Installed Coil Overs..now wheels are off

[red3000gtvr4]

Here is a couple pics, i realize its really low now it seems the springs settled over night, i will be raising it more, but is this because its too low or is something else a problem? Its kinda hard to see in the pics but the pasg side tire is not strait like the drivers side

[byebye_sti]

Damn, that sucks.

Those are so off.

[red3000gtvr4]

heh.. i know! somehow i don't think an alignment would fix that so i was hoping to get some input

[Colt45_GTO]

which way does your steering wheel point when driving? i ask because if it points to the left adjust the steering arm on the right hand side in 1.5 turns that will pull your wheel back out and straighten the steering wheel.

visually check alignment by driving a few feet in a straight line and get out withough moving the wheel and see if both fronts look like they are heading the same way as the rears. if not make the adjustment again until they do. this will buy you enough time to get alignment at a shop.

dont forget you turn the rod into the end which shortens the arm bringing the front of the wheel out

[veerfour05]

I would just adjust it yourself for right now, then after you get a rear camber kit go get an allignment. To adjust the toe you have to loosen up the jamb nut on the tie rod, and then turn the inner tie rod to adjust it.

[red3000gtvr4]

Well its weird when i drive, if i turn the wheel a little to the right, the whole car just starts turning to the right really bad, if i turn it to the left then the whole car starts turning to the left really bad... if i turn the wheel hard right or left the car feels like its breaking.. like it wont move and it takes quite a bit of gas to get it going, also sounds like something is rubbing??

[91Stealthrt2]

ok, well which coilovers do you have? Did you install full coilovers or just the sleeve type?

Just fyi, fixing your camber will take care of some of the toe being off as well as raising the car slightly. There is plenty of adjustment on the toe to fix get it into spec once you get it aligned.


Again, you need to take it to get a correct alignment, unless you have the tools to do it yourself. You can't just get it right by sight and the steering wheel being strait. Get rear camber arms if you don't already have them.



Once you get the alignment done and if there are still problems I'm sure we could help more...

[bluemax_1]

As someone who's installed their own coilovers more than once, here are a few things you need to look into.

1) Make sure that your wheels/tires clear the coilovers. Most coilovers have some way to adjust camber at the lower mount. If you adjust this too negative (the wheels tilt in at the top), the inside top part of the wheel/tire could be rubbing on the coilovers. Reach behind the tire and use your fingers to feel if the tires/wheels are touching the coilovers. Typical standards say you need at least 5mm of clearance between suspension and the tire/wheel. If you need to increase clearance, loosen both bolts that hold the lower mount to the steering knuckle and pull the top of the brake rotor outwards before retightening (obviously the wheel needs to be off to do this)

2) As folks have already mentioned, you need to raise the car. Driving it slammed that low is not practical and it will screw up the alignment even more.

3) Raise the car first before making changes to the alignment. To adjust the suspension ride height, measure the vertical height from the center of the wheel to the bottom of the fender arch and write them down. Figure out how high you need these heights to be and adjust the coilovers accordingly. Make sure that you get the left and right sides at least fairly close.

4) Once ride height is adjusted and wheel/tire clearance from the suspension is OK, you need to adjust the toe. Colt45 GTO has explained how to do this pretty well. Just disconnect the tie rod ends (the ends that connect to the steering rack and the steering knuckle) and make the adjustments. You can get the toe close enough to zero to drive it to an alignment shop in this manner. Get the front wheels as straight as you can get them (meaning both wheels pointing as straight forward as you can REGARDLESS of how your steering wheel ends up being angled).

Place the tip of a tape measure in the outermost tread groove in the tire on the front side of one tire. Stretch the tape measure under the car to the tire on the other side and read the measurement that corresponds to the outer tread groove on the tire on the opposite side. take the same measurements on the back side of the same tires. The front measurement will be shorter than the back from those pics. Adjust the tie rods IN and measure again. When the measurements are pretty close to the same, you should be able to drive to an alignment shop pretty easily.


Max

[red3000gtvr4]

ok thank you guys so much this is a lot of info ill go at it tomorrow

[kywhitelightning]

FYI I just remembered, I don't know if anyone else experienced this or not but a few weeks after I installed mine I was washing the car and I noticed there was a difference in the fender to tire gap on almost all of them. When I went to readjust I figured that maybe I didn't tighten the locking collars down tight enough but that was not the case at all. I faught to break the collars free and chalked it up to the springs settling. I'm not an expert but this is a fact so be aware of this.