Suspension/Wheels/Tires/Brakes

Pettit Racing Trak Pro Coilover Kit

Old Apr 13, 2011 | 07:33 PM
  #526  
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BOO FOR ME! remember i am at 25 1/4 in the rear. i drive my car pretty hard, canyons and the 405 is a biotch. you guys with stage IIs that say this didn't happen to your car post pics please so we can see.



Attached Thumbnails Pettit Racing Trak Pro Coilover Kit-pshockr_d.jpg   Pettit Racing Trak Pro Coilover Kit-pshockr_p.jpg  
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Old Apr 14, 2011 | 08:12 AM
  #527  
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For those that are going that low in the back (25 1/4" and below), are you taking out the bottom locking collar to achieve this? What does your rear suspension geometry look like?

I am at 26" (About the lowest Cam recommends due to keeping parallel suspension geometry) and haven't touched yet. Stage IIIs (12k/10k)

I have a sneaking suspicion that when Cam designed/comissioned/whatever these coilovers, since they only run them at the 'optimum' setup and not lower, they never experienced mount contact so the larger bottom mount probably wasn't even taken into consideration.
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Old Apr 14, 2011 | 09:39 AM
  #528  
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Originally Posted by BlinD26
For those that are going that low in the back (25 1/4" and below), are you taking out the bottom locking collar to achieve this? What does your rear suspension geometry look like?
The rear piece intact with 255/35/18s at minimum setting is 25" for Stage IIs. Currently I have 1/4 to 5/8 gap between the collars to get the 25 1/4 setting in the rear.

Originally Posted by BlinD26
I have a sneaking suspicion that when Cam designed/comissioned/whatever these coilovers, since they only run them at the 'optimum' setup and not lower, they never experienced mount contact so the larger bottom mount probably wasn't even taken into consideration.
I took your "Cam Recommended Settings" sheet (thanks!) to the local guru track alignment guy here in the SoCal area. He aligned and corner balanced the car for aggressive street use, ie 3-4 track days, reg street, and canyon driving. That is how I ended up with his final recommended optimum set up which was 25 1/4 in the rear and 25 in the front.

I think since you are running stage IIIs it might be different?
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Old Apr 14, 2011 | 10:37 AM
  #529  
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Hmmm, so far I was trying not to make a big deal of it but there are obviously quality issues with these coilovers and their operation.

My car will see track maybe once a year so I don't really care about the track settings and I was going to drop the car to just above the tyres or one finger above the tyres which I suspect puts the setting lower then 25 1/4. So now it looks like I'll end up with crap handling and shocks with faulty bottom mount. It is faulty even if it didn't touch anything cause you have to go buy washers not to bend the mount.

I don't care what settings Cam reccomends or uses for these coilovers, he should take into account customers who will use these shocks higher/lower/harder/softer (to a reasonable extent) than the recommended settings and warn customers about the consequences prior to purchase. eg. Any lower than 26" the bottom mounts will touch, ruin suspension geometry etc.

In general RX7 owners know a bit more than other car owners or let's say are a bit more involved but we don't know everything. And I'm sure none of these would be an issue if we went with Tein and most other brands.

I am not even going rear shocks not being able to go lower!
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Old Apr 14, 2011 | 02:04 PM
  #530  
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Originally Posted by Meiogirl
The rear piece intact with 255/35/18s at minimum setting is 25" for Stage IIs. Currently I have 1/4 to 5/8 gap between the collars to get the 25 1/4 setting in the rear.
Did you pre-load your springs? I have less than a 1/4" of thread showing but did NOT do any preload on my springs, and I sit at 26"

Originally Posted by Meiogirl
I think since you are running stage IIIs it might be different?
Holding the Stage I-IIIs I couldn't really tell a difference except for the obviously different spring rates. The comps are slightly different due to their design.
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Old Apr 14, 2011 | 05:59 PM
  #531  
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I sit a 25.75 in the rear changing to 26 will not stop the problem. The geometry will not change enough to clear the casting nub. I'm going to just grind the nub down a bit, which will solve the problem. I know some people will not like to do this, but I don't think at this point Cam can do anything about it, so live with it or ask for a refund or a credit. **** happens. Just my two cents.
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Old Apr 14, 2011 | 11:34 PM
  #532  
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^ I agree! In the after market world, it's not uncommon to have to cut this or drill that or move this to install a product. Grinding that nub is childs play, however Cam really is dropping the ball not including instructions informing his consumers what tiny mods need to be done to makes these things perform correctly. I'm really leaning towards just buying these direct from the manufacture as I feel Cam hasn't done enough to justify his mark-up. Like I said earlier, no sticker is worth any mark-up.
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Old Apr 15, 2011 | 12:30 AM
  #533  
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^ I agree as well. At least there is some honest feedback in this thread for someone to see and judge for themselves. Too bad I had to be one of the guinea pigs. Not the first time I have had to adjust things, I was looking for plug n play though!
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Old Apr 15, 2011 | 03:17 AM
  #534  
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Originally Posted by t-von
I'm really leaning towards just buying these direct from the manufacture as I feel Cam hasn't done enough to justify his mark-up. Like I said earlier, no sticker is worth any mark-up.
Cam cut a deal with Iasati to be the exclusive distributor once word got out that you could buy it directly from them for less. Iasati told me no. I'm getting the feeling that Iasati put about 20 minutes of R&D into the RX7 specific Trak Pro coilovers or Tomei N1 as they brand them. The units are completely modular and the only pieces that are specific to the RX7 are the mounting knuckle that rubs and maybe the top hats. They probably did a good job designing the actual dampener because it's the same (42mm I think?) dampener for their entire product range. This is basically a one size fits all coilover but that's good in some ways because it does have good performance and it's cheap.
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Old Apr 15, 2011 | 12:50 PM
  #535  
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Originally Posted by BlinD26
Did you pre-load your springs? I have less than a 1/4" of thread showing but did NOT do any preload on my springs, and I sit at 26"
No I did not preload my springs, for me that seems like a dumb thing to do. I am not one for having the car super low for looks, I just want it to perform.

