Going lower on Megans

[Tylerf]

I want to go lower (20-30mm, if possible) on the front and rear of my r53 on Megans. I pulled the front wheel off today to thread the strut down, only to find that it's as low as it will go. The only way I could go lower (at least in the front) would be to lower the spring collars and run 'negative preload'. Right now, the spring is just barely preloaded between the top hat and the collars when it's at full droop.

What's the consensus on threading the spring collars down a bit?

[glnr13]

or get higher rated and shorter springs from swift?

[Tylerf]

I'm on a tight budget. Like 'what can I do to my car for free' tight...

[glnr13]

be satisfied with what you have for now. save up for shorter springs with higher spring rates.

just making the springs go down lower on the shock body is not enough.
why?
1) springs are rated for a certain load and to accommodate a specific amount of travel
2) your shocks have limited travel, you're taking that away
3) what happens when you eliminate shock travel and ride on bump stops? blown shocks bro
4) hit a bump hard with no shock travel? risk snapping engine mounts, mushroomed towers, cracked subframe, shitty ride, shitty performance

i won't go so far as saying it's DANGEROUS! YOU'RE GONNA KILL SOMEONE OR YOURSELF! no, it's not that serious. but heed this warning: if you cheap out now, you could incur more expensive repairs. better to save up the measly $200-400 for the right springs or deal with blown megan shocks and a car that is immobile and/or sucks to drive.

and realistically, my suggestion is probably not even the best solution, you'd need a shorter shock AND springs.

it's too bad it's not a shock inside of a sleeve then you could just swap that bitch out with a shorter shock and a spacer and do exactly what you described up top.

[glnr13]

here's what you *could do if you haven't yet:

that big red collar that holds the spring up? you just need that.
disassemble your coilovers and remove the smaller red collar and the silver collar.
spin it all the way down and you'll have another 15-20mm? maybe?

[Tylerf]

Thanks for talking me out of that one. I guess those are all the things I knew would happen if I lowered the car more. It's good to have it spelled out though.

Maybe I'll just wash the damn thing...

[Tylerf]

That's the problem-- I can't thread the shock down anymore. It's bottomed out. I assume the sleeve it threads into is only threaded down to a certain point, and I've hit that.

[glnr13]

did you take out the other 2 collars already?

[Tylerf]

No, on the shock in the picture (same one I was messing with yesterday), I loosened and threaded the silver collar up to the red ones, which frees up the shock body to thread up and down in the grey sleeve. Only it won't go down. I can thread it up, but when I go back down it hits a definite stopping point.

[glnr13]

right, the threaded sleeve is maxed out but the spring collars are not. so now you bring the 2 red collars and the silver collar down.

[Tylerf]

But bringing the red collars down would make the spring loose in its perch. Which would cause that 'negative preload' situation. No?

[Rally]

Originally Posted by Tylerf

But bringing the red collars down would make the spring loose in its perch. Which would cause that 'negative preload' situation. No?

That's how most coilovers work. You can't really have negative preload....they just wouldn't be preloaded.

You can get helper springs to combat the looseness.

[Tylerf]

Thanks Rally. That's why I felt the need for quotes around 'negative' preload. I had seen the term somewhere and it never made sense.

I don't mind that the springs will be loose when the car is on a lift, so long as it won't cause any issues when the car is on the ground. Aside from having the shock sitting further into its stroke and having the car closer to the bump stumps, as mentioned above.

Speaking of low cars- Rally, you trimmed the inner lip of your arches on your clubman right?

[glnr13]

don't worry about the fender liners, let the wheels do the trimming.

don't worry about the springs being loose while on a lift, they won't come loose while on the road.
you'd have to catch air or nearly catch air for it to be an issue.

[Tylerf]

Got it. I just lowered it the rest of the way down. I should have realized that the whopping 1/4" I got was not going to affect anything too drastically. The car is sitting pretty now, and that'll have to do until I find the time to pull the struts out and remove a collar or two.

I did find a split/leaking CV boot. So that's neat.