Hi All.
Installed a set of Greene Performance Coilovers on my R53. For those unfamiliar with these, they're BC Racing Coilovers, custom valved, with Swift Springs. I have a few questions for this awesome forum:

1. My mechanic says the rears cannot be adjusted any lower (see photos).There is threading left, but I was under the impression that the entire threaded part can turn into the lower mount until there's no more threading showing. Does anyone know if this is supposed to be the case?

2. Because the rears could not be lowered any more, we matched the fronts to the rear ride height. The fronts can stil be lowered. The measurement from the ground to the top of the wheel well is within 1cm from front to back, but the gap between the tire and the top of the wheel well is much larger (+1" more on the front than the rear)

3. The gap looks wrong/ugly. I think it should be lower, especially on the front. Because the car is technically close to being "even" from asphalt to top of wheel well, I'm wondering if the front is supposed to be lower (from the factory) to fill in that gap. Is an R53 supposed to have a slight front rake to it? I believe some BMW's do.

Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to figuring this one out.

 

I’ve seen a few cars with those coilovers and they didn’t have gaps like that. I would contact Colin at Greene Performance to get the answers directly from the guy who designed/spec’d them.

I think you’re right about the way they are supposed to adjust, but not positive. You can also check the other forum as a few people are running those and other parts from Greene Performance.

 

That's not right.

 

Are the springs basically unloaded with the coilover off the car? If they are threaded all the way down into the strut mount, maybe you have a metric *uckload of preload on the springs instead thus showing all that thread. There should prpbably be threads showing within the springs....not just the rubber boots.....Does it also ride like poo? rubber poo...lol


Might need to lower the lower spring perches like so. See the threads behind the springs:
Just enough so that the spring is barely compressed without the weight of the car on them.

 

Colin is a great guy. I did reach out to him, but unfortunately, I believe he's at the Mini's on the Dragon right now. I'm sure he'll return my call when he gets back, but right now, the car is in the air so I figured I'd just reach out to the forum and see what I could find out from the group.

 

Yep. I see your point about the threads showing within the springs. The preload was set by tightening the perch by hand until it wouldn't turn anymore, then wrenching it another 4mm. Note that I was not on site to witness that adjustment being made. The ride is firm but not terrible.

 

Sounds like the right way....just seems off.

The bottom spring perch should just not be up that close to the top of the threaded strut body....I guess it could be if the springs themselves are just that short in length, but even looking at this random set for sale...as it had come off of someones car...can see what would equate to much less preload / spring length / I dunno. I could also be looking at the pics wrong. I had BCs before and if I had the preload right, and not even with them threaded all the way down in the mount, the car was SA-LAMMED. That is the beauty of the BC style units.

You mention not being on site to see the adjustment made...I'd certainly question it...Many people have "adjusted" these types of coilovers not even knowing the preload and strut height were separate things. I admittedly, was one of those people once...cranking up the preload thinking I was raising the car lol.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ioner-kit.html

 

Yeah I agree - I didn't think the bottom spring perch should be that high either. It looks wrong to me but I'm trying to confirm if that's the way it's supposed to be or if I'm missing something. I'd really like to see if anyone can post a pic of their current setup so I can compare the two.

I did post these questions on Motoring Alliance and got some good advice over there as well:

- In the rear, is my bottom spring perch way too close to the top of the threaded strut body (the springs are all the way up around the rubber boots with no thread showing behind the springs). Is this normal?

- Why can't the rears be lowered any more than they are? What would cause this? (Again, not verified by me personally but will probably check today or tomorrow).

 

My rears are higher than the fronts. If you look at the MINI JCW race team cars they are set up with the rears higher than the front. A friend says with the rear higher the car rotates better and he does both AX along with tracking.

Would think the rear spring perch location is relative to the type of shock but can tell you on my Koni Coilovers the rears perches are at 6 5/8" from the center of the bolt hole to the top of the perch. At that setting they are at the stock oem shock set perch point.

I measure from the floor to the arch, have 24" at the front and 24 1/2" at the back.

 

For initial ride height set up try this.

Loosen all spring tension, then set initial tension of 2 to 3 turns from first spring contact. (spring doesn't loosely wiggle any more)

Measure both front from spring top cone to spring perch to make sure they are equal. (keep this measurement for later use)

Set strut length (adjusting lower mounts) by measuring stock length struts and subtracting 1-1.5 inches (this is usually a good starting point).

Make sure both fronts are the same length and both rears are the same length.

When you set the car on the ground for the first time measure how much compression you get in the spring.

If you get more than 1/3 of the total measurement that was taken originally adjust the preload (tighten spring perches) to reduce that sag to under 1/3 of the total spring height.

This is not a ride height adjustment, this is to insure you lose as little travel as possible.

If the vehicle is not low enough or too high-

Adjust the strut length. You do the length first as not to lose any travel in the suspension. Make sure both sides are the same length.

If you do not have enough adjustment left to get to the desired ride height, you can then start to loosen the spring perches to release spring preload to lower or tighten to lift. Do this in very small adjustments and do it equally side to side.

-Please remember the front wheel well is physically larger than the rear so use the lower rocker sill line to level the car, NOT wheel well gap!-

-If looking for the "Rally Look" pay close attention to CV angle at full droop!-

When you're done go directly to the alignment shop of your choosing.

If looking for optimum performance also have the car corner balanced by an experienced shop.