just lowered my FIT on gf210's and noticed driver side is lower than passenger.........anyone xperience this.......no alignment done as of yet.........pics coming soon

 

its cause the gas tank is on the drivers side and fuel is heavy

 

u know i have noticed the same thing with my car. My drivers side sits lower then the passenger side. It can't be the gas tank b/c it's spread across both sides. The only other thing i could think of is that the AT tranny sits on the drivers side of the car, thus making it look lower on one side. BTW i have the gf210's too.

 

How noticeable is it?

Can you see an extreme lean from looking straight at the front of the car or the back?

or

Do you notice the difference from looking at the wheel gap and lowering reference points on each side?

After all the years of aftermarket manufacturing most reputable spring companies and car companies in-general take this into consideration when their springs are engineered. 90% of the time in any vehicle the drivers side of the chasis will be the only weight in the car.

I say...you load up that car with some 200+folk in each seat and drive around. Your new springs are still in the settling stage too.

 

only noticeable when measuring them at the wheel well.......I did install them on friday so I'll wait and see if they settle.......kinda wishing I would've installed the df210's

 

I noticed this on stock suspension. I thought I was nuts haha

 

i thought springs only tend to sag after they get pretty old. maybe you should try measuring it with your car parked in different places, or on perfectly flat ground if you have any somewhere since it might just be because of the surface your wheels are on? (fingers crossed)

 

i was just about to order these springs until i saw this thread.....now i'm getting doubts.....

 

pics will be up soon,and I have looked and measured on different surfaces..... had some one tint windows today and said Honda's are notorious for that(springs only), and the only way to get around it are w/coilover setup to adjust height

 

hey guys I just saw this thread and was kinda curious about the drop. So I went outside and measured.

From the bottom of the fender lip to my rim (not the tire)

3 1/4 inches all around!

Yes it was uneven when I first dropped it. You guys who just dropped your Fit need to wait for the springs to settle!

-Tomi

 

I think there is a misnomer in the term springs settling vs. springs sagging. Let's use settling on fairly newer springs purchased. From other car forums there is a rule of thumb of 3-4weeks of settling-in; then of which the owner should get a 4wheel aligment.

I forget where...but one fit owner went to a shop where the aligment was done with him in the drivers seat hoisted up.

 

Realistically all springs should be pre-set and should not have any additional "settling". Part of the manufacturing process includes pushing the spring down to the point where all coils are touching each other (way more force than the car could ever put on them). If you're concerned with sagging springs, find a company with a lifetime warranty like Progress.

Also, the universal way to measure lowered cars is from the bottom of the fender to the center of the wheel, that way you can share measurements with other people who may have different wheel sizes. You want to take before and after measurements to confirm drops.

 

Your exactly right...Most reputable spring companies have posted their manufacturing process on their website which include that...from apex, eibach, h&r, tanabe, progress, and many more. I've always stuck with manufacturers with rich and vast race heritage. F1, Nascar, WRC, Touring car.

But what if the customers expectations are not met?

My former Protege Club had a handful of members with the forever settling Eibach Prokit springset. It was traced to Eibachs not made in Germany but those coming out of the U.S.A. couple of members silently got rid of them and went to coils. Other different car clubs had problems with the U.S. based Prokits but it was silently corrected.

We even saw some Tien S-Techs...sag low back in the day and 2 members had them replaced.

When I tell people of these isolated incidents I nearly got stoned for blasphemy because these two reputable companies are like God to some people and they have some of the biggest Ad dollar, R&D and Race heritage.

I personally...have a bias towards the German engineered springs of H&R...even on a Japanese vehicle. By word of mouth, testdrives in other members cars and sworn testimonials by elder Civic Club stateman I was sold on H&R Sports.H&R don't give out their progressive specs outrightly on their website. They make oem VW, BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Porsche springs...some of the best handling cars in the world so that gave me confidence in them.

The above companies I've mentioned that had some of my negative eyewitness accounts were only a handful of members in my club of 1200 people locally.Others had Prokits and S-techs that were awesome!

The warranty and guarantee's offered by major companies are posted and if you are not pleased entirely...I would call the manufacturer.