Like Reckless, my opinion is that it doesn't matter if the car sits at 26" because the mounting perch is still at the same level.

I could bring the rear up to 26" just to prove my theory. Then that means I am doing the R&D :p
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 04:56 AM
  #536  
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Lost me as a customer at the end of page 20.
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 05:53 AM
  #537  
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Well I guess all of this has raised the attention of the engineers at Iasati. According to their sales rep they've changed the design and fixed the problem with the bracket.
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 06:06 PM
  #538  
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Originally Posted by GodSquadMandrake
Well I guess all of this has raised the attention of the engineers at Iasati. According to their sales rep they've changed the design and fixed the problem with the bracket.


Hmm nice! So did they happen to make revisions for a brake line attachment? Now the next thing I wonder if they will reimburse Cam so he can sell the old stock at a discount as he waits for the improved units or he just trades them out.
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 06:54 PM
  #539  
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Originally Posted by t-von
Hmm nice! So did they happen to make revisions for a brake line attachment? Now the next thing I wonder if they will reimburse Cam so he can sell the old stock at a discount as he waits for the improved units or he just trades them out.
I'm way ahead of you on that one, I had the same idea But Cam said he doesn't have any old stock. I'm guessing they were just sent back. I'm not that close to anyone at Iasati that I can just pick up the old units. I'm guessing they just changed the brackets, refurbished the units and sent them back to Cam.

Some news though... Iasati says that Cam is the exclusive distributor for USA only, not world. So they would probably be willing to sell to me directly as a dealer. But the way this thread has gone I doubt we would get more than 3 people on a group buy. I'm just a guy trying to get a good deal on a suspension like everyone else, not a businessman so this is over my head. Plus the exchange rates suck right now so it would probably end up being more than what Cam is charging.
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 06:55 PM
  #540  
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Ya don't do it. Let Cam do his thing. No sense in muddying the waters plus Iasati will probably only ship to Japan and then you have to ship back here. Prob won't make much sense.

Rishie
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 07:16 PM
  #541  
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Originally Posted by t-von
Hmm nice! So did they happen to make revisions for a brake line attachment? Now the next thing I wonder if they will reimburse Cam so he can sell the old stock at a discount as he waits for the improved units or he just trades them out.

check out the ones ARD T2 is selling with his coil overs on his thread. I believe he mentioned you might be able to buy them separately. *thumbs*
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Old Apr 18, 2011 | 11:26 PM
  #542  
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Originally Posted by Meiogirl
check out the ones ARD T2 is selling with his coil overs on his thread. I believe he mentioned you might be able to buy them separately. *thumbs*


I've seen that thread and have been curious about those as well. I'm just waiting on pricing info and some testimonials. I definitely plan on having some coilovers by sevenstock.
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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 12:23 AM
  #543  
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Definitely interested in brake line brackets from ARD T2 or Pettit whoever is selling them seperately, any info on that?
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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 09:20 AM
  #544  
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Originally Posted by Alpsta
Definitely interested in brake line brackets from ARD T2 or Pettit whoever is selling them seperately, any info on that?
https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...1&postcount=17
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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 09:55 AM
  #545  
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^^ Thanks. I missed that in Rishie's Stance thread earlier on, and couldn't edit after I saw the related posts cause I was over 15min limit.
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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 11:48 AM
  #546  
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I guess I was not the only one with the control arm contact problem after all...

I ended up returning mine, but another thing that I had noticed when I removed them was that on one of the shocks the bottom mount had an excessive amount of free play and would even spin in place. That is something else you might want to check.
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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 02:54 PM
  #547  
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From what it looks like Iasati is using a universal tube and then threading the lower attachment point, i.e Fork, into the universal tube. Is this what you're referring to John? It's always nicer when it's a single welded piece and not modular.

Rishie
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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 03:34 PM
  #548  
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Originally Posted by ARD T2
From what it looks like Iasati is using a universal tube and then threading the lower attachment point, i.e Fork, into the universal tube. Is this what you're referring to John? It's always nicer when it's a single welded piece and not modular.

Rishie
Essentially yes, however from what I could tell it was not threaded. The one that was loose would just infinitely spin in place. Almost as if it was some kind of large rivet.
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Old Apr 20, 2011 | 10:47 PM
  #549  
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I can't believe how big this thread has gotten! My car's been in the shop since November and I almost forgot about this coilover issue...and all the other issues that come with this car. I'll report back about the rear rub asap. Just what I was looking forward to.....jacking up the car to do work instead of driving it and enjoying it with its spanking new paint job.

I did get an email from Cam concerning my bent-in rear tabs a few months back though. He basically said that with one set, only after a hard track event were the tabs noticed during a pit stop. These tabs showed no stress and he gave me time figures to exemplify how hard the car was driven. He thinks it should be okay but offered me a washer/spacer kit if it really bugged me enough to re-do it. It seems that this is not a problem with all the units....some fit straight. Bad luck.

Not looking forward to finding out if I have a rub point....and then grinding out that ***. I just wanted plug and play too. Ugghhh.
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Old Apr 20, 2011 | 11:37 PM
  #550  
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I plugged n played... 5000 miles later, I'm fine. I'll be taking off the wheels soon to check for rubbing, but even if so, I don't see a huge issue (although I agree, it shouldn't be happening if it is).

I guess my standards are lowered with an RX-7. If there's an issue, and that issue isn't so sever that it causes it to not start/ go down / require a rebuild, I can live with it.
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