Coilovers lowered now bouncy ride

[Lib99]

Hey guys im quite new to coilover suspension
And have recently bought bc racing coilovers for my gen 3
Wagon, i have a pretty close fitment with 18x8.5 +40 225/40 tyres, when i first installed
I could use the dampening to harden or softern the ride but once i lowered to my height atm
The ride became bouncy and using te dampening wouldnt make much difference, any help
Would be greatly appreciated i have had a wheel alignment and they told me i was too low which i
Dont think i am (side skirt120mm of ground). It feel like im just using spring would this be correct

Thanks dyl.

[Mat04]

Did you adjust the spring tension when lowering your car? If you wound the spring nut up to go lower you made the spring tighter.

[zch91]

You need to fix the preload on the spring. Sounds like you moved the top locking rings down instead of loosening the bottom locking ring and turning the whole strut down.

0 preload is when the spring has no load on it and is snug (tight in there but not compressed) between the locking ring and the top hat. In most cases (as far as I can tell) you would run 4-5mm of preload, which means tightening the locking ring up a further 4-5mm from when the spring is snug. From there just tighten the smaller locking ring onto it to make sure it can't move.

The way you'se supposed to adjust the ride height is to loosen the very bottom locking collar, get your Big C Spanner and put it on the very top locking collar and turning the whole assembly down. This way your spring does not change in height, only the shock body 'screws' down into the lower shock mount.

Pre-load: (Skip to 2:30 as he also shows you how to change springs)



Height:

[Lib99]

Thanks for reply guys, i loosend the bottom ring and brought it up 2cm, then turned the top ring clockwise(left) which
Made the whole strut turn with it, im guessin it has somethingto do with preload but dont know if i should try and play around with it after wheel alignment?

[05GTLIB]

Hey mate your not riding on the bumpstops in the rear are you? Might be worth a check ( i actually trimmed mine slightly )

[Lib99]

Hey mate your not riding on the bumpstops in the rear are you? Might be worth a check ( i actually trimmed mine slightly )

Nah buddy ive trimmed them well enough because thats what i thought it was but still didnt help

[zch91]

Check your pre-load mate, that sounds like your issue. Also tell the tyre shop to have a cup of concrete if they reckon your car is too low

[Lib99]

Check your pre-load mate, that sounds like your issue. Also tell the tyre shop to have a cup of concrete if they reckon your car is too low

Thanks mate should i try make it so theres 0 pre-load ?

[rooby]

Generally the best is the smallest amount of preload you can get so that the spring is firmly held in place.

I think mine have bout 2mm tops.