rear aftermarket springs too compressed and clunking.
 

I have Espelir Springs Koni shocks and RB sway bars. I've been noticing since I installed the Konis that the rear of the car sat noticeably lower but didn't think too much of it. After my last two track days I've been getting a clunking sound like something is shifting under the car. I checked and torqued all the suspension bolts and swaybar endlinks.

I looked under the rear of the car today and saw that both my rear springs are compressed so much the top 4 coils touch! The bottom 1/3 of the coil is the only part that has any travel left!:Eyecrazy:

I'm not sure what's causing this. They did not sit this way when the oem shocks were installed with the same springs.

Any thoughts? I definitely don't think this is right.

Here are pictures.

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u34/shaunv74/_99.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...nv74/_99_2.jpg

http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u...nv74/_99_1.jpg

What's your rear damper set at?

25% from full soft.

doesn't matter, the gas pressure will have some impact on ride height, but not the valving adjustment settings that come on those shocks

springs are messed up or you have a weird bind.. i am going with springs are fcked up..


beers :beer:

you can defintely see the marks where they're coilbinding and rubbing between the coils, sometimes it pays to pay more up front for a quality product

Koni shocks FTW

cheap springs = fail

Yeah I suppose. I would agree except these springs didn't have this problem until I swapped out the OEM shock and swaybars for Konis and RB sways. Wierd huh?

They were fine and had a taller ride height when they were on with the OEM shocks. I am questioning my installation first. Any thoughts on what I could have messed up when putting them on? I'd be fine going out and getting a new set of springs and swapping them out but I don't want to go through the trouble and make the same mistake and have the same problem again.:(

Any other thoughts on how I can test to see if my springs are shot vs. an install goof on my part? I figure this weekend I'll jack up the back end and see if the springs fully relax. That should tell me if the springs are plastically deformed or if something is artifically pre-loading them too much. The only thing I can think of is if the swaybar rotation is artifically restricted or if I somehow cranked down the shock tower nut or put them back together in the wrong order and it's putting too much pre-load on the springs. I don't remember that being the case when we installed them though.

Could it be the low gas pressure konis vs. the high gas pressure OEMs that is the difference?

I'll crawl under my car tomorrow night and have a look. The springs are obviously not bidning on the shock body, which would be the first concern with the noise manifesting shortly after making that swap. I did notice, in the first picture, it sort of looks like the spring may be binding on the suspension link in the foreground of the photo. Have a look at that. Also, the espilir's are progressive, right? I'm wondering if the softer initial spring rate may be part of the issue. As low as your car is riding in back, I wonder if your catching the bump stops and that's where the clunk originates.

Good point. I'll take a peek and see if there are any shiny spots on them or potential for contact.

The OE shocks are high pressure gas. The Konis are low pressure gas. This causes a drop in ride height, but it's usually not much. The springs were probably too short to begin with, and way too many coils from what I see.

the spring coils are hitting each other, if you look closely you can see the paint markings where they are banging into each other, which is a classic coil bind situation. Very poor design IMO.

Okay. Thanks for your insight Team. I guess I'm in the market for new coils.

I'm debating RB v. H&R v. Eibach. I kinda lik the look of the extra drop from the H&R and Eibach but if all I'm buying is extra drop and not extra track day performance I'd assume go with RB.

Thoughts on those three? I want to have some solid track day performance but still be able to take my wife on long trips. It's not a daily driver but I still want it to be comfortable on the highway. I'm not worried about comfort in town.

i am very happy with my Eibachs.

beers :beer:

There is a guy selling some on the forum right now. I'm going to bring my car down to my local shop to confirm my work hasn't messed anything else up and then plunk down on the new springs.

Man I am really suprised to see such a major defect like this in something a straightforward as springs.:(

you never know. but they have failed... lots of counterfeit stuff out there.. it is not like you could have overtightened something and caused that mess...

beers :beer:

I had the RB spring.

I liked them, but then wanted it much stiffer so I went with coil overs.
The Koni shocks were designed around the RB spring.

RS*R Springs. They're pretty good and very popular with the FD and S2000 people... I'm like the only person who's running it with my 8 on the forum though.

A few of us are tracking with success on H-Tech + Koni combos.

You already know how the RB's ride. Remember the the extra tightness without any real change in ride quality you got when we did your sways? Basically the same effect with mine.

Yeah I think unless I find a deal on the Eibachs I'll go with the RBs.

That way I can be a RB fanboi!!:)

There are worse things to be. Like a Honda fanboi. And almost all my RB stuff I got used, making the price really attractive.

get Swift's I have them, and they :rock:

oem vs swift
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1205771693

True. I like there stuff so I'm okay with being a fanboi. I have a line on some used RB springs so hopefully I'll see them in a few weeks and then I can take install them all over again. I'm not looking forward to that.

On a side note Endless Rotaries tried to find out from Espelir what may have happened with my springs but I haven't heard anything back. :(

I know they're not under warranty anymore but that's pretty pathetic engineering.

[QUOTE=imput1234;2353217]get Swift's I have them, and they :rock:[\quote]

I've had a couple recommendations on the Swift's. If my line on the RacingBeat springs falls through I'll check them out. Where did you purchase them?