Replacing Coilover Springs
 

Quick question guys. I recently installed C/O's and just got my alignment done. Everything is working great except it looks like the springs on the rear are too short so every once in a while my springs "bottom out". In any case, I ordered some 200mm/10k springs. My question is, since my coils are already installed, is there a way i can replace the spring without undoing the control arms and f*ing up my alignment again?

Nope... they gotta come off to do the springs cuz you'll need to remove the strut from the car to get the spring off of it. What coilovers do you have? If they are designed for the Rx-8 I find it weird that they would bottom out... are you using the stock bump stops? Who did the install?

I am using the Stance GR+ coilovers. The springs that I have are the 175mm springs, and the newer kits come with 200mm springs because others have had the same problem.

I actually posted my pics in this thread here: https://www.rx8club.com/forum/showth...wpost&t=201730

I was thinking that I may be able to just undo the bolt connecting the strut to the wheel hub, undo the spring perch and slide off the spring. A long shot but I really would hate to fubar my alignment again.... then again, since I am not changing my ride height, maybe there is a way to do it without mucking with the alignment cam on the LCR

Hmm, looking at your pics and considering I have stock struts, I can't really say if that is possible... the pictures look like you could slide the spring off the bottom of the strut but doing so while it's on the car... i'd say it'll have to be a trial and error thing to see if you can get that spring out.... gonna be very tight though.

10k?!...these are for the rear correct?..if so, 10k is ridiculous....6k is the standard spring rate for the rear.

Yep, I am a moron haha, called them up and fixed the order. thanks!!

This is a pretty common problem with the Stance GR's and the RX8. Many people have received 175mm instead of the 200mm springs. This was a problem that stance supposedly fixed a long time ago.

I think you could get the shocks out without taking out the control arm, but the thing is you have to get the ride height to be exactly the same as before for the alignment to work.

Ah ok thats what I thought as I was under the impression that the only reason someone would unbolt the control arm would be if the ride height was changing. I have a local race shop that said they can go ahead and install them and get the alignment done for 100 bucks. That might be worth it since an alignment would cost me 70something dollars and this way i dont have to deal with it.

If Pre Loaded correctly longer springs will not change the ride height. Ride height is adjusted at the bottom on the strut which his nothing to do with the top and middle perch collars.

A longer spring will not change the overall length of the strut. Trust me -- I had to made the same change from 175mm to 200mm a few months ago.

OP- if you pre load correctly and re install the car will sit at the same height.

Well that doesn't exactly sound right, because the height of the spring after an amount of preload is applied would be relative to the initial height of that spring. So if you load a 175mm spring with xN's of load, loading a 200mm spring with the same xN's of load would produce a different height. You would actually need to add more preload to the 200mm spring to match the overall height.

I'm not saying that you are wrong, but I guess I will have to just see what happens when I try myself. Thanks for the heads up

They both are 6k spring rated... If you don't want to believe then fine.. find out the hard way.

I have the GR's too. Had the same issue.. I'm giving you the solution to the problem


Stance GR Spring Length at 6K (175mm -200mm) DOES NOT effect the overall strut length when pre loaded correctly. the new springs are about one inch longer and will sit about inch longer on the strut between the top an middle collars when pre loaded.

Ahhh yea i see what your saying now, my mistake. I keep forgetting that the spring perch is independent from the strut height adjustment perches.

Now I just need to find a nice quick way to replace the spring without having to remove the whole assembly :fingersx:

edit: sorry I didnt mean to come across like I was disregarding your solution

I think you can do it. You can unbolt the damper top and bottom so that it's at least loose in there.

Then you should be able to tilt it enough and room the lower spring perch and locking collar so you can slip the spring off. Then slide on the new spring and reverse the order. As long as the damper doesn't need to me completely out of the car you should be able to find an angle in there where you can get enough space to slip the spring out.

Who did you buy the coils from? This is something I took care of for our clients at no charge because they should all come with 200mm.

In all honesty the 175mm at 6k doesn't have enough stroke to support the RX8's weight. There's too many coils and they are too thick. I measured, did the math, reported to Stance.

THEY SHOULD NEVER BE SOLD WITH THEIR 175mm springs. The GUYS WHO WANT TO SLAM THEIR CARS CAN DO 175mm IN A HIGHER SPRING RATE.

AT 6kg you must go with 200mm.

Rishie

Thanks for the response Rishie. I actually purchased the coils from a member here who only had them for about 200 miles. I ordered the springs so hopefully they will be here either tomorrow or friday. Meanwhile, would you say its fine to drive the car with the 175mm?

Edit:

Drove the car to work today. About a 15-20 minute highway commute, w/ some city driving and some speed strips (the longer speed bumps). Heard some coil compression maybe once or twice, nothing serious at all though, just a slight clink and clank. I expect that this should be ok as long as i dont fly 80mph over a obscene bump.

Installed the new springs today. Just a heads up for anyone looking to replace their springs. You do NOT need to remove the dampers to do the job. All you really need to do is to unbolt the damper from the wheel hub, and loosen the supporting nuts on the top so that you have some wiggle room as Rishie stated.

^ If only it were so for stock struts..... oh well I see some Koni Yellows in my future