Just installed Koni adjustables with ground controls on my 91 hatch. The spring rates are 350f/400r. The front suspension is perfect but the rear seems to be moving around way too much. I hit a bump on the freeway and I think the back tires got air. I have messed around with adjusting the shocks and it seems to be lesser when i set the rear shocks to soft but it is still out of control. This is my first suspension install so I may have done something wrong. Any ideas? I also installed a rear strut tower and rear tie bar. What did I do wrong?

 

did you cut the stock dust boots? Those things are made of metal, and they dont compress.if you didnt remove them or cut them they are hitting the shock body. I did this once when I first installed my first set of shocks, I had tokico illuminas. The car would never squat, if you hit a bump or any imperfection in the road, it would shoot through your spine. after that I tossed them. it fixed my suspension damn good after that. also, did you cut the bump stops, they need to be shortened because the shock is making significantly more travel up and down on a lowered car. the shocks need room to move. HTH good luck

 

thanks, CRXRageD. no, i didn't cut the stock dust boots. But i put them on the front shocks and the rear shocks and i am only having trouble with the rears. Doesn't the dust boot have a metal top and a rubber bottom? Where do I cut them?

 

Yep, did the same thing two days ago on my rex. The first bump sent my head into the roof. Nearly knocked me out.

 

I too only had problems with the rear.
Cut em in half at least, or just take em out.

 

so I just have to modify the dust boots in the rear, not in the front??????

 

I believe that's what he said about 3 times!


[Modified by charjacq, 3:48 PM 5/11/2002]

 

it was indeed the dust boots in the rear hitting the shock body. took them off and the ride is GREAT. thanks everyone.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by red civic standard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it was indeed the dust boots in the rear hitting the shock body. took them off and the ride is GREAT. thanks everyone.</TD></TR></TABLE>It is not a good idea to take them off..... You should cut them in half.. The reason is, If you hit a big bump you could damage the shock.. and koni's are not cheap..

 

theyre talking about the DUSTBOOT, not the BUMPSTOP.

you can do without the dustboots, front and back, especially if theyre in the way. im surprised that if they were colliding that that wasnt obvious when you first installed them.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> im surprised that if they were colliding that that wasnt obvious when you first installed them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

With shorter spring lengths there can be as much as a 4" gap between spring and top-hat when jacked up (even at reasonable ride heights). That's why there has been so much interest in helper springs. I had 6" springs in the rear for a while and they always came unseated. I can see how you wouldn't notice the dust boot contact unless you watched them compress as you lowered the car. Switching to 8" springs really helped me in the rear.

BTW, I haven't run the dust boots for 2 years with no problems, but that's not daily driven.