I buy my steak from my Butcher and cook it myself perfectly. It is way better than Morton's or Ruth's Chris and costs about a third of the price. Kinda like coilovers that "might" be better than higher priced one's that I have to use a zip tie to hold the brake line in place.

 

Give me a break. "Might be better than". Did you drop the coin on these? Sounds like you still have your Teins and are on the fence about the Pettit ones. Cracks me up that people are all up in the mix and they didn't spend a dime on these parts, like me. If you have something to add that's great, otherwise, don't say anything. Just because you think your home cooked steak tastes better than Ruth Chris' does not mean it tastes good to everybody. Keep that in mind.

"Fixing" the brake line mount is NOT a big deal. As has been pointed out, there are lots of solutions to this, some of the more expensive damper/spring combos don't have a provision for this either. My issue in the beginning was that there is no mention of the lack of mounts. That's it. It was an expectation of mine, when I buy something from Pettit, I expected they would at least say SOMETHING about it, I shouldn't be surprised when it shows up at my front door. Call me an idiot for having that expectation. Everyone seems to love them, how could I go wrong?

 

Here we go...PICS! These puppies have been installed. mdpalmer helped me do this, we completed it in about 4 hours. Here is the overall result:



the car is still at 25in in the rear, the front is at 26in from 24.5, which was a random setup by me simply extending the coilover gap from 3 to 5inches as pictured below.



now for the brakline clamping, after asking around i found this coupler at ACE hardware, which i cut in half. i am not a fan of the clamps as they do not have a place for me to attach the adel clamps. i need to find a different clamp with threading and then this will work. for now i did the ghetto ziptie.





i really would have liked to do this setup: http://www.maximummotorsports.com/co...p/MMCO-1r3.pdf but i was afraid that clamp would not have been secure since it had nothing to rest on.



end of the day shot. have not had a chance to take these guys for a spin but i will next weekend!

 

Nice write-up, thanks!

So is the rear as low as it would go, or could you lower it more if you wanted?

 

Yes the rear was at its lowest setting, sorry I guess I should have posted pics of those too.

Another tip for the rear, its easier to put them on with 1/2 inch of play, then adjust them to the lowest setting.

They are many times easier to adjust off the car so I would suggest this 1/2 inch setting for the rears, and then I posted the pics of my other setting, so you can gauge for yourself what you'd like.

 

I have a request for everyone that has these and has put some milage on them:

Check your rear coilovers and see if there is any evidence of the upper control arm making contact with the shock body during full compression.

I was just pulling apart my rear suspension assembly to replace all of my bushings and I found this...



It is the same on both sides. That mark was definitely not there when I installed it and it appears to have been caused by that extremity on the control arm. This was from only about 100 miles worth of use (some backroads pushing it hard).

Right now I will attribute it to my overly worn out bushings, but im not so sure. So please, when you get a chance check yours and let me know what you find.

 

^^^

You might need to grind off a little bit of material one one or the other of those pieces.

 

Funny, I've never had to grind control arms on my FD with Tanabes and Zeals, and on many customer cars with Greddy, Apex'i, Tein.......

 

These things just can't catch a break, they are looking worse and worse with each post.

The last think I want to do when spending well over a grand is to modify a brand new part to fit the exact car it was made for. Between the brake line fittings, the rear ride height and this, these are going down hill fast in my book .

 

...but better and better everyday I use em on the street.

I haven't had the same issues as JhnRx7 has reported, but I am not running at the absolute lowest settings (not sure where JhnRx7 is at).

Brake line fittings - non issue (universally)
Rear ride height - non issue (personally)
'this' - non existent (personally)

-M

 

I can understand how people feel, but in the grand scheme, I agree these are minor issues.

You buy shocks for one thing really—the valving. If the valving kicks *** and the car rides well, and does so for a cheap price to boot, you might overlook a few minor install issues. I'd bet 50% of the aftermarket parts I've ever bought have required some minor fitment.

A new set of JRZ's will set you back $6k for just the shocks—and it's up to you to source springs, and figure out the brake lines etc. Just sayin'

 

Still have not installed mine, at this rate I'm starting to think these were not my best choice for my money. Also order their column mount supposedly they had one for RHD when I spoke to Cam, turns out I have to modify/dremel to fit, but not a word mentioned. When I called Pettit they didn't even offer a return/refund on the mount. And where the F#%K are any instructions with the Stage III?, and nothing on their site. As I just bought my FD this year and have spent close to $3.500 at Pettit so far, I'm thinking twice about ordering again from them.
Oh, by the way I'm trading my NEW Pettit Column Mount for a used RE-Amemiya, so with shipping I'm out of pocket again. Just Pissed.

 

First of all that is one post from one user and no one has had a chance to see if it is actually a problem or if it's his ride height/bushings/setup.
second, if you need instructions on how to put high performance parts on your high performance sports car, maybe you should have a mechanic help you with the install. That's why they get the big bucks. Not everything is do-it-yourself, for every person out there.
These parts are being track tested, and purpose built for that very thing. Yes you can put them on your street car, but no they aren't plug and play parts.
The posts on this thread have started to sound like you expected Cam to include step by step instructions on how to do everything. When you buy an engine rebuild gasket kit it doesn't come with a how-to, they expect that if you ordered the kit, you know what to do with it.
these forums are here to help those of us who want to tinker with our own cars to find help and ideas, they are also for those who might need help choosing parts and ideas that should probably have a real mechanic install them.
I have almost 1000 miles on my comps. mostly (aggressive) street use with about 4 track events at Sebring. they perform exactly the way they were advertised, and I managed to install them with the a little help from the global instruction manual; Google. No I'm not a mechanic, but yes I figured it out. this forum has all of the details you could want on how to install, adjust and maintain every part on these cars.
Please, this isn't Facebook or Twitter, stop cluttering up the thread with what you think you might do if you ever get around to maybe buying these particular coil-overs. If you have a serious concern that you think can be answered by those of us who are currently driving them, then ask and we will gladly try to help as much as we can.

