Spec B Posted July 2, 2007 Author Share Posted July 2, 2007 What are the drawbacks on having the softest spring setup? I think the biggest draw back is probably a tiny bit more body roll..but the advantage is a better ride. I believe anything softer and the suspension will have the potential to bottom out.. Even with the 6/8K setup the ride is far from harsh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hal9e3 Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 Spent some more time driving the BRs over a variety of roads yesterday and I'm liking them more and more, even if my initial enthusiasm for their ride is waning a bit. They damp out the smaller, smoother stuff pretty well, but sharp-edged bumps like uneven expansion strips or concrete and small potholes where the top level of asphalt has been knocked off are definitely noticeable. As a point of reference I consider the new 335i suspension as good as it gets in terms of ride/handling tradeoff. Plus, I'm probably old enough to be your dad:icon_mrgr Of course, w/ the BRs all is forgiven after the first fast sweeper:) Another unexpected bonus is the improvement in steering accuracy. I think this may be responsible for my confidence at increased speeds thru well-known bends. The car's line is much more precise, and I didn't have a Sennaectomy in the last few days, so it's gotta be the BRs! I have the Whiteline STi steering rack bushings and Fulcrum high offset LCA bushings on my car and the BRs made more of a difference than those two modes put together. At our GTG yesterday a couple of guys were riding w/ me and I decided I wanted to see how dialing back the damping would drive. We stopped and set the car to 5 clicks from full soft all the way around. Turns out my car wasn't on 10 clicks from full soft after all - every corner was different and between 7 to 15! Anyway, after setting it to 5 all around I wasn't as happy with the damping, especially the rear. I think I may go to 7 fr/ 10 rr and see how that works. Thanks for pointing out that ride height can be adjusted w/o removing the shocks. One of the guys at the GTG had MRs on his car and pointed this out as well. That's a relief! I still have plenty to do - alignment, ride height, tire pressures, damping fine-tuning - but I'm sure these adjustments will only improve things. Stay tuned... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted July 5, 2007 Author Share Posted July 5, 2007 I adjusted the ride hieght on mine yesterday...very easy to do! The biggest pain is removing the wheel..and getting them all even. There is no reference point, so it is a lot of trial and error to get the drop even all the way around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hal9e3 Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 Hmm, we seem to have a very different definition of 'easy'. I totally agree on the fronts, but the rears are a royal PITA. The collars are much lower than in the front and with all the extra H/W - control arms, hard brake lines, etc. - it's a lot more difficult to find a clear area to rotate them. I was able to very easily rotate the fronts 1/4 turn at a time, and had room to do 1/2 turn. In the rear I had to rotate them 1/8 turn at a time. That's probably why I went the wrong way on my first attempt:( After dropping the front another 1/2" and raising the rear 1/4" I'm very close. On my wagon w/ 7k rear springs the rear is as high as it can go and still meet the minimum threading requirement (25mm), and I only have about a 1" gap between fender and tire. That's fine for me, but if you have a wagon, want these C/Os and want any more gap than that you'll need to go w/ 8k springs. I'm thinking about 1/4" more drop in front and it'll be just right. For side-to-side comparison just measure the distance between the ride height collar and the small preload locking collar. That should get you very close. For front-to-back balance you can make a before and after measurement, or go by the number of turns. 1 full turn = 2mm, so 3 full turns ~= 1/4". This is only a guideline however; measuring the drop after reinstalling the wheels AND test driving the car is the only way to be sure it's where you want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hal9e3 Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted July 5, 2007 Author Share Posted July 5, 2007 The rears were a little bit more difficult, but not too bad...I worked the collars from the backside..not a lot of room but I managed to get it done in about 5 minutes more than the fronts. The softer spring may give you a little less room to work down there. I ended up measuring the center of the wheel to the fender, making the hieght adjustment, installing the wheel and remeasuring again. Not a very scientific way of doing it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hal9e3 Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 How to see if you're meeting the minimum thread insertion requirement: Front - stick a ruler up thru the bottom of the strut bracket until it the end hits the threaded body. You should measure at least 2" to the bottom of the strut bracket. Rear - look thru the capsule-shaped holes in the shock bottom so you're looking level w/ the ground. You should see at least 1 of the shock body threads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hal9e3 Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 I ended up measuring the center of the wheel to the fender, making the hieght adjustment, installing the wheel and remeasuring again. Not a very scientific way of doing it! Actually, that's the best way:icon_mrgr Measuring the collar spacing keeps you from having to put the wheel back on and dropping the car, but