So I came back from my Tahoe trip and installed the coilovers with the help of my cousin. We spent a lot of time with trial and error and I continued to fine tune it the best I can.

My issue is the ride/dampening/compression/rebound...here's the story: when we were installing the front coils, we screwed around with the spring placement cuz it was too low and not touching the upper mount. So we raised the collars all the way up to get the spring to sit snug at the top. (Later found out that we hella increased the preload).

We then raised the lower black mount to where the base of the strut body meets the bottom of the black lower mount's opening and the damper adjuster thing is exposed. That gave the car 1-finger gap with some wiggle room.

The damper setting is 4 all around and still is. Drove it and was stiff-firm. I continued adjusting it - I loosened all the rings and lowered the spring so that I can turn the shock body. After turning the shock body up 2cm, I then adjust the spring and rings back up where the spring is just snug.

Got the car off the jacks, drove it briefly to settle things and this is how it is now: It's even lower, can't fit a finger through the gap and the ride is bouncy and lost its firmness:





Other issues that does not bother me right now is the alignment and slight positive camber and toe out in the front. We did our best to eye-ball the camber adjustment (these coils' upper knuckle is oval shaped to allow camber adjustment for McPherson)

I like how it is sitting right now, with proper alignment it'll be nice. SO! Here's where I need help. I may plan to raise the height so that I can fit one finger all around, BUT! What did I do wrong, if any? I kinda know I screwed up with preload, so please advise/enlighten. What should I do to get out of this mess that I'm in?

Increase damper setting? Change the positions of spring and/or preload and height? Please help me out!

 

I think your description is making this way more confusing than it should be

Raising the car should be easy. Just loosen the locking rings and adjust accordingly. I'm on bilsteins, and you just spin the adjustment ring clockwise on the strut and counter-clockwise on the rear spring perch respectively, to raise the car.

Springs in general take a bit to fully settle in. I'd give it a good couple weeks of driving or about 300 miles for starters.

if the ride is bouncy, that's a dead giveaway that the spring rate is overpowering the valving in the shock. You can combat that by matching the shock valving by making them "harder" or more resistant to transitions (i.e. a harder setting, so from 4 to 6 for example). And play around with the settings until the bounciness has been cured. You can OVERLY stiffen the damper settings and it will work against you as well, so shoot for a setting that cures the bouncy but barely changes the stiffness in ride.

I trusted Bilstein to set up my valving as it's non-adjustable in that respect. Sometimes i feel adjustable dampers are a big mis-conception among enthusiasts and often used incorrectly.

Hope this helps!

 

I also installed my buddy club N+ coils but having a problem with front springs....
Everytime I turn the steering wheel all the way to both ends and going over small bumps at very low speeds, I hear this awkward sounds of springs rubbing onto the coils itself....(kinda like twisting and popping sound) I tried readjusting the springs but still having the same problem.... Can someone please help me out??? tho this doesn't affect driving I'm sure this is not good for the car and the coils....

 

I have yet to install the front part of the kit but the rear is in place.. I have it sitting just short of maxed out for height with 12mm of threads showing and I used 1/4" dense rubber mat to cut a cushion to sit between the upper mount and spring... I have the damping set on the 4th click from the softest position... I will not be pre loading the front springs but enough that the rings take up the slack and hopefully I'll be okay with the height..... I will cut and use rings from the heavy 1/4" rubber mat if needed to raise it a little if needed.... Is there a metal to coil spring contact that could be causing the noise you hear? There was on the rear on mine but the mat I placed between the top mount and spring corrected it.

 

After playing around with the coils a bit more, I got to where I like them. Had to turn up the dampers a little bit, from 4 all around to 8 front/7 rear. I think I reset the spring preload in the front, not certain lol...just lowered the collars up front more and raised the lower black perch.

I am taken by surprised how stiff these are lol. Going through rough patches is a world of hurt. The roads around my area and in my commute may not be suited for these coils XD but I will leave them in for couple weeks to see if they settle/comply a bit lol.

Already got an alignment so it drives straight, I'll get some pics and update my thread later

 

I just drove to town and returned after finally getting around to installing the coil overs.I noticed how the rear springs had settled quite a bit so I set the front up high enough that 4 fingers fit tightly between the top of the tires and fender... It felt good having the front a little higher that the rear and I had to set the seat back more vertically.. I swung the car side to side and went over things that would have scraped the front lip before without scraping... The front tire clearance was 2 fingers from the 18 mile drive so I will drive some more so it will have completely settled and then decide if I need to raise the rear or drop the front so that there is equal space between tires and fenders on both ends... I was afraid the ride was going to be to stiff but fortunately it feels fine... I have less air pressure in the tires than I normally have but I think I can bump them up some and increase the damping also... I have never been a slave to fashion so I will have the ground clearance set high enough that I won't have to slow to close to a stop and drive at an angle over dips and humps in the road... I am liking them so far.

