Installing coilovers in a few hours. Anything I should know?
 

Soo I'm going to be attempting to install tein flex z coilovers in a few hours.. I'm new to modding cars. And have never really dome things like this. My frirmd is helping me. Is there anything I should know the diy post doesn't cover. I'm also painting my headlight housings black while doing this.

Focus on one thing at a time. Any job with cars thats listed as taking X hours will take 2X hours. The diy post is probably fine, coilovers are fairly straightforward as long as you follow instructions. Just make sure you get an alignment after.

^thats good advice. Everything will always take longer then the DIY says, especially if it is your first time and you are new to working on cars.

Also, when installing the rear make sure your parking brake is off.

Research, look at vids, diy's, read up, do your homework, get all the tools you would need. Take your time. Don't do two things at the same time. Work on your coil overs then work on your shitty headlights

keep a jack handy for the rears. you might need to jack up the rear lower control arms into the mounting point for the rear coilovers. also get a strap tool so that you can tighten the top nut of the coils without spinning the shock shaft. if the coilovers are non-adjustable and have a hex insert, then get a pass-through socket and a hex wrench to tighten it. spinning the shock shaft too much might blow the seals on it. if the coilovers are adjustable, do NOT use a hex tool to hold the shaft from spinning but use the strap tool instead

Everything went great. I hear it noise like metal hitting metal when I'm on bad roads tho. How do I fix?

Check the torque on everything, especially your swaybar end links.

^that

Sounds good.. as soon as I have access to the tools again I will.

Metal hitting metal isn't the usual description of a swaybar issue... I'd find a way to get access to tools sooner than later. I'd also do an inspection sooner, even without tools.

The metal sound is gone.. I just hear popping sometime now.. any way to make that go away I would just like to know what it's coming from

Check your struts top nut to make sure they did not loosen up on you.

I had a clanking metal noise every time I hit a bump when I installed my coils. Turns out I didn't torque down the top nut on each tophat. That's probably your issue.

Double check that your front sway bar isn't making contact with the control arms. This happens on some twins, especially when lowered. The solution is shorter endlinks.

To hell with the torque spec on the endlinks, get them on as tight as you can with a socket or wrench. They like to come loose. If you want to definitively identify this as the source of the noise, drive around with them disconnected.

Double check torque on the two strut bolts - you actually want the torque wrench on the nut, not on the bolt. I've made this mistake and they came loose due to lack of torque, I like to overtorque by ~5 ft-lbs here.

That's the conclusion me and my friend came to.. I have a another friend who has drove over 10k miles on his coilovers for his frs with the popping noise so I'm not worried about it anymore. My plan now is after I get wheels to get adjustable endlinks to hopefully make the noise go away. Thank you guys for all the suggestions and help!

Did you throw any loctite on the nuts that attach the camber plates(tophat) to the strut tower assembly of the car( fronts have 3, rear have 2). Most coilovers you only use between 15 to 25 ft/lbs when tightening these nuts down. And, while your car sits on the ground you likely wont notice if they become loose.

And as you hit bumpy pavement, you will hear a metal on metal popping sound. In other words, the top of your coilover is floating and not tight. So, if you didnt apply some loctite to each of the those nuts, they can easily loosen up and cause your exact symptoms. Just a thought, and very easy to check and fix.

And make sure you have the nuts torqued to spec.

Good luck.

I did not throw any loctite on them and they are torqued that was the first thing I checked.. I'm going to check the top hats before anything.. thanks boss

Installing coilovers in a few hours. Anything I should know?

Your stock suspension is much better?

Good to know. Still smart, and horribly easy, to go back and throw some blue thread locker on those puppies. I always do it now, when installing coilovers. And i have learned that lesson from experience.

How did you tighten the top nut? What is a strap tool?

pass through socket and hex?

you can buy a strap tool from Sears for like $10. you tighten the top nut with a pass through socket and allen wrench (I would use a set of pliers to hold the allen wrench. use the pliers to hold the short end of the wrench horizontally while you use the long end to insert into the hex on top of the shock)

http://www.sears.com/tools-wrenches-...s/b-1214364373

use the strap wrench to hold the shock shaft (the shiny metal part)

Interesting search results there, Sears:

LOL I didn't even look that far down

I tried the strap tool and found it unsatisfactory for me. I use a deep offset box wrench like this: https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...oIHBoCQrXw_wcB

Harbor Freight sells an ok-ish set that is deep enough to get into the stock top hat.

have you tried flipping the strap around? I was using the strap tool on the wrong side and kept noticing it slip. after I flipped the rubber (or whatever material it is) strap around, it gripped extremely well. it also helps to have a buddy around to help out

Pass through socket and wrench like was said. I will add the vice grips or locking pliers of some kind are very helpful so you dont have worry about keeping pressure on multiple ways

My car is still popping.. I literally typed pooping on accident 3 times... what are you guys talking about that you need an Allen wrench for. One came with my coilovers buy I never found a use for them

i found out when temp drops, it does more. try stiff up and there will be less pop. when temp goes up again, mine doesnt make any sound. funny thing is i hear this on only driver side..

sound is like squeak for me though

Its probably to adjust the dampner stiffness. What coils are they?

The allen wrench we are discussing is to remove stock springs without blowing the stock shocks

Tein flex z coilovers.. I thought the Allen wrench was to adjust the stiffness of the ride.. my "mechanic" friend thinks I need swaybars bars to stop noise.. could I have messed up with the adjustable preload on the coilovers?

It could be preload or sway end links. Easy test for the endlinks is to totally undo one and drive it and see if it still makes noise.

But yes, the allen wrench that came with it is to adjust damper stiffness. There is a small hole inside a larger hole so we are talking about 2 different allen wrenches which is confusing you.

It looks like me and my friend might have messed something up.. im was opened the hood and was going to adjust the stiffness and my left spring looks different from the right. Theres only 3 holes on the left for adjustment and 4 on the right. Almost like the left spring isn't in place.. and the plate at the top is blocking it.. I can literally see the ground through a little opening it has. I'm going to take it off this weekend and see if its supposed to be like that. I would think it's supposed to look the same on both sides.

Yeah, it should sit flush with the mounting location. Please dont drive on it til you fix it. That really isnt safe...

And honeslt yif you didnt notice something like that please find someone more knowledgeable in this or take it to a shop so you dont end up in an accident

The person I did it with claimed to know so much and the one that looks off is actually the one he mostly did by himself because it was the first one. I even pointed it out at first but we didn't think anything of it at the time for whatever reason. He works on trucks not cars. I plan on doing everything to my car and not paying so I can learn so that won't be happening any time soon. Hopefully this will fix the popping

Or post a pic to show it isnt messed up like i think it is

I posted right after but post a pic of the issue. You need to find someone else to teach you

The person that did it doesn't know shit. Car or truck! Very commendable that you want to do it yourself but STOP DRIVING until it is fixed. Get somebody that KNOWS what they are doing to look at it. As Finch said that is a potently dangerous situation and you could kill yourself or somebody else out of your stubbornness. You won't learn anything if things get done wrong and you then ignore what the people here tell you.

sounds like preload is over-maxed?? yeah take some pictures and post it up