 

had a friend switch out the rear springs and still lower on drivers side.......about 1/4 of an inch is the difference, still no alignment. friend said he's seen worse w/ spring only setup, guess I'll have to wait for a coilover set

 

interesting, that amount of time to wait for an alignment. reason I say that is I have also seen some say only 2 days and get it aligned. hummm.

another thing. is it simply TIME or MILES that this 3 week time is based on???

I've lowered on the Skunk2 springs. which brings me to a few points and questions. firstly we lifted the whole front end from the center of car and I was amazed at how much higher in the air the right side was compard to the left. so its quite obvious to me the driver side is a fair amount heavier.

why does that matter. well I noticed the gap on the right to be larger than the left side , quite a bummer I must say. (I've posted a few pics in the VBP thread). drove say 40 miles over various surface type and speeds. rechecked the front and it was a smaller gap between left and right. meanwhile there was a rather large difference between L and R on the rears.

move forward to today I drove her about 20 miles and made a point of tossing her about a bit in corners and such. stopped in a parking lot that is about as level as it gets. and checked the gaps. here is where some may scoff at me method of measurement. I place my index finger flat on top the tire tread. and if needed insert two fingers. well to wrap this up , I'm quite pleased with the difference I've noticed ALL gaps are within 1/2 finger of the other. Front is actually 1/2 a finger and rears are 1/12. still rolling on the stock sport rims and they suddenly look better to me now lol

oh almost forgot, the ride after the Skunk2 spring install is a marked improvement over the stock springs, much smoother, yet responsive.

I went to a place everyone complains about the BIG speed bumps. I thought for sure the front lip would drap but it didn't not once , I couldn't be happier .... well after I figure out a few more purchase decisions, rims mainly.

 

The 3-4weeks rule of thumb was loosely based on the everyday commuter who used their car to and from work.

My club had Yakuza kids who just did show and shines in their driveways and drove around to the local ice-cream and coffee shop hangouts to pose with their new rides. Therefore not much daily kilometers/miles were accumulated .

2 days is not enough...despite what a spring manufacturer says about pre-settling IMHO...I doubt they would put the weight of a specific car on their for a prolonged period of time for about 2days or greater. They are concerned about productivity of cranking out as much as they can.

The science is in the process of steel they use, how thick the diameter of the steel spring, how it's wound, the length and pattern it's wound, cold winding, the shot peening process, and the pre-setting process of which a springs are all compressed all the way so they are touching.

2 examples of spring manufacturing processes are cut and pasted below.
Plus a good drop spring company designs drops and springs based on OEM dampers/strut but will handle much better than with after markets dampers/strut.

H&R Special Springs, LP

Tanabe Racing Development, USA - Technological Innovations

 

Hi all...for those with spring issues, i went with the tanabe gf210's. at first i had rubbing all over, each corner, even on the mildest of bumps, but as the spings settled the rubbing became less and less. after about 3 weeks there was vertually no rubbing at all. car handles extremely well the ride is very firm, but not harsh. add in some strutt bars and the car handles just that much better...as for body lean, all gaps are even..car sits great with very little fender gap...i am very happy with the set up...

good luck...

 

Fit73, if your still unhappy...I would highly recommed taking tanabe upon their warranty and swappig for a new set. They do have their image and stand behind their product.

I know...it's time consuming or money if the install was done by you or by a shop...but it is still possible you could have got a bad batch. I would call or email the peeps at TANABE and tell them and send them some pictures.

I feel your frustration...but this should not deter anyone from this particular company. My previous car club had the Eibach Prokit....highly questionable for awhile.

 

It's a common problem with japanese made springs on japanese cars. See in the Japan the driver is on the right hand side of the car and a proper spring company will engineer their springs to sit properly with a 150lb person in the drivers seat. I've seen this on many Honda's with springs not specifically designed for USDM models.

My 07 beetle with a 2.5l motor and auto trans is 2" lower than stock from an eibach pro-kit spring and shock set. It shoul only be 1.2" but the auto tranny and 2.5L block ad extra weight.

This problem is more common than you think... 90% of lowered cars out there are slightly lopsided if carefully measured. Most people don't care or don't notice it enough to be concerned.