Hey guys,

I installed a set of slightly used coilovers the other week and just got a chance to drive the car around the block. I noticed some things which have me concerned.

First, it seems like the rear right wheel has almost no grip any more, driving in my gravel driveway it was spinning from time to time. More pronounced is when making right hand turns on the road( like from a stop sign) the rear right wheel is spinning under normal acceleration.

I noticed that when I initially installed the coilovers that the ride heights were very different from side to side in the back with the coilovers set the same and the car on the ground. The drivers side was much lower( more than 1" lower) when they were both bottomed out so I raised the drivers side up to match the passengers side. In doing so I noticed the big difference in the wheels when the car is up on jack stands, the drivers side wheel hangs much lower than the passengers. I imagine this is because the passenger's coilover is still bottomed out and the drivers side is jacked up to match when it's on the ground.


So i have two things bugging me.

1) I am concerned about the fact that I have to have one side way jacked up and the other bottomed out to have the ride height equal, and it's not even that low in the rear once evened out.

2) I am even more concerned by the loss of traction in the right rear wheel, it was never like this before the coilovers and I haven't heard any similar stories.


I understand that the car's weight is not even from side to side but I was really not expecting it to come out so lop sided. With the KYB's and Racing beat springs it was level from side to side and at least as low in the back as with the coils.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. I am really at a loss here and just want good suspension, for a good look but more importantly good grip.

 

You need an alignment.

 

I would try that first^^^^

 

also what tires are you running, coilovers can overpower tires

 

I have yet to have it aligned but I wanted to get the ride height squared away first. It just seems like such a big difference in traction I am thinking there might be something majorly wrong, besides what an alignment would fix. No?

 

when its out of align. you are only using a small portion of the tire

 

I have brand new Ecsta's in 245/45/17's in the rear on 17x9 rims. And it's only the one side that spins with minimal throttle input, like moving forward from a parking spot in the driveway it's just burning out on the one side. The side that is spinning is the passenger's side which has a lot of wheel gap even with the coilover bottomed out.

 

Plus I still have to get the camber adjust link in the rear, something else I was waiting for before the alignment.

 

I have stances on mine also but the only time it would do that is when I go up a driveway or something like that and my tire is up in the air it will break traction and just spin.

 

You don't need a camber link to get camber dialed in on a lowered FC. Also, the single link will mess with pinion angle when adjusted, so isn't recommended. I'd get the individual links that go on your trailing arms, if you can.

A lowered FC can return to OEM toe specs at the most extreme ride heights, and will have around 3 degrees camber all around... less if it's higher that completely dumped.

Just get your car aligned. You wouldn't believe how much camber and toe change happens when you lower an FC. It'll handle like butthole until you align it.

 

Well that's basically what I think is happening here, the coilover is shortened to it's max and is making it too easy for the tire to come off the ground, hence the massive loss of traction. The coilover on that side in the rear is going to have the damper replaced because it's blown, could this be a major part??

 

I have the same coils on mine, I haven't had any problems with it.
The issue here seems to be the ride height and alignment. If you have one side lower than the other, the tire on the side with the lower ride height will get more weight on it, leaving the tire on the raised side with less weight to keep it from spinning. Your alignment is also going to be WAY OFF! My camber in the front was off by -1.5 degrees and the rear is -2.5 degrees. Your toe is also greatly affected by camber in the rear as well. I do alignments all day at my job and whenever I have to adjust camber, it always throws off the toe angle. Get the ride height to how you want it. ( I know this is a pain, I had to adjust my ride height 3 times before I was completely satisfied with it. I also had the rear drop about 2inches more than the front when I installed them. Then was uneven sides, then I went lower lol) Get the car how you want it to look then, align it.

I still haven't fixed my camber, and it's been almost a year...

 

That's the plan. I was just very surprised by the recent discovery and wanted to ask for some input. Thanks a lot guys.