it's not as accurate. I found that changing the collar spacing by a given amount didn't necessarily change the ride height by the same amount. This is probably due to the fact that the struts/shocks aren't exactly perpendicular to the ground, or perhaps some other, more subtle factor that eludes me:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Its because the shock isnt the outermost point of the suspension arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05_LGT Posted July 12, 2007 Share Posted July 12, 2007 Nice...although I am happy with my current 6 click from softest settings, I think I will try 10 tomorrow. Just a little chime in on the BC's....over the weekend I drove Spec B's SpecB:lol: and have nothing but prasies for those shocks. I would almost say that if he would've changed out his prior suspension set up ( bils with h-techs) with out telling me I probably wouldnt have noticed the difference. The car rides great...over city bumps and highway expansion joints there is some noise but i think its only noticable becasue its a different noise rather then a louder noise. My overall impression is that the cars' current setup is very suitable for daily driving (dialed in at 10) with hardly any compromise to ride or kidneys:lol: I'm curious though to see an increase in the "dialed in" number across the board or even just bumping up the stiffness in the rears. ( so it doesnt squat as much under heavy accel.) On a side note JG..do you want to donate $$ to the 05_lgt BC fund, you could help a handling starved car find its way through dangerous apexs:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 Thanks R...I will contribute a free install once you get them! Here are some pics...after I adjusted the height. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMPORTIMAGE Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 spec b...wow your car looks great...and super clean! 1-941-257-9618 http://www.importimageracing.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KartRacerBoy Posted July 15, 2007 Share Posted July 15, 2007 spec b...wow your car looks great...and super clean! Kissup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 Nah...I think he is right! It does look pretty good.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubLo Posted August 6, 2007 Share Posted August 6, 2007 Funny. I find dialing in the rear ride-height really easy - sort of. The real PITFA is jacking up the car, removing the lower bolt, and doing my best to line up the holes to put it back in (the worst part - ugh). The car has to be on a jack stand. Then, I have to jack up the shock (+a small wooden block), manipulate it back and forth to finally line it up with the control arm - Ugh!!! PITA. I went through this 3 or 4 times with each corner!!!! But I guess I should just accept it as this is not something which will be done again or often. Now I don't know why you're having such a hard time adjusting the height in the rear once you've done all that. Basically, I just push the bottom of the shock inward an inch or so away from the control arm and spin. No biggie. I have to say... I've yet to get an alignment and have driving 100 miles. I know , I know, bad idea. I'm getting aligned this weekend. I haven't dialed in my dampening yet either (this weekend too). But crap. I'm in love with the way improved handling improved handling and massively improved looks (thanks to custom ride height). It's noticeably rougher then my Bilstein/H-tech setup but again, I haven't dialed it in yet. I do feel suddenly as if I'm in some sort of race car! I love these things! ________________________________________________ [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1980"]'05 BSM OBXT Row-your-own, W.I.P. :rolleyes:[/URL] [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1242"]'06 Shrek B # 64 - The car the wife loved to hate :( Sold...[/URL] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted August 7, 2007 Author Share Posted August 7, 2007 Funny. I find dialing in the rear ride-height really easy - sort of. The real PITFA is jacking up the car, removing the lower bolt, and doing my best to line up the holes to put it back in (the worst part - ugh). The car has to be on a jack stand. Then, I have to jack up the shock (+a small wooden block), manipulate it back and forth to finally line it up with the control arm - Ugh!!! PITA. I went through this 3 or 4 times with each corner!!!! But I guess I should just accept it as this is not something which will be done again or often. Now I don't know why you're having such a hard time adjusting the height in the rear once you've done all that. Basically, I just push the bottom of the shock inward an inch or so away from the control arm and spin. No biggie. I have to say... I've yet to get an alignment and have driving 100 miles. I know , I know, bad idea. I'm getting aligned this weekend. I haven't dialed in my dampening yet either (this weekend too). But crap. I'm in love with the way improved handling improved handling and massively improved looks (thanks to custom ride height). It's noticeably rougher then my Bilstein/H-tech setup but again, I haven't dialed it in yet. I do feel suddenly as if I'm in some sort of race car! I love these things! ^^ Dude...I hope I am reading your post incorrectly, you did not need to remove the lower bolt to adjust the height! All you needed to do was remove the wheel and adjust..removing that lower bolt is a PITA...I am sorry you did all that work for the ride height adjustment! You should really dial in the dampening to (at the very least) make them consistent settings left to right. My setup came out of the box with each shock set at a different