jumpSMASH

Hey Guys,

So I've put about 5k miles onto my Megan EZ Street coils now and living in NYC, I'm sure you've heard of the deal with these "roads," but after going 30 over a few bumps and accidentally dropping into 1 major pothole, I think something is wrong with my coils. The best way that I can explain is, I can hear a slight "whoosh" going over bumps now, as if the dampening is absorbing the shock, but the problem is, my ride height is gradually dropping lower. I got on a lift a few times and as far as I can see, nothing looks wrong:

1. No oil on the struts, so I doubt the oil seal broke. Also no metal on metal contact sounds so that confirms for me that the seal can't be broken...
2. Threads are perfectly fine and still turning as expected. This to me, means that the bump from that 1 pothole did not break my threads..
3. I measured the length of the open threads on both front coils, same length. Measured the spring distance on both, same length. BUT my left side (not the pothole hit one) sits SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the right front...how?!?!?!
4. Bump stops are still there, pistons look fine, covered by dust cover. Rubber stop on top hat looks fine...

Any ideas? I raised it a quarter of an inch to compensate for this sudden drop, hoping they don't drop again. What sounds wrong here?....Let me know if you guys have any ideas

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

could have busted the shock.
if its sinking...its a blown shock

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

fyi; I know its not comparable, but just to give you an idea, my friends function and forms type 1s blew and the car body(fenders) landed ontop of my buddys expensive wheels, damaging the wheels.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

also, something similar happened to me with my koni yellow shocks... Didnt realize one shock was bad until I put on bigger wheels. that one shock was allowing the tire to rub on the fender.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Take a look at all your control arms and bushings too...especially the upper and lower ball joints.
Just to be safe, Justin is probably right.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

i'm just giving anecdotal evidence.

I agree that he should inspect everything before coming to a conclusion

BROlando

Shocks don't control ride height. A blown shock won't sit any lower. *Monotube* shocks have an air spring...so there may be some exception there.

I'm not saying the shock is NOT blown. The OP is using Megans in NYC. So they're probably blown to pieces.

But blown twin tube shocks don't have an effect on static height. Are these monotube or something?

The wheel you hit a pothole with could be lower for many reasons. Everything on that side probably "settled" on the huge impact. The springs and bushings, mainly.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^okay, looking at my pictures of my blown koni( which is twin tube design, I believe) it did NOT sit any lower, just didnt compress and rebound the same as the others, allowing my fender to hit the tire

BROlando

Yep. That's an accurate description of what would happen. A blown shock would display no change in static height, but no control of the suspension. Koni yellows are, indeed, twin tube.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Exactly.
I wonder if the impact tore the bushings if they weren't "relaxed" after lowering.

jumpSMASH

So I looked up what a blown shock would look like and maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think my shocks are blown. The way I understand it, the piston in the tube, with an oil seal at the bottom, is the "shock." But there's no sign that my oil seal has broken. The Megan's have dampening settings as well and I stiffened them 2 notches and they seem to be getting stiffer. But I imagine any additional impact will weaken them again. Is it possible that the shock "kinda blew?"

justnspace, thanks for the heads up, my body isn't dropping on the wheels...yet. It is allowing rub though so I raised it a few lol.

rockstar143, okay I need to 101 myself on suspension arms and bushings and springs. Would not be a reach that the components around settled into a new spot.

BROlando

A shock can allow excessive fluid bypass in the internal components without leaking externally. Not all worn/blown shocks leak.

Do you have pictures of the ride height? And how did you set the height? Hopefully not via spring height adjustment, as EZ streets are short stroked, bracket (full body) adjustable coilovers.

There are reasons that suspensions "settle" into a lower height after the initial install:

After installing a new coilover/spring, it is normal for springs to take a set. This will change the height a little. There's nothing you can do about that. But once they set in a few months, the height should no longer dramatically change for a long time. This is assuming that the quality of the spring is good...and does not include external factors like rust, or extreme compression causing deformation.

