Question about adjusting coilover height?

[smg1138]

I've had RCE T2's about a year now and they've been great. Only thing is I can never seem to get the ride height evened out the way I want. Seems like whenever I do measurements, my adjustments never seem to work out right.

I recently read that when adjusting one corner it actually affects the height of the opposite corner. Sort of like making height adjustments in an X pattern. Is that actually true? If so, I've been going about this wrong the entire time.

[strat61caster]

Adjust two at a time, raise or lower one side of the car evenly, front/rear/left/right. I start at a 'zero' point with the perches just snug on the springs so they don't move, basically 'even preload' as it would be described by those who call it that.

Don't forget the rear has a different motion ratio, one turn on the front damper will be equal to roughly 3/4 turn on the rear. I have been happy raising the front equally to approximately what I want, set the rear approximately, then set the tilt of the car, usually it's ~2 turns to raise the left front, ~1.5 turns to raise the left rear and I'm usually within about an eighth of an inch of my targets. I'm on Bilstein which aren't terribly different in this regard to the KWs, I've done the same procedure on a different car with KWs.

That's just ride heights though, then you get into corner balancing...

[shattered_memory]

I've had the same issues with lowering my BRZ evenly with Tein Flex Z coilovers. I had all of my measurements set before installing and when installed, the ride height was off Left to right/Front to Rear. It took a lot of trial and error to get it right. In the end, It was still not 100% even, but close enough to where I was satisfied. The best thing to do get the car corner balanced.

[renfield90]

If you're adjusting a single corner at a time and then remeasuring, in case you're not already doing this I STRONGLY recommend you:
- disconnect both sway bars
- drive a quarter mile or so (or a couple laps in the neighborhood) after each change
- measure while parked in the same spot, preferably on flat ground with no incline

Maybe I'm lucky, but on my T2s I simply counted the number of threads on the shock collar from bottom until the spring perch and matched them left/right; ended up with a very equal drop left to right. As far as ride height goes I only care about front vs rear, if I want to make a change on one axle then I turn the spring collar the same number of turns left/right.

Also note that getting ride height equal left/right does not necessarily mean your corner weights will be equal left/right. It's definitely important to fix gross imbalances, but if it's a couple mm I wouldn't worry.

[smg1138]

I think I finally got it evened out last night. I started out with all the spring perches even relative front/back and then made small adjustments from there. The fronts are exactly the same and the rears only required 1/8 difference from left to right. Now my ride height is 25 1/4 F & 25 3/8 R with a full tank and all the trunk junk. This is going to be winter mode for me.