stiffness. I got about 100 miles without an alignment either, I want to make sure I am 100% happy with the ride height before I take it in..I need to raise the rear just a tad this weekend. The ride has gotten a little stiffer on mine too as I put more miles on them..not harsh but definitely stiffer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubLo Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 :lol: You read correctly!!! How'd you dop that??? Adjust the height without spinning one end of the coilover??? I used the spanner wrench to loosen the nut, spun the bottom around to the height I wanted, re-tightened, bolt up again, put wheel on, lower car, measure, and repeat. Sigh... I feel like an ass now. Went through unnecessary pain in adjusting height. Yeah. Time is limited with a little guy who needs lots of attention. Gonna dial in dampening soon. ^^ Dude...I hope I am reading your post incorrectly, you did not need to remove the lower bolt to adjust the height! All you needed to do was remove the wheel and adjust..removing that lower bolt is a PITA...I am sorry you did all that work for the ride height adjustment! You should really dial in the dampening to (at the very least) make them consistent settings left to right. My setup came out of the box with each shock set at a different stiffness. I got about 100 miles without an alignment either, I want to make sure I am 100% happy with the ride height before I take it in..I need to raise the rear just a tad this weekend. The ride has gotten a little stiffer on mine too as I put more miles on them..not harsh but definitely stiffer. ________________________________________________ [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1980"]'05 BSM OBXT Row-your-own, W.I.P. :rolleyes:[/URL] [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1242"]'06 Shrek B # 64 - The car the wife loved to hate :( Sold...[/URL] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubLo Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 This is what happens when you don't RTFM!!!! :lol: At least I can laugh about it! http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61787&page=18 In all fairness to myself, I didn't have this information (it wasn't posted) until after installation and height adjustment. No documentation in the box. Hindsight... ________________________________________________ [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1980"]'05 BSM OBXT Row-your-own, W.I.P. :rolleyes:[/URL] [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1242"]'06 Shrek B # 64 - The car the wife loved to hate :( Sold...[/URL] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted August 7, 2007 Author Share Posted August 7, 2007 True...I did not get any documentation either. The whole shock body spins when you keep everything bolted on, not hard to do. At least you got it dialed in right and your happy..thats all that matters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMPORTIMAGE Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 yeah, they never seem to come with any install instructions in the box...(mostly because bc says that if you cant install them without instructions then you shouldnt be installing them) (i've seen some pretty botched installs!...from "professional" shops) cant wait to get these on my ride 1-941-257-9618 http://www.importimageracing.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poopy Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 This is what happens when you don't RTFM!!!! :lol: At least I can laugh about it! http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61787&page=18 In all fairness to myself, I didn't have this information (it wasn't posted) until after installation and height adjustment. No documentation in the box. Hindsight... hey sublo, i live in astoria as well. i was thinking about getting the BC's, maybe i can check out your car? pm me if we can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBLU24 Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 lets have an Avenue Cafe meet and drive each others' cars lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubLo Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 lets have an Avenue Cafe meet and drive each others' cars lol Okey doke. Although, I much prefer Athens and Grand a close second Let me know when, and I'm in! ________________________________________________ [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1980"]'05 BSM OBXT Row-your-own, W.I.P. :rolleyes:[/URL] [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1242"]'06 Shrek B # 64 - The car the wife loved to hate :( Sold...[/URL] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubLo Posted August 7, 2007 Share Posted August 7, 2007 hey sublo, i live in astoria as well. i was thinking about getting the BC's, maybe i can check out your car? pm me if we can Anytime! I'll be home tonight at about 6:30. PM me if you want to get together. I'm off tomorrow all day if you guys are around. Maybe we should just hit up the SQC meet in Whitestone tonight.... Poopy, you upgraded your turbo didn't you? I'm well behind you guys. Gotta catch you both ________________________________________________ [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1980"]'05 BSM OBXT Row-your-own, W.I.P. :rolleyes:[/URL] [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1242"]'06 Shrek B # 64 - The car the wife loved to hate :( Sold...[/URL] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spec B Posted August 7, 2007 Author Share Posted August 7, 2007 ^^ I just got my TMIC to try to keep up with you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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