more so at the bottom of its limit before it touches the lower control arm through the lower mount, so it wouldn't be possible to lower the rear as much as the front..

could a 2k spring rate difference make that much of a difference? According to their website, front should be 10k and rear should be 8k, but maybe 8k is on the front and that's why it's dropping so low??

I would love to just read the rates on the springs but they've been painted because the original powder coating on the springs flaked off.

 

The S2000 has 50/50 weight distribution...and some coilovers come with square rate springs. So flipping your front and rear springs won't do what you want.

You cannot add washers to the tophat to add height unless you also raise the spring. And that would be a lot of washers.

 

Yeah I did some research and thought about it for a while and decided the spring ratings weren't enough to solve my issue.

I just closed up the garage though and sorta fixed it...

i just said washers or bust. So I stacked a few high grade washers (10.8 or something?) and it gave me enough heights to get by. I was able to re-thread the body back into the bottom mount adequately and still have enough clearance from the fender. I can actually fit a finger between the tire and fender so that's progress!

This only has to last me till winter hits in a few weeks. Once winters here, she's going on jack stands for a good 6-7 months so during that time I'm just gonna get new coilovers. I'm really not happy with these. Maybe if my goal was to lay frame, but i just wanted a little handling improvement and that "European" style wheel gap.

Still no clue why these damn coilovers are so troublesome, but screw it. They're getting recycled. Nobody should have to deal with this headache. Lol

 

For what you want...Bilstein PSS or PSS9 will work well. They're both cost effective and they ride better than stock.

 

thanks!! I'll look into those. I've had D2, BC, stance, and even messed with springs, but my experience with these have been by far the worst. And the ride is pretty stiff.. Maybe I've just got a bad set, but knowing I've been happier with other brands, I may not consider these again or recommend them to others lol.

Thank you everyone for your input and your help! I wish it were an easy fix but I'm thinking this set is just a lost cause.

This was my first post on this forum and I'm pleased with the quick responses! Good community here. Might have to hang out for a while :D