Okay guys, I have a weird issue setting height my ST Coilovers..

[Dan37BRZ]

After installing my ST coilovers at the factory default setting, I measured my fender to the ground height and it comes out to be EXACTLY 24.5" all around when I'm parked on the street. My street is pretty flat, when I pulled it into the garage I noticed that the passenger side rear is sitting much higher, and the driver side rear is tucked. I measured it and sure enough the passenger side rear is at 25.3" when in the garage, so it's almost a full inch higher than the rest. WTH?

I know streets are all not going to be level so I went to a couple parking lots and a few other streets to take measurements. Whenever I'm not in the garage, the car is exactly level, when I'm in my garage the passenger rear is almost an inch higher. Is my garage floor whack?

Anybody have similar issues?

[Cole]

Seriously? If when you measure at various locations, they're all the same, and only one spot has a different measurement, you're going to question whether or not that one different measurement is the rule rather than the exception?

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

[jamal]

I prefer to set and measure heights on scales and a perfectly level surface. But the fender heights don't end up exactly even that way...

[richie incognito]

There might be a rift in time and space in your garage. You should have that checked out.

[n0thing]

Regarding height adjustment on coilovers (ignoring corner balance), should it be measured at the coilover threads or fender height? technically it doesn't matter?

[cjd]

Originally Posted by n0thing

Regarding height adjustment on coilovers (ignoring corner balance), should it be measured at the coilover threads or fender height? technically it doesn't matter?

Body panels aren't guaranteed exactly the same, especially f/r. If tires are included, any variance in pressure adds to the potential difference.

That's not to say you can't use these reference points, you just have to be consistent.

Spring perch has no variation, but the springs themselves might.

A smooth/flat surface is the best way to measure, pretty flat doesn't totally cut it. Exactly flat is the best way, alignment rigs are level, and of course anyone doing a corner balance will be on a leveled surface. Garage floors aren't, but are close usually.

C

[Twinz]

+1 ^ When I actually got a laser level and measured my garage floor (that I thought was flat) I found that the slope of the floor put the lowest corner a couple inches below the highest and no two corners were level with each other. You need all 4 tires to be level with each other before you mess with coilovers. You can make do with whatever situation you have, but it's unlikely to be right.

[smg1138]

I have RCE Tarmac 2's and gave up on trying to get them even to the ground. Seems like every time I adjusted one corner it would affect the other end of the car somehow. Now I just aim for keeping them about 1" lower than stock by measuring at the spring perch. For me that equals 1.25" of thread in front and 3" of thread in the back.

[Twinz]

I learned a lot about this subject when prepping my 350Z for STU. Here's a copy/paste from my build thread on my350z:

Corner balancing: I didn't even understand what corner balancing was until I borrowed my club's scales and and spent a weekend in my garage with google and youtube:
My results, with me in the car and 1/2 tank of gas.


Corner balancing is apparently more like "leveling" a dinner table than "balancing" weight distribution. The weight at each corner of a car, on a level surface, is more of an indicator of the suspension's length/height at each corner than an "end" unto itself.

A car with poor corner balancing is similar to 4-legged dinner table that can rock back and forth when two opposing corners' legs are longer than one or both of the other two. But, whereas a table will rock back and forth over the long-legged axis, and alternately lift the two shorter leggs off the ground, making the issue obvious, the springs on a car will keep all four tires in contact with the ground and mask the issue.

The 4 individual scales, and the resulting weights, show how much force each tire is putting on the ground while at rest.

Less force (weight) on a cross-weight (DF+PR vs PF+DR) means one or both of the "table legs" are too short relative to the heavier cross weight. Or, conversely, the heavier cross-weight has a "leg" or "legs" that are to long.

This exercise also showed me how evil sway bar pre-load is. The sway bar tries to make both sides the same and resists any difference between the two sides. So as soon as you sit in the car, the sway bar starts transferring force from one side to the next. After balancing the car without the sway bar connected and then connecting it, I found the sway bar added ~60-70lbs (can't remember exactly) to a single corner once I sat in the car....Now I have adjustable endlinks, which I installed while my weight was in the driver's seat.

*note* a car can have a perfect 50/50 corner balance and not be level. In fact, small rake adjustments made big handling differences on the Z. Fender gap was always a secondary consideration when I setup my coilovers, but I did try to get the left/right fender gaps close to symmetrical without screwing up the cross weights.

[TylerLieberman]

Originally Posted by Dan37BRZ

Whenever I'm not in the garage, the car is exactly level, when I'm in my garage the passenger rear is almost an inch higher. Is my garage floor whack?

Anybody have similar issues?

Just an FYI: this should probably be posted in the other section, since this is really an architectural question.

Can you post up the blueprints/designs to your house? We can probably give you an answer if we have more information on the foundation the house was built on.