Bushings. If the bushings are not clocked to their new height...they will, in a few weeks/months, stretch and tear themselves into the new position. *This is avoidable*....if the installer properly installs the components. Unfortunately, a majority of installers don't know to do this and/or don't take the time to do it. It does add about 20-30 mins to the install.

If you hit a pothole, you may have forced that one corner to settle faster than others. If you hit it hard enough, you may have deformed a suspension component. Or something like a tophat or spring perch/bottom bracket came loose.

Since you're saying that the damper knob works...that's a good sign. But...if the damper is making noise, it may point to an issue in the damper or an issue with install...or it may point to a damper setting that's way too soft and is allowing a lot of fluid bypass.

BROlando

I re read your 1st post. It seems that the NON potholed side is sitting lower.

The suspension is probably settling. The left side may settle faster because it has (however much you weigh) extra weight on it at all times. Unless you always drive with a passenger.

Corner weights are not even. So one side may need a bit more adjustment.

The install may also be to blame. Because of normal bushing bind and suspension droop limits... full body coilovers are significantly more difficult to set up once they're installed.

Are the INSTALLED spring lengths the same on both sides?

If you're looking for "good enough", then just adjust the bottom bracket to make the bodies longer and raise the car.

jumpSMASH

You're right, I adjust ride height via the threads on the body of the coilovers, not messing with the spring pre-load. The springs look good, no rust and moving properly when I adjust the ride height of the strut column. One question at this point, I thought it took a few weeks of regular driving for springs to set in? That's why I mentioned the 5k miles, because I think the springs should have already settled well before this point.

I need to look into the bushings and what the expected position of them should be and then get on a lift again to check. I did the install myself with a buddy and we just replaced the old strut with these coilovers, no adjustments that I can recall, to any other suspension component. This is now my point of concern lol. Spring lengths are the same on both sides. It sounds like I do need to adjust the driver side at a different height than the other. What I can't figure out is, the dampening is stiff....until i go through a series of bumps (there's this 1 bridge in NYC...), then it has more "give" it feels like. Is that a sign of a worn shock? Takes longer to decompress to it's regular stiffness?

BROlando

How long after hitting these bumps does the shock feel soft?

Or are you saying that WHILE hitting the series of bumps, the shock eventually gets soft. Like...first bump is stiff. And then the shocks soften up as they go through the bumps.

Series of bumps meaning they are immediately following each other? Bumpbumpbumpbump? Or like. Bump......bump.....bump. Lol...sorry Idk how else to express it.

jumpSMASH

So the ride will be bump....bump.....bump and I'll make it back to my curb and go up the ramp and all of a sudden, the "give" puts the tire into my fender lol.

Ride always starts stiff, hits some bump sequence, either through streets or that god forsaken bridge, will soften up a lot. Most recently, noticed the left sitting lower than the right, which could be like you said, imbalance of corner weight. I want to check the surrounding suspension components because I can't confirm they're all proper and that scares me.

BROlando

If you have soft springs and you stiffen the shock too far...and the shock's rebound damping starts to overwhelm the spring and bump damping...the suspension will not be able to extend out between bumps that are closely spaced.

But you should feel it get stiffer on each succesive bump.

2snail

I have some experience with Megan EZ Street coilovers and actually having a blown shock.

I have blown my driver front left shock on the megans when i hit a bad pot hole. I was surprised my oem wheel didnt bend. The shock blew out and the Oil/hydraulic fluid pooled on the top of the shock mount where the adjustment knob was. Now in your case it may not be as severe but a telltale sign of the shock that is blown is when you hit a bump and the car feels extremely soft over the bump. In my case it was so bad the dampening was non existent. The shock would completely bottom on and it felt like i was riding on springs.

This issue made itself apparent a few days after the pot hole incident. I noticed the driver front left side getting softer and softer over bumps to the point of bottoming out. Keeping in mind that shock absorbers have a finite life which is much shorter than the OEM, they WILL have to be replaced eventually.

My passenger side front right is now starting to squeak a lot, which is probably a sign that the damper is going out.

Megan sells the replacement shocks for 100 each. I will likely need to order a new one soon.

This is a pretty old thread but i figured i would contribute to the post.