coilovers fitted but same height?

Fri May 13, 2011 2:36 pm

Hi there
Im in need of some help from people who have fitted coilovers to their e30s before. I have just collected my E30 318is from the garage where it was having its suspension changed to some TA technix coilovers and the heights is exactly the same! My mechanic said that the coilovers are wound all the way down but just need time to settle...I dont believe that the suspension is gone "settle" by like 60-80mm...this is leading to make me think they havent been fit properly. Is this normal?

Many thanks in advance

Fri May 13, 2011 3:32 pm

where did u get them from? didnt know they did coilovers for the e30

Fri May 13, 2011 3:46 pm

i got them from ebay. They were actually hot tuning coilovers that I ordered but TA technix ones came. I thought this is because there all pretty much the same thing. I had all my bushes changed to polyurethane at the same time too.

Im quite stressed because the labour and parts weren't cheap and it looks exactly the same...

Fri May 13, 2011 3:58 pm

If you ordered Hot tunign coilover you should have had them delivered not TA technix, it is normal for suspension to take a short while to settle but not 60-80mm, normally when fitted it sits a bit high but after a couple of drives it should have settled around 10-15mm lower normally, but that does depend on the setup and make you have chosen.

Also garage probably wound them all the way up in error, check the settings yourself, see how its set.

Fri May 13, 2011 4:02 pm

cheers mate i have just checked on ebay and on the picture it says Hot tuning with Ta technix in little writing below it...I have sent them a message telling them the problem aswell. That's what I was thinking 60-80mm of "settling" is not possible...

ahh things are never straight forward...

anyone got any experience with budget coilovers on E30s or had this problem?

cheers

Fri May 13, 2011 4:11 pm

Have you jacked the car up and checked to see if the springs are wound all the way up or are they down?

Fri May 13, 2011 4:27 pm

For a start you've bought shit coilovers without understanding fully what they offer..

I would expect them to settle a bit. You never said what they height was before.. Oem?

Fri May 13, 2011 4:32 pm

I have had a look and the adjusting bit is all the way down. here are some pics...

front :

rear:

Fri May 13, 2011 5:14 pm

The rear is on max height..

Front is low as it can go. They are not proper coilovers, so you will not get as low with them.

Fri May 13, 2011 5:26 pm

yeh but they claim that its a 40-65mm drop rear and 40-80mm front so it doesnt make sence how the front is 0mm when its wound all the way down lol yeh they were OEM before.

Ive also seen other E30s on budget coilovers that are slammed on the floor. unless they gave me the wrong springs or shocks

?

do they look correctly installed?

Fri May 13, 2011 5:34 pm

hang on a second is it because at the front your meant to cut off the bit of the insert at the top so it looks like this :

Fri May 13, 2011 6:31 pm

fabsp wrote:hang on a second is it because at the front your meant to cut off the bit of the insert at the top so it looks like this :

thats a proper coilover set up not the hight adjustable ones that youve got ive got proper coilovers on mine all i can think of is that your springs are proberly oem hight and not lowering springs

these are mine proper coilovers

Fri May 13, 2011 6:50 pm

Like Dan has said, Not coil-overs in my opinion for a start.
Just adjustable spring perches.

Probably do have to cut off the original spring perches on the front though as at the moment there looks to be almost no travel in the shock and the spring perches are very far up on the strut compared to ones I have seen that fit ontop of the original spring perch.

Fri May 13, 2011 7:19 pm

cheers for the reponse mate!
those arent proper coilovers though there the same sort of thing that I have but the guy who installed them cut off the top bit of the shock housing (the round bit below the adjusting bit) and then slipped the shock in put the rest on top.
Although it sounds quite strange to have to cut these kind of things to me that does kind of make sence to my problem as if that bit is cut off the car will sit a good 60-70mm lower...
and I know these are budget or "shit" as previously stated coilovers and frowned upon as they perform no where near as good as items such as Gaz gold kits and bilsteins but I'm a student living away from home and believe me its not cheap! only reason I can fund my car really is by working weekends and stuff...
anyways help appreciated

anyone else know anything about this?

Fri May 13, 2011 7:48 pm

I don't believe you are supposed to cut anything with your setup.. I think you are paying a price.ffor buying cheap.. What do the instructions say? You'd been better off with a normal setup tbh. Even if it was 2nd hand

Just because those other ones are DIY doesn't make them non coilovers.

