i was looking above the tires in the front, and i see the factory spring right above the wheel. the coilover replaces this, right?

it looks as if i lower it any, it will hit the wheel?

 

Uhhh....what? I cant picture what you are saying but a true coilover replaces the whole spring and strut. On SOME coilover kits....you can only go down so far on the threads before you have tire or wheel clearance issues. I ran into that with my rears on the PSS9s.

 

ill have to get a pic later, but if i look above my front wheels, in the wheel well, i can see the spring up there. it looks as if i drop the car barely any, its going to hit the tire. im running 18x7.5 ET 45

 

It might be because of your offset. Im running 18x7.5 ET 42 but I have 5mm spacers on the front...so I dont know what that makes it. I cant remember if it goes up or down (47/37). Either way...that setup should be fine with no rubbing.

 

well im getting new rims soon so ill take a pic later today of what im talking about, and ill install the coilovers on my current rims and go from there if i need to change the offset.

 

Could you provide a little more information, What kind of coilovers did you put on ?

 

stock right now. i ordered stratmosphere v-maxx coilovers. ill get a pic today after work of the spring im talking about.

 

++1

any spring your seeing will be replaced by the coilover...unless you're looking at the break calipers

info nedded to know if you'll rub:
type of coilovers?
wheel size?
wheel et?
tire size?
how low are you gonna go?

potential issues:

-fronts may require spacers if your at or near oem et (due to rubbing new strut bodies on the coils)

-rears may rub if you go low and go to lesser et (moving the wheel away from the center of the car)

there is actually quite a bit of info here on nam addressing each of these issues

good luck!

 

Like I told him...he wont know about his particular tire setup until he puts the coils on. Its a trial fit...

 

lol i konw what caplipers look like!

1. stratmosphere v-maxx
2. 18x7.5
3. et45
4. 215/35/18
5. as low as i can

 

I run 18x7.5 et45 and have the same clearance issue with my Variant coilovers. Find spacers or keep the ride height up.

 

what you are talking about if i am not mistaken is the clearence between the lower spring perch and the tyre?

The spring perch is FIXED onto the damper and the damper (shock) is a SOLID piece, which is fixed to the hub assembly, lowering springs only make the springs shorter and will NOT effect the height between the lower spring perch and the top of the tyre.

Help you at all?

 

^ What Floof said...I was just going to say that you are looking at the lower spring perch. Yes this piece is very close to the wheels. But like he said, it is fixed. This pieces moves up and down with the suspension, and wheel, so this distance never changes throughout the suspension travel.

 

ah, that answers my question then

 

With that hardware setup you'll be able to lower the car at least 2.0" without clearance issues. That said, the V-maxx are designed to lower the car about 1.6" and maintain stock levels of compression travel. Lowering the car any more than that and you'll start decreasing ride comfort on large bumps/speedbumps/obstacles.

 

ride comfort has already left the building with all the weight ive added, and my low profile tires

im glad you mentioned i should be able to get at least 2.0 without clearance issues, becuase im aiming for about a 2" drop, more if possible

the rear is a little lower already becuase my stereo, but i want it lower

 

you're gonna have issues with the rear arch....but it's nothing a little (or perhaps a modest amount of) dremeling can't handle.

 

Adding spacers will lower the offset, so 5mm spacers on et42 will take it down to et37.

 

and just to clarify, this lower et = moves the wheel towards the outside

late edit:

fyi my 215/45-17 on 17x7 et 37 rub the rear arch at 1.5 inch drop (there was no rub with the stock 17x7 et 48 with 5mm spacer)..it can get tight back there!

 

Hurry up Pimp, I'm waiting for you to install and review these coilovers so i can decide if I should get them or not
Heard lots from r56 but not many r53 owners.

 

sorry, i havent been on here the last few days, i almost got fired at work becuase i guess between here and all the other forums i go to, uses up a ton of bandwith and the IT guy got MAD, so i cant use the internet at work anymore unless its work related :(

i cant install these myself, i need someone to help me that has done it before. i know a guy with a MINI that im gonna call

 

are they harder to install than springs? if not then i suggest just looking at a DIY thread... springs were one of the easiest things ive replaced next to the antenna lol

im making an assumption that an r53 is similar, but i dunno

 

I believe installing coilovers is just like replacing the struts, which by extension is a lot like replacing the springs.

 

ouch, i wouldnt think this site would use that much bandwith. maybe its the other sites you frequent. I hope i never get told to use internet for work related activities...id die from boredom.

But yes, coilover install is basically removing your spring and struts, and replacing them with the coilovers.

 

Jack up car, place on jack stands.

Take off wheels.

Undo sway bar endlinks from the struts in front, from the rear trailing arms in back.

For the fronts, remove the hoses and wires from the strut body.

Undo lower pinch bolt.

Work steering knuckle off strut. This may take some work.... Especially on the driver side. There are a lot of creative ways that this has been done, read up on a lot of the threads about doing this stuff to get some hints.

Undo the top three bolts at the strut tower inside the engine compartment. Watch out, the strut is heavy!

For the rears, you take the stuff off the strut body (brake lines etc.)

Undo the one big bolt that attaches it to the trailing arm.

Undo the two bolts at the top of the strut that hold it to the body. It will lower out, and it's not as heavy as the fronts. There are no issues on getting this one out, no special creativity needed.

Depending on the type of the coil-over you have, you may need some parts from the stock struts. Check with the install directions... In the front you may need to cut the bump stops and re-use them, you will probably need th strut guide (plate that attaches to the strut tower). It really depends on what comes with your set up. For the rears, you will need the bushing plate that attaches to the body shell, and will probably need to re-use the bump stops, but once again, this all depends on what comes with your kit.

There is a bit of energy still in the springs, but not a lot so you can take the struts apart without a spring compressor. Depending on what springs you have, and how you have the heigth set for the new coil overs, you may need to compress the spring a bit, but I"d guess not. With the springs I'm running, I actually needed soft helper springs to prevent issues when the strut is at maximum extension.

Installation is the reverse, only easier!

First time you do this, it takes about half a day. After you do it a few times, you'll get it down to about an hour and a half for all four corners.

Matt