Coilover Adjustment quick question

[pro]

I recently had someone install coilovers on my E39, and had a quick question.

When the car is jacked up, is the spring supposed to be this loose, or should the spring be tight within the lockring?





I was about to lower the car some more in the front, and it seems relatively easy----just wanted to know.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Yes and no. The spring is supposed to be tightened to a certain point giving it preload, for example BC coilovers use 4mm of preload out of the box. However, with some cars you can't achieve a great deal of ride height adjustment without loosening the spring allowing the shock to actually compress more giving you further drop.

So basically your car was already as low as it could go while retaining preload so the spring was loosened in order to lower your car further.

[Jesus Christ]

That spring should be preloaded a couple MM like the second pic. You lower the car by threading the shock body in to the lower mount, not by lowering the spring. Someone who isnt familiar with that style suspension can easily confuse that.

what coils are those?

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Whoops, forgot to mention that you thread the shock down before you start loosening springs.

They appear to be BCs

[pro]

thanks guys. I'm having some difficulty spinning the shock body down into the lower mount. It is my understanding that I should spin the top collar to the left, and that should spin the entire shock body down. The shock body however is A) not moving or B) very difficult to move.

That spring should be preloaded a couple MM like the second pic. You lower the car by threading the shock body in to the lower mount, not by lowering the spring. Someone who isnt familiar with that style suspension can easily confuse that.

what coils are those?

The two pictures are the same, I haven't made any adjustments. The only difference is in the second picture, i lifted the shock to show that there is some spring movement.

Whoops, forgot to mention that you thread the shock down before you start loosening springs.

They appear to be BCs

Yes, they are.

[Xtra Big Kahuna]

Your shocks might already be at the bottom of the mounts which would explain the springs being loosened. Can you take a picture of the lower mount?

[Jesus Christ]

Sounds like the shock is bottomed out in the mount, so he lowered the spring to get the desired ride height. That's a no no with this style suspension, but a lot of people do that with BC because they can't get low.

Half of my business is unhappy BC customers.

[Zic]

.

[pro]

Your shocks might already be at the bottom of the mounts which would explain the springs being loosened. Can you take a picture of the lower mount?

Sounds like the shock is bottomed out in the mount, so he lowered the spring to get the desired ride height. That's a no no with this style suspension, but a lot of people do that with BC because they can't get low.

Half of my business is unhappy BC customers.

Before I got the BC's, I contacted someone about BWS via PM either here or on bimmerforums, but didn't get a response lol. BWS was my first choice.



I doubt it's bottomed out, with the seting above this ^ is how low it is in the front. I won't be able to get the wheel off til later this week, so i'll take pictures then. thanks for the help so far

[Jesus Christ]

Before I got the BC's, I contacted someone about BWS via PM either here or on bimmerforums, but didn't get a response lol. BWS was my first choice.



I doubt it's bottomed out, with the seting above this ^ is how low it is in the front. I won't be able to get the wheel off til later this week, so i'll take pictures then. thanks for the help so far

Sorry about that, don't know how that could have happened unless it was on BFc. Can't say i go there much anymore.

But if you say they aren't bottomed out in the mount, then they were installed wrong. Put some pre load on the front spring, and lower it the correct way and you should be good.