chim-chim

Hello everyone, I just had my 8 lowered today with the Eibach pro kit. I was wondering if anyone else has this kit on their 8 as well. After install and road test, I noticed that the drop looks very uneven. The rear sits ok, but the front does not look droped much at all. Now it has the looks of a lifted truck, so to speak. Can anyone help me? I am out some money if this is the way they are.

dillsrotary

did you do it yourself, did you put the rear's on the front and the front's on the rear???
are they the real deal? (there are some fakes floating around ebay)

chim-chim

No, I did not do it myself. I had Rush motorsports order and install the springs. I know the owner well and these are true Eibach springs. He ordered straight from his distrubitor. As far as springs on backwards, maybe, but would it not make a larger difference then I have now. Well, I guess I need to post a gap difference, so you can see. I picked up the car from his shop just as they were closing, so I could not talk to him about it much.

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

well.. if the springs are put where they are suppose to..

did the shop tighten the upper control arm bolts with the car on the ground?

chim-chim

Not sure about that, was not there to watch. Are all the springs the same length?
The more I think about it, the more I think you guys are right. Springs have to be on backwards. Will they fit on that way. I am going back to shop tomorrow morning, but before that I will take pics. Thanks

apotocki

I personally installed Eibachs on my 8 (actually about 4 times but thats another story/thread).

If your Eibachs are the same as mine, the rear come with silicone tubing on the first couple of coils near the top....maybe an easy way for you to determine if they are on wrong......but, I suspect that the suspension was not pre-loaded when tightening everything. That would certainly result in your situation.

chim-chim

Well went back to the shop today , and they said everthing was normal. I checked the springs, just like you said. The silicone tubing was on the rear springs only. that checks ok. Can anyone explain how the suspension should be pre-loaded to correctly drop the car. Or does anyone have any pics of their car with the pro kit installed so I can see how it is supposed to look? I am running the stock shocks for now. Thanks.

apotocki

I think it will depend on how they installed the springs. On my fronts, I unbolted the upper control arms only. After the spring install, I left the (2) bolts very loose, put the car back on the ground, and then reached in through the wheel well to tighten the bolts....pretty straight-forward.
See the pictures at the following link for how the car looks....these pictures were taken last fall and at the time I also had stock dampers....I have since replaced then with Koni yellows...and after installing those I saw no change/difference in the drop.
Are you certain that the front really sits that high? or.....maybe you think it is sitting high due the the drop in the rear?

http://www.pbase.com/apotocki/image/49256177
http://www.pbase.com/apotocki/image/49256178
http://www.pbase.com/apotocki/image/49256180
http://www.pbase.com/apotocki/image/49256176
http://www.pbase.com/apotocki/image/49256175

lurch519

there is a difference in the front and rear springs, so it is not easy to mix them up. as to the front sitting higher, you have to make sure the suspension is preloaded before tightening everything up. this means making sure the full weight of the vehicle is on the suspension before tightening up the bolts. this is probably what you are experiencing with your 8.

iridearocket

Apotocki's pictures make the front look a little higher than the rear too... or is it just my imagination? I'd swear there is more gap at the top of the tire in the front. With my H&R's, I'd have to say the front looked marginally lower than the rear. (opposite of the Eibach's) But then, when I swaped the stock shocks to the Tokico D specs, it leveled back out again.

A few months ago, some posters were mentioning Eibach install issues when using the Koni shocks. I can't remember the details, nor can I recall if those issues were sorted out or not, but a search may provide helpful info.

chim-chim

Thanks for the pics apotocki. That helps. My car is sitting just like yours at the moment. Rear tucked and front about 3 fingers fender gap. Well, I guess that's just normal look for these springs. I can live with it for now. I will just have to see what it looks like when I put new wheels on the car next week. Thanks for everyones help.

apotocki

The Eibachs actually dropped my front 1 inch and the rear 1.125 inches.
I think the rear 'looks' much lower than the front due to the way the fender is designed. In my opinion, the car sits pretty much level.

iridearocket

Although a measurement of the center of the wheel to the lowest point of the fender lip does nothing to evaluate how level the car is, I'm posting my measurements with the H&R springs in case you want to compare...

13.25" front
13.5" rear
Visually, the front looks to have no gap above the wheel with the rear having a fraction of an inch gap.
I think stock is about 15.0" - 15.5", but I forgot to measure before installing springs.

I'm curious what other peoples measurements are so we can compare if some manufacturers springs tend to tip the car more forward or backward.

iridearocket

I have also taken some approx measurements under the car from the frame to the ground and the frame seems to be quite level. (The frame has many low and high points in addition to the many components that are bolted on in different places, which make it difficult to be totally accurate.)

apotocki

My measures from the middle of the wheel to the fender lip with the Eibachs are as follows:

Front = 14 inches
Rear = 13 inches

SC-ed

Tein H-Tech with Koni's:
Front - 13 3/4"
Rear - 14"

iridearocket

Thanks!

hemmingway_bg

H Tech & Konis installed yesterday. From garage floor to fender 26" in front. The back is 28". I think the back has settled a bit over night. I can get one finger clearance in front and four in back. Rear end is jacked up. The shop told me you can't reverse springs but I wonder.

iridearocket

For some reason, the Tein's (S and H tech) want to keep the rear end of the car 0.7 inch higher than stock, so you may be able to visually notice some difference. They are not the only ones... the Eibach's post the rear to be 0.4 inches higher than the front as well.