Oh and Gaz aren't great either..

Fri May 13, 2011 8:08 pm

yeh Ive been keeping a lookout for second hand decent branded coilovers but they hardly come up and when they do people are selling them not a lot cheaper then new.
ive brought some 16x8 and 16x9 wheels and they will look awful on the car with a fugly arch gap. This alongside my suspension and bushes being REALLY bad (doesnt look like they had been changed from factory!) made me bite the bullet and buy these along with a full polybush kit. I didnt want to go for springs because i change wheels quite often and need the flexibility.

Okay so basically your saying the blue ones are "proper" coilovers aswell and I cant replicate what he did?

So when they advertise as a 40-80mm drop what they really mean is a 80mm higher - stock height lool really weird because I had racelands on my old car and they did what they said on the tin.

Fri May 13, 2011 9:11 pm

How much were these anyway if you don't mind me asking?

Fri May 13, 2011 9:23 pm

fabsp wrote: Okay so basically your saying the blue ones are "proper" coilovers aswell and I cant replicate what he did?
.

You can replicate what the blue ones are.
But it's a case of taking the origional spring perch off, and sliding the threaded bar down to where the ABS clip is and welding it, and buying some proper coilover springs , cheapest from Faulkner springs,and getting the spring rates right too.

Fri May 13, 2011 9:28 pm

ross2009 wrote:
fabsp wrote:
thats a proper coilover set up not the hight adjustable ones that youve got ive got proper coilovers on mine all i can think of is that your springs are proberly oem hight and not lowering springs
these are mine proper coilovers

What discs are those Ross?

Fri May 13, 2011 9:47 pm

Just at a glance it looks like the perch has been fitted upside down, that is probably why they wont lower any more, makes sense to me looking at your picture.......hope this helps

Fri May 13, 2011 10:58 pm

yeh the height adjusting bit just seams to be sitting a lot higher then it should be and thats whats making me think cutting off the round perch will make it sit where its supposed to. So if I did this would the adjuster have to be welded to the shock housing? or would it sit on there if i left a tiny bit of it at the bottom like this :

cheers for the help really appreciate it

Fri May 13, 2011 11:05 pm

That's wrong, there is no way you're going to lower the car with the adjuster there.
You need to grind off whats left of the perch, and weld the threaded bar lower down, just above the little bracket.

Fri May 13, 2011 11:25 pm

okay so the perch has to be completely cut off up to the point where theres a small rivot/bump

?

and then the adjuster welded to that...

Sat May 14, 2011 12:06 am

Yes, clean off so you can slide the adjuster down and weld it.

Sat May 14, 2011 2:37 am

coilovers?????id be lookin for a refund m8or at least a shorter spring if u had enough travel on, and room round the strut and tha your supplier can provide them.gaz gha and fk highsports coilovers were best budget coilover setups i found at under £600 for gaz and £700 for fk's(slightly better setup using helper srings).ross 2009 any idea what spring rates your usin with m30 and gaz setup?

Sat May 14, 2011 11:55 am

okay mate I will drop the car off again and tell him what needs to be done and fingers crossed this time it wont come back higher then the stock suspension set up lol

I doubt shorter springs are gonna solve this dude the adjuster and spring just look like there sitting too high into the arch...

Im definitely gonna be writing a letter to hot tuning as they do not state at all in there advertisement that modification is required for them to fit.

Mon May 16, 2011 5:20 pm

These are the ones I'm using.

Mon May 16, 2011 9:23 pm

GCs Dave?

Mon May 16, 2011 9:30 pm

daymmm those look SICK! how much do those set a person back?

Tue May 17, 2011 12:25 am

BCs Rav.

About 780 euro... although my ones are a little bit cheaper as a friend is Irish distributor for them

30 way damping adjustment, camber adjustment (some versions have castor too) and ride height and spring tension obviously.

rubber or solid top mounts then and extra springs in any rate I you want are only 30 euro or something.

Tue May 17, 2011 12:29 am

fabsp wrote: Im definitely gonna be writing a letter to hot tuning as they do not state at all in there advertisement that modification is required for them to fit.

Hmmm.... now where have we heard that one before