 

I know it's kinda late... but are you sure it's not the tires rubbing the fender lining? You shouldn't be hitting the springs, because the strut is locked to the knuckle that holds the wheel and tire. Once it's mounted, it should never move compared to the tire.

Imagine looking at a fork. The wheel and tire is one spoke of the fork, the spring/strut is another spoke. No matter how you turn the fork, the two spokes don't touch... unless you break/bend the fork.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...tml#post988400

In that link, I described how my tires rub when I hit a bump while turning.

re Texas Coyote, what made you decide to get coilovers?

 

@Goobers Not being able to go anywhere without having the front lip hit on driveway entrances, speed bumps and in some cases dips in the road and having the bumper pull away from the fenders has driven me crazy for over 5 years... Unlike most people that are into an extreme dropped look I prefer to be able to drive my car without worrying about ground clearance issues... The GD-3 Swift kit drops the front end quite a bit lower than the kit for the GE-8 cars and the GD-3 Sport was already too low to suit me on the roads I have to drive on... I broke the plastic front cladding on my GMC Safari Van and the lip on my wife broke the one on her GMC Sierra pickup truck driving in and out of where we live.. We have a road to the place now but the nearby town has places where it is impossible to enter or exit a parking lot without bashing the front lip... When my car was driven by the mechanic that does the annual state inspection, he came back with the front bumper pulled loose from both front fenders and had nearly driven over the front lip... Now that the front will be higher I can put a different front bumper on it and have no worries about damaging it... The ride isn't at all bad if you don't pre load the springs... The Swift springs are better riding and would still be my choice if not for the lack of ground clearance.

 

ah... yeah, forgot about that.

while my Fit's front end does sit higher than yours did, it still bothers me.

 

Thinking about it now after having done the installation I realize that I have some heavy duty mud flaps for an 18 wheeler in one of my sheds that I could have cut circular pieces from to fit between the bottom of the top part of the strut tower and the top of the strut assembly. About 3 or 4 pieces of the stuff when compressed by tightening the nuts on top of the strut shafts would have added an inch to an inch and a half... I think there would be enough length on the shaft for 1 or 2 more if needed... I'm thinking in relation to the shaft length on the coil over damper but I still think that by jacking up the control arm so the rubber is somewhat compressed would allow you to put the nut that secures the shaft to the tower would allow you to place enough of the rubber pieces between the tower and strut to get a GE-8 up high enough that you'd not be in constant fear of tearing up the front lip... It wouldn't be like adding spring tension to a progressive wound spring that is too stiff and rebounds insanely since the linear wound Swift springs don't work that way.

 

[quote=Goobers;1065252]I know it's kinda late... but are you sure it's not the tires rubbing the fender lining? You shouldn't be hitting the springs, because the strut is locked to the knuckle that holds the wheel and tire. Once it's mounted, it should never move compared to the tire.

Imagine looking at a fork. The wheel and tire is one spoke of the fork, the spring/strut is another spoke. No matter how you turn the fork, the two spokes don't touch... unless you break/bend the fork.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...tml#post988400
quote]

Thanks for your reply Goobers... however it's definitely not the tires.... the noise is actually from the springs.... its the sound when you twist something onto a spring it makes this clinking sound.... it makes sound only when i turn the steering is all the way to the left and right.... also whenever I go over roads that are not flat.... eg. going over curbs.... i have no idea how to fix this..... i tried searching on the forum but seems like nobody had the same problem as I do.... sigh.....

 

Need help sry bring up old thread my buddy clubs r installed but my rears make noise is that normal the coils make the noise i left the bottom bushing on the coil but the top did not sit well so........ i did not put it on is that my problem has anyone made it fit the top maybe cut it or somthing i got a ge8 2012 or if any ge8 owner can post a pic of there rear coils plz thank u sooooo much

 

I cut some rings from some horse stall matting to put between the the rear springs and the upper and lower perches... That was all that was needed to eliminate the clunking noise..

 

do u happen to have pics

 

I'm an old guy that isn't all that tech savvy so I always mess up with pictures.. Just take the upper threaded spring perches off and place one of them over a piece of the 1/4 inch floor matting placing the flat part down and cut around it. Then flip it over with the threaded side down and cut around it and you have one ready to go... Make 6 of them so one fits on the outside of the threaded parts and the others on the opposite side of the flat parts and on the lower spring perch.. You can get the stuff by the foot at Tractor Supply..... Tractor Supply Company - Stores by State