question about adjusting ride height with coils

[spicyricecake]

I've been having issues with my front right coilover (Tein Flex Z).

When I got the new wheels mounted, I noticed that the coil had lowered itself (was 6 threads, then got maxed). So naturally I raised it back up to 6 threads and tightened the bottom collar and thought it'd be ok.

Then today I found out it was slowly lowering itself again. I did some research and found that I may not have tightened the pre-load enough so I did that, and torqued the other two collars based on the manual.

Here is my question:
I got it aligned twice since the install: once before the wheels were mounted, then once after (got a freebie cause the steering wheel was off). The problem is that I do not know if by the time I went for the 2nd alignment the coilover had loosened itself or not.

Because I have no knowledge of this, I cannot "set it back to the height it was during the alignment" to make it ok as per my tech's words.

6 threads seem to be about half an inch, so how much will that have affected the toe?

Not sure if it's placebo, but the ride feels a little off to me. However, I'm not 100% certain for obvious reasons.

[shiumai]

Can't provide much input on what you've done, but when i got my flex Zs installed, i measured my ride height (to top of wheel arches) immediately after, and also a couple of weeks after, just to document the ride height in case anything loosened up. i also used a sharpie and put some 'witness marks' to indicate if the shock or collar turned. i check those marks periodically when i clean my car.

[ryoma]

if you tightened the lower collar properly, it should not be moving at all. however, if it still does move, I would suggest some loctite on the threads to keep the lower collar in place.

for the front, half an inch should not affect the toe THAT much, but it will still affect the toe. in the rear, it would be more dramatic though. I would still suggest you get your car at the proper height with loctite on the threads and get another alignment. over time, the extra toe will chew away at your tires but it won't be that big of a deal for the short term (less than a month with little freeway driving)

[spicyricecake]

I just bought these a month ago and I do not want to put loctite on it to seal the height... This time for sure I got the collars locked, so if it continues to lower itself I'm going to have to talk to gruppe-s about a return or replacement.

Really sucks cause I don't want to dump another 80 bucks for another alignment but better than premature wear on the tires i guess.

Originally Posted by ryoma

for the front, half an inch should not affect the toe THAT much, but it will still affect the toe. in the rear, it would be more dramatic though. I would still suggest you get your car at the proper height with loctite on the threads and get another alignment. over time, the extra toe will chew away at your tires but it won't be that big of a deal for the short term (less than a month with little freeway driving)

here, are you saying half an inch lowered in the front will affect the rear, or half an inch lowered in the rear would affect the rear toe? because the only coilover that was adjusted (forcefully) was the front right (single).

Not sure why one front coilover would affect the toe of the rear?

[ryoma]

Originally Posted by spicyricecake

I just bought these a month ago and I do not want to put loctite on it to seal the height... This time for sure I got the collars locked, so if it continues to lower itself I'm going to have to talk to gruppe-s about a return or replacement.

Really sucks cause I don't want to dump another 80 bucks for another alignment but better than premature wear on the tires i guess.



here, are you saying half an inch lowered in the front will affect the rear, or half an inch lowered in the rear would affect the rear toe? because the only coilover that was adjusted (forcefully) was the front right (single).

Not sure why one front coilover would affect the toe of the rear?

sorry if I was not clear. I meant that the front height would not affect camber/toe as much as the rear height would. although a difference of half an inch would still affect the front toe, it would not be as a dramatic of a difference as the rear if it was half an inch lower.

though, having your toe set properly will save your tires in the long run. but you won't damage your car too much if you drive locally on a slightly bad alignment. driving at high speeds will really mess up your tread. if you start noticing your TC or VSC kick in on slight turns, then that is when you know your alignment is really off.