So a bit of a long story here and I am indeed a bit embarrassed. Not to long ago I got my K-Sports put on and I decided I wanted to lower the car more than the shop did.

I raised the car and proceeded to adjust the shock bodies down, I did 5 rings (~.5") down on each side. Now my rear passenger was a bit high by about .25" which I thought was weird because before I tired this it was all even. So I adjusted it down an additional .25" on the rear passenger.

Great it all looked even, so I drove it around for a while and parked at work and noticed the front was visually off. Came home and measured and indeed the front was now a .25" low on the passenger side front. So adjusted that and the rear is now all messed up?

Stranger yet is that my rears are fairly even now but the driver side has enough rings left to go about 2" lower and the passenger side can only go 1" lower? The front is still about .25" off?

Any ideas on how to correct this and get back to a baseline? That way it can all be even and I can try again? Or should I just take it into a shop and have it done professionally? I am surprised at how big of a mistake I made and confused how the back can be even and the front is off, or why is it that on the back the differences on the shock body are so extreme.

Thanks for the help!

 

My guess would be that your preload adjustments are all over the place. It's adjusted by the ring above the spring, if your shocks are so equipped (I think most coil overs have the adjustment but I'm not sure). I know how to find the correct preload on a bike but having not had adjustable suspension on a car before, I'm not sure how it would translate over.

 

I didn't notice any rings above the spring and the instructions don't mention anything about that? I figured that the spring perch collars took care of preload and they have not moved at all

 

If the spring perch collar was adjusted correctly using a reference point on the shock body, that should take care of the preload. Then the overall height can be set by the lower shock body adjustment.

Btw, did you roll the car back and forth a little to allow the suspension to settle after each adjustment? Because the measurement can be easily off by a certain amount if you just lower the car to the ground and measure without rolling the car.

 

no I didn't move the car at all. Also, I never messed with the spring perch collars. It's just a wonky set up for ride height....

Do you know of a way to adjust it to a baseline again?

 

I was looking at the k-sports instruction and it doesn't provide any baseline measurement as reference point, other than using the spring perch to set the preload. You should be able to use the existing front and rear adjustment as reference and match the other side to be the same.

One reference point for the initial measurement can be the bottom collar of the spring perch to the top collar of the lower shock body adjustment.

 

^^thanks I'll give that a shot

 

Also note that it's normal for the front passenger side to sit a little lower, because that's the side the motor's on. My wheelgap is slightly smaller on my passenger side for this reason, even though both coilovers are adjusted equally.

 

sometimes it may take awhile to settle also..

 

Does it matter that the suspension will gain a few pounds on the left, once the driver gets inside? My stock suspension is higher on the front-left before I get in the car. (Not sure about after! )

 

I took it into the shop today because I was so frustrated and the mechanic had a good laugh about it and told me that's it's totally normal for it to be off by 1/8" or so and not to worry about it and that I had done a good job after all. So he showed me how to do it and not get freaked out haha.

Thanks for all of your help and really it seems like you all were right.