Teins height set up dilemma

[adaxo]

Have a little balls ache with my Tein suspension today, was trying to raise my car a bit as being fed up with speed bumps and car didn't look how I wanted to, anyway hit the wall with my issue and asking you keen owners for little advice.

The issue is, if I set desired height the way that have even length of 'free' thread on coil overs then my car not sit even, or may its ok and I just not measure this properly, after adjusting susp I go for a little ride to get this settle a bit and then I've got measurement like

Front NS 66 cm
Front OS 66.6 cm
Rear NS 66.7 cm
Rear OS 65.3 cm

All that is measured using tape, from floor though centre of wheel to bottom of wheel arch extension.

Question is, are plastic wheel arches should be even? or they may mount little bit differently (all of them has been taken off car before) hence my measurement method is crap? or is something wrong with suspension? or there is different (more accurate) way of measure?

All tyres are the same, wear wise, with the same pressure in them.

Front looks fairly good but rear can be clearly seen that one side is 'lower' that the other as there is 14 mm difference.

[Nick Mann]

Front NS 66 mm
Front OS 66.6 mm
Rear NS 66.7 mm
Rear OS 65.3 mm

Errrr....... Where is there 14mm difference?

Remember that the ground is often not flat. Go to a supermarket car park & measure the car parked at 90 degree angles on the same spot.

[Nick Mann]

Ah, hang on. You are measuring cm and not mm I think?

[Davezj]

are those measurements cm reather than mm.
from the floor to the bottom of the arch.

what you have to remember is the weight distribution is not even at each corner of the car, to get it sitting level you will have to adjust each shock height to make it sit level.

setting the same free thread on the shock is a good way to get the basic height, but fine adjustment will always have to be done. this is assuming the arch extentions are all sitting in the correct places.

that is why corner weighting a car is so expensive, it can take a long time to get it right. as when you adjust one side it will effect the weight sitting on the other 3 corners.

well that is how i understand it.

[adaxo]

Ah, hang on. You are measuring cm and not mm I think?

It has been measure in my garage, I check floor and is fairly flat, not understand that supermarket method? and yes is measured in cm,mm and big difference (14mm) is at the back

[adaxo]

Yes @Davezj, I've got quote of £150 for corner weight set up but I want to be 100% happy with my suspension set up/components b4 I spend that much for fine tune. I was pretty sure that engines design car to be fairly even on each corner, and I will understand if there is few mm difference but not 15 as this is quite a lot, to put this in perspective, I think if you sit at the back then this corner not drop 10mm.

[Davezj]

Yes @Davezj, I've got quote of £150 for corner weight set up but I want to be 100% happy with my suspension set up/components b4 I spend that much for fine tune. I was pretty sure that engines design car to be fairly even on each corner, and I will understand if there is few mm difference but not 15 as this is quite a lot, to put this in perspective, I think if you sit at the back then this corner not drop 10mm.

that is very kind of you to say that adam, i would have said a good 20mm, lol.

[adaxo]

that is very kind of you to say that adam, i would have said a good 20mm, lol.

don't forget that mine springs are a bit stiffer than stock so not get to excited

[Nick Mann]

It has been measure in my garage, I check floor and is fairly flat, not understand that supermarket method? and yes is measured in cm,mm and big difference (14mm) is at the back

You quoted the measurements in mm in your first post, not cm.

A large car park usually has minor height changes and is relatively smooth. However, if there is a small height difference on the tarmac, turning the car 90 degrees (park across the space instead of in it) should swap the load on the suspension, which should compress a different spring.

[Kenneth]

The relationship of the rear arch to the wheel centreline is different than the front.

If your car was 100% level (floor pan to the ground) then your rear arches would be closer to the ground than the front. People like to set the gap between the tyre and the arch to be the same for aesthetic reasons, which results in the rear being a fair bit higher in the back... which results in the front hitting things easier (at least in my experience)

[adaxo]

The relationship of the rear arch to the wheel centreline is different than the front.

If your car was 100% level (floor pan to the ground) then your rear arches would be closer to the ground than the front. People like to set the gap between the tyre and the arch to be the same for aesthetic reasons, which results in the rear being a fair bit higher in the back... which results in the front hitting things easier (at least in my experience)

Hi Ken, yes you right, front wheel fill arch differently to the back, this is not really my issue, I thinking how to level rear, as one side sit 15mm lower, I try to find out why this is happen when both rear coils are set at the same 'free thread' lengths, yesterday I take out both arms on one side off the hub and visually check rubbers, all seems fine, no cracks and they are solid, what I find thou is a play in arb drop links (already on the way to me).

Should I not bother of 'free thread' lengths and just raise one side? not sure but in this case I will compress one spring more than other which will mess pre load, or may I should lower opposite front corner as this may then raise rear, really confused, btw car is not handling like it should/used to be.

[Nick Mann]

What can you adjust on the strut?

[adaxo]

What can you adjust on the strut?

You mean top mounts? They aren't adjustable

[Nick Mann]

No, the length of the strut. Is there height adjustment independent of spring pre-load?

[adaxo]

No, the length of the strut. Is there height adjustment independent of spring pre-load?

No they are the same as yours, height is adjustable by spring pre load.

Today I play a bit more with this issue, it something wrong going on at the back, I raise lower side up by 15 mm and its raise other side by another 5 mm, so car is getting higher and higher which I don't like. I will drop every single bit of rear suspension and must have a proper look at components. Will wait with this until arb links and poly bushes arrive.

Other thing which I notice is, the higher car is the better (more stable) high sped handling is, when it was close to the ground it was more 'nervous' on high speed.

[Kenneth]

check the hub and the suspension mount to see if either could be bent. If the tiens were the same length and the springs were the same spring rate, the free thread length should be pretty close.

If you lift the car up at the back (as evenly as you can) and then drop it so the wheels are JUST off the ground, is the car level? Then, when dropping the car, does it then drop the same amount both sides? (thinking spring rates)

[adaxo]

check the hub and the suspension mount to see if either could be bent. If the tiens were the same length and the springs were the same spring rate, the free thread length should be pretty close.

If you lift the car up at the back (as evenly as you can) and then drop it so the wheels are JUST off the ground, is the car level? Then, when dropping the car, does it then drop the same amount both sides? (thinking spring rates)

Spring rates are the same on both sides (3kg) and while I lift the car (by the diff) is both wheels going off the ground at the same heigh/level, didn't notice how is going when dropping down, will do this with some assist. I have a good look at top struds, they look ok, bottom mounts at the hub looks ok too, last suspected bits are ARB (cusco), may is not mounted bang on in the middle and causing too much tension at one side?

Find instructions for this set but is all Japanese, any one can translate this?

teins023.jpg

there is whole manual