HKS Hipermax IV SP coilovers and height adjustment

[[YOYO]]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone could chime in on an issue (or maybe it's not an issue at all) that I'm having with my HKS coilovers.

I lowered the back and the front coilovers about 40mm, which is about 1.5 / 1.6 inches. Of course I took into mind that, according to the HKS instruction manual, the coilovers come factory lowered by 19mm F and 21mm R. So I added on to that to make it about 40mm altogether.

The car in reality actually sits about 10mm or so higher in the front than in the back (this was also the case with the HKS 'factory' setup that coilovers originally came with). Would it be correct for me to assume that the new coilovers need 'bedding' in, and that the front will eventually fall in line with the back?

Any help / advice / tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading

[go_a_way1]

Originally Posted by [YOYO]

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone could chime in on an issue (or maybe it's not an issue at all) that I'm having with my HKS coilovers.

I lowered the back and the front coilovers about 40mm, which is about 1.5 / 1.6 inches. Of course I took into mind that, according to the HKS instruction manual, the coilovers come factory lowered by 19mm F and 21mm R. So I added on to that to make it about 40mm altogether.

The car in reality actually sits about 10mm or so higher in the front than in the back (this was also the case with the HKS 'factory' setup that coilovers originally came with). Would it be correct for me to assume that the new coilovers need 'bedding' in, and that the front will eventually fall in line with the back?

Any help / advice / tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading

FYI a drop on the threads of lets say ~40mm vs stock does not mean the car will sit 40mm lower (but it should be close). You should let the settle for a day (doubt it will make a difference provided they use quality springs) then go adjust them again to the height you want. Setting coilovers is a little trial and error.

[[YOYO]]

Originally Posted by go_a_way1

FYI a drop on the threads of lets say ~40mm vs stock does not mean the car will sit 40mm lower (but it should be close). You should let the settle for a day (doubt it will make a difference provided they use quality springs) then go adjust them again to the height you want. Setting coilovers is a little trial and error.

Thanks man. Yah I realize that. The lever ration is 1.06 for the Front and 1.28 for the back, so I took that into consideration when doing the height adjustment. 40mm in reality is actually less on the coil over thread (about 38mm in the front). The car had been on the factory coilover setup for a little while now, and I lowered it some more last night (mind you, since it's winter, the car only gets driven a bit on clear days, and mostly sits in the garage while I work on it). I'll see what happens and report back.

[Bach415]

Originally Posted by [YOYO]

Thanks man. Yah I realize that. The lever ration is 1.06 for the Front and 1.28 for the back, so I took that into consideration when doing the height adjustment. 40mm in reality is actually less on the coil over thread (about 38mm in the front). The car had been on the factory coilover setup for a little while now, and I lowered it some more last night (mind you, since it's winter, the car only gets driven a bit on clear days, and mostly sits in the garage while I work on it). I'll see what happens and report back.

The front will still sit slightly higher than the rear at stock config on the coils from my experience. Even after a week of letting it settle, I still end up lowering the front a lot more while leaving the rear at stock config.

[[YOYO]]

Originally Posted by Bach415

The front will still sit slightly higher than the rear at stock config on the coils from my experience. Even after a week of letting it settle, I still end up lowering the front a lot more while leaving the rear at stock config.

Good to know. I will definitely keep this in mind

The thing that kinda blows is that the HKS manual states that the coilovers in the front can only be dropped to a max height of 42mm, but this still leaves a good 17mm of open thread to play with. Apparently going beyond this 17mm can cause damage to the coilovers. The back on the other hand can be slammed all the way down to 0. This means that the only viable option would be to raise the back to match the front, which is already at 40mm. I would rather lower the front by a smidge instead, but alas. Then you go to the HKS USA website, and they advertise that the exact same coilover drops to 61mm in the front. Go figure that one out

I may have to get in touch with HKS and see what they say.

Anyway, thank you again.

[Bach415]

Originally Posted by [YOYO]

Good to know. I will definitely keep this in mind

The thing that kinda blows is that the HKS manual states that the coilovers in the front can only be dropped to a max height of 42mm, but this still leaves a good 17mm of open thread to play with. Apparently going beyond this 17mm can cause damage to the coilovers. The back on the other hand can be slammed all the way down to 0. This means that the only viable option would be to raise the back to match the front, which is already at 40mm. I would rather lower the front by a smidge instead, but alas. Then you go to the HKS USA website, and they advertise that the exact same coilover drops to 61mm in the front. Go figure that one out

I may have to get in touch with HKS and see what they say.

Anyway, thank you again.

@Scott@HKSUSA can probably answer that assuming I'm tagging him properly. Also, my manual is in Japanese and I can't read Japanese so... I set my fronts to about an inch gap from tire to fender (stock wheels n tires). My rears were perfect until I got LCA's. Had to raise them about 1/2 to 3/4 inch. So about an inch gap/ ~25inches from ground to fender all around. It took a lot of fiddling around to get it right.

[[YOYO]]

Originally Posted by Bach415

@Scott@HKSUSA can probably answer that assuming I'm tagging him properly. Also, my manual is in Japanese and I can't read Japanese so... I set my fronts to about an inch gap from tire to fender (stock wheels n tires). My rears were perfect until I got LCA's. Had to raise them about 1/2 to 3/4 inch. So about an inch gap/ ~25inches from ground to fender all around. It took a lot of fiddling around to get it right.

Thanks. If I can't figure things out, I'll try to give Scott a PM. Oh and my manual has an English section as well.

You mention the LCAs though. This would explain my problem. I put LCAs on right away, hence it's been lower in the back since day one. Thank you for sharing this detail with me, I very much appreciate it!

[Scott@HKSUSA]

"Paging Scott at HKS" "Paging Scott at HKS" "Scott please report to the Customer Service center"



pm sent

[[YOYO]]

Originally Posted by Scott@HKSUSA

"Paging Scott at HKS" "Paging Scott at HKS" "Scott please report to the Customer Service center"



pm sent

Thanks for all the awesome help Scott. Very much appreciate it

[Bach415]

@[YOYO] Just wondering, do you have creaking noise coming from the suspension when you go over speed bumps slowly? The noise will sound like an old spring bed.

[Jdogg88]

@Bach415 I have had this same noise since they've been installed on the car since junish 2015. I've taken it to multiple shops to see if something's wrong with the suspension but everyone that looks and drives the car says it's working as it should.

[Bach415]

Originally Posted by Jdogg88

@Bach415 I have had this same noise since they've been installed on the car since junish 2015. I've taken it to multiple shops to see if something's wrong with the suspension but everyone that looks and drives the car says it's working as it should.

Well for me the weird thing is that it's coming from the front. The back has no noise at all.. What I realized was that the pre-load was set from factory for the rears when I received my coilovers but the fronts were not set all all. I brought this issue up a while back but Scott didn't really give me an answer now that I look back on it.

Edit: Maybe @Torry@HKSUSA have an idea or can chime in?

[Jdogg88]

The fronts are the ones making the sound for me as well @Bach415!

[Bach415]

Originally Posted by Jdogg88

The fronts are the ones making the sound for me as well @Bach415!

Did your fronts come preset for the preload? Or did you have to set it? I kinda feel like it's a preload thing but then again not too sure. Or it could just be the end links that were supplied. Hard to see what is making the sound.