Ok well this isn't exactly the kind of post I had wanted to post regarding my experience with the TEIN SS+ coilovers...but here it is anyways.
Installed TEIN SS+ coilovers, Ireland Engineering Adjustable Street/Race camber plates, IE lower control arms in the rear, and Alta adjustble endlinks fr/re back in Jan. Had the camber set to 0, strust set to 4 / 16 front and rear (with 16 being the stiffest). Have since changed to 1 on the fronts.
A few days after the install I had an issue with a clicking noise. With a little help from my friends ( that would be you guys
) I was able to pinpoint it as the top nut on the piston shaft backing out.
I only heard this on the left front so I proceeded to take it apart and lo and behold it was only hand tight. Put like 5 drops of blue loctite on the threads, backed the nut out a bit, and then spun it back down. Used one wrench to hold the shaft and a 19mm open ended wrench to tighten the nut (i.e. no power tools invovled at all).
A few weeks ago I started hearing it in the right front. Took it apart, it was loose, and did the same thing.
In between these two adjustments I went from a very low ride height that just cleared the tires to just slightly below stock. Off the top of my head I can only remember the # of turns on the coilovers - from 7 to 13. Car did not handle the same, obviously, but it was a much more comfortable ride.
Had an alignment done on Tuesday @ Mavis Discount Tre in preparation for track day. -2.0 in the front, -1.5 in the rear, stock caster/toe settings.
Drove the car from White Plains down to the Bronx to pick up a package @ Fedex that they couldn't deliver for some odd reason (
) and parked the car.
Picked up the package, pulled out, and heard a loud POP.
Pulled up to the light, heard another loud pop.
Turned left, going 3 mph and I heard an even louder SNAP, proceeded by clunk, clunk, clunk. Was barely able to pull over as the front right was slowly getting lower and lower.
Popped the hood and was able to wiggle the top of the piston shaft, still attached to the nut.
Jacked the car up immediately. Waited over 3 hours for the tow truck via Geico (I'm at 47K so I'm out of the MINI roadside) and towed it back home.
Here are some pics:
Top of IE plate
Bottom of IE plate
Shock Side View
Top view
On the flat bed
Dumped on my driveway
Ride height before when it was lower than present - kind of hard to compare to the pic on the flat bed but at least you get an idea.
I get into to work the next day and there's a flyer from Bavarian Auto. I was flipping through it nonchalantly and came across an article titled, ironically, " How easy is this? Do-it-yourself. DON'T OVE-TIGHTEN YOUR SHOCK NUTS" and proceeded to say the following:
Every year we receive a few phone calls from customers (or their technicans) whohave snapped off teh top of a shock rod by using an impact gun to tighten the top shock nuts. It should com as no surprise that this is not covered by any manufactuer's warranty...."
For all those out there that are using the IE plates - did you use one washer above the bearing and one below? I believe this may be one of the causes of my problems. When it was installed, two washers were used belo the bearing....
Secondly, I'd argue that the loosy-goosy strut nut caused the shock rod to have more play than normal, perhaps causing undue force on part of th rod against the edge of the bearing since it wasn't locked down by the nut. The rod snapped near the top of the bearing, but not right at the top with the nut flush with the top of the bearing.
Is it possible that I over-tightened it by hand? I wouldn't think that the loctite would have caused it to break.....
Could the alignment people have caused it to break? They weren't really sure of what they were doing and it's my fault for not pulling out of it at the first hint of doubt. I had to show them the 4 screws to loose the camber plate, as well as having to tell them to raise the car to loosen the load so that they could move the strut.
Is -2.0 degrees up front too agressive? I got to enjoy it for only about 10 minutes on the twisties between the alignment and the breakdown and man it was super grippy.
But, all in all, thank god nothing happened when I was on the highway or on a curve. If the strut had popped, I would have spun out, and could have injured/maimed/killed somebody and/or myself. I'm just grateful that it happened when I was going 3mph. I think I was super lucky there. With the tragedy at VT, having water damage to your basement (due to the noreaster) and having a shock rod snap isn't so bad.
I've already gotten a replacement from TEIN ($380 out of pocket) and will tackle it this weekend.
I still want to hear comments on what you think might have happened. Also, I want to prevent this from happening again. Obviously not going to make it to the track in this car (going, most likely, to take my wife's stock 06 MCS), but I need to get it ready for MOTD. God forbid anything happens on that road.
Any and all comments appreciated.
Thanks.
Shoe