 

^ Exactly! There's too much whining going on. We have people here hacking up bumpers for front mounts, rolling fenders to accommodate wide wheels. Good luck finding instructions on that stuff. As much modding as we do to our cars, grinding off a tiny piece of aluminum is not a big deal. Geeze!

 

Agreed. And I think we know that. But it's something to watch.
Wrong. Series I and II seem to be ADVERTISED for a street car. Not everyone tracks. And if sold for the FD with no other qualifications, they are by inference "plug and play". I didn't read anything on Pettit's site that you had to modify any suspension components or buy brackets to secure brake lines.
Another statement of what should be obvious. It's also to get feedback about equipment and parts such as these....both good and bad. Each member can use their judgement on how much weight to give those comments.
I didn't see anything that reminded me of twitter and it's not up to you to decide what's clutter. We/I have asked about some concerns and criticisms and those are being discussed. What you and some others seem to want is a continuation of the love-fest for these coilovers that existed for the first several pages. That would make it just another advertisement.
The funny thing even with all the issues brought up I'm still interested in them and intend to make a decision by spring.

 

I did not post that to bash the product. I liked these enough to purchase them myself. Like I mentioned before, I'm pretty sure this is related to my worn bushings. I just wanted to confirm that others have not experienced the same issue.

My bushings have 107k on them... Which is why I am currently replacing them. My ride height is setup with the lower control arms parallel to the ground. The rest of my suspension is completely stock and the car is a '94 so it has the weaker rear sway bar.

A stronger sway bar would increase resistance and limit travel most likely preventing this (regardless of bushing health) except for in the case when both rears compress at the same time.

 

I am a whining old fart and no mechanic either, but I will make them work one way or another. And when I mentioned instructions, I meant any documentation of any kind e.g.. settings/spec's but I guess that's all trial and error. And in my years of ordering part for my cars this is a first time that there's nothing in the box other than the product and it's hardware. I should not have to phone Florida every-time I have have a question since they never answer emails except when I'm about to place an order.

settings/spec's maybe even some torque setting work be nice.

 

Set the car up how you want it... that's the point.

If you want it lower, lower it, if you want it higher, raise it up... If you want it stiffer, stiffen it, if you want it softer, soften it.


Follow the factory service manual for torque specs.

Upper Bolts (strut tower) is 47-62 Nm (4.7-6.4 kgf/m, 34-46 ft/lbs)
Middle Bolt (top of coilover/adjsuter) is 32-46 Nm (3.2-4.7 kgf/m, 24-33 ft/lbs)


-M

 

Thanks MattGold
I was going to use the FSM for the torque specs, I was just making a point. But these should be supplied by the manufacturer as the materials they use may differ.
Just being a whiner and **** (a ******* to some ppl) about **** like this.

 

+1, the only thing that I do agree with RXeckless is Cam does forget to include one semi-important bit of info in the box. The only reason I found out is because I picked my Trak Pro IIIs locally.

They have to shrink the coilovers to fit in the boxes when they ship, so they obviously aren't dialed in and ready to install right out the box.

I have the official "Cam's Suggested Adjustments" at home and I will post them up later. Its a measurement from the threaded body to bottom spring perch, then overall spring length for both the front and back.

This gets you very close to the 'ideal' ride height where both front and rear suspension arms are perfectly parallel to the ground.

Obviously if you want to go lower, you would't go with these settings.

 

Looking forward to your post!

 

Ignorance is bliss. I last commented on this thread way back on page 6 or so....and holy crap have you guys been busy! Pages 7 to 17 are a real page turner. Now I'm late for a conference.....

My conclusions:

1) I installed Stage 2's this summer and haven't looked back. Didn't have or needed instructions beyond the info on this website. No big deal.

2) The stock front brake lines are stiff and didn't move with my fingers so I figured them to be okay....but now I must go make sure they haven't rubbed the nice aluminum billets to shreds and jerry-rig them. Ugghhh. I noticed pics of other coilovers did not have the bracket either....so it seemed standard.

3) I also found out that I could have saved money by dealing with Japan directly....but that's not an issue at all. That's business....that's how it goes. Pettit tests, markets and brands them....so I paid extra for that peace of mind.

4) The rears. I think I have about 3 threads showing to achieve my ride height of 25". As you can see from the before and after from my stockers....the decrease in ride height is dramatic. Also, I did notice the gap on the rears. I did not use washers however and just tightened them down. The aluminum bends in to fit nicely.....so it's not exactly straight & 90 degrees anymore and I didn't think it'll be a problem. But now thinking of the physics of weight bearing....I can see where it can be an issue. Looking at the picture, it's not that bad so it should be alright....right?

5) Cam and Howard are good friends. They know their stuff.

6) There are people more OCD than I am.

7) I've been happy with my purchase.....so far. Now I just need to stop "educating" myself. And yes, I'm definitely an unprofessional installer.

 

How recent is that rear shock pic? Before or after your usage this summer? Just wondering if you've had the "rubbing" issue or not, that was posted in an earlier thread.

~CYD

 

That pic was right after installation. Haven't had a chance to look at that rubbing issue yet but it's definitely on the to do list. The car's at the body shop so it'll be a while. And it's frigging cold out.

 

ehh you should put washers in there so that aluminum isnt bending like that. you're creating a stress concentration on the inside corner, which could eventually crack and fail (could).

if you take out the bolt and the aluminum stays bent, then just dont mess with it and leave it as is. otherwise mount it correctly.