Ride height issues with coilovers
 

Hey guys. I installed RSR sport-i's on my car. I jacked up the car, took the wheels off, and put blocks under the front control arms right under the ball joints. I then measured from the hub to the lower edge of the fender and began to adjust the coilovers to get the ride height .5" below the measurement of my stock suspention. After a lot of adjusting I got it just right on both sides. When I looked closer I noticed that on one side the strut seemed a bit more compressed and there is a different amount of threads showing on one side than the other. It's nearly 1/2inch. I am working on a level concrete slab. Have not tried to put the wheels on and set it on the ground yet. Wondering what the issue is....

Difference in weight distribution across different corners, or inconsistent spring rates.

Are you doing this with your weight in the car, or with it unloaded?

Spring rates should be the same as they are what came on the coils from the factory. This is with the car unloaded (me not in it). When I lowered it to the ground the ride height was good. I can't imagine a person in the drivers seat would make it compress enough to compensate for the difference I am seeing but I'll check.

You could always just adjust that one strut to compensate for the amount its out by, put the car back on the ground and see what it looks like. It doesn't really sound normal.

Personally, I would have taken the stock strut off, measured the overall length and then adjusted the new strut to be the length I wanted. I feel like any inconsistency in the floor may affect the overall length with you did it. Just a thought.

The spring rates are different between OEM and aftermarket so a 1" shorter coilover body doesn't equal a 1" lower ride. I figured I would load the suspention and measure each corner independently.

I am hoping one of the suspention gurus finds their way in here.

@Racecomp Engineering

The car isn't perfectly distributed at each corner.

Set preload, set ride height(sometimes the same), corner weigh.
Setting ride height on the car(on the ground) will get you close but corner weighing would be best.

Preload is set from the factory. I lowered each corner of the car 3/4" from its stock static position. Will that be good you think?

I have no idea what ride height is optimal for your objective. That said, if you set the ride heights with the car on the ground and your weight in the drivers seat then yes that should get you pretty close. Again, a corner balance would be best.

A competent shop would likely charge you less than $200 to corner balance and set your alignment.

Re-read what I said about spring rates. I didn't say different, I said inconsistent.

Difference being that maybe they're all labelled as the same rate, but in reality are slightly different through manufacturing inconsistencies. There's no way they actually measure the rate of every spring coming off the production line, so it's entirely possible to get differences. The cheaper the springs, the more likely this is.

Got it. Thanks for the consideration.