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Old 07-31-2016, 02:48 PM   #1
BRZN
 
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Dropped it!

Lowered her 1".

Helped Reichler do his 2SS a few weekends ago and talked my daughter into getting the same set of Pfadt AFE Control springs from iD CARiD. She ordered them last Sunday, they showed up Tuesday. $295



I picked up a set of external spring compressors from Advance Auto Tool Loaner Program, but didn't need to use them. There's very little compression on the front springs and none on the rears. Charlie was able to push down on the springs while I zipped off the upper nut with my impact gun. Same thing putting the new springs over the struts and shocks.

I got the car up on our Ranger Quick Jack (Charlie and I went halves on it a year or so ago) Friday evening, pulled the wheels, and hit all the nuts we'd be removing with Liquid Wrench. This is a daily driver 2012 with 61,000 miles that sits outside 24/7/365.

I got started about 8:00 Saturday morning and had the driver's side front corner off and disassembled before Charlie arrived to help at 8:45.

On his post he states it took us 4 1/2 hours on his car. We had Michelle's done and on the ground by noon with a one hour break to take his Dad's GTO out to get inspected. Experience, air tools, and the correct size ratcheting box end wrench made quite a bit of difference. 3 hours vs. 4 1/2 saving 3 full man hours the second time around.

With the stock springs:
RF 26 3/4"
LF 27"
LR 27 1/4"
RR 27"

With the Pfadt springs:
RF 26"
LF 26"
LR 25 1/2"
RR 26"

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


It rides a little stiffer overall, and a bit tighter when turning, otherwise the ride's close to stock.
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Old 07-31-2016, 02:58 PM   #2
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Did you also change the stock shocks and struts? I did mine myself also and took around the same time second time around. Aight the stock shocks/struts it slammed pretty hard when hitting good sized bumps, after changing to Koni street shocks/struts it took it much better, you would still feel the bump but not nearly as hard as with the stock ones. It def handles way better with the whole setup of lowering and new shocks/struts to match.....
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Old 08-01-2016, 05:10 AM   #3
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Kept the stock OEM shocks and struts, they appear to be in good condition yet. They have no signs of leakage and worked fine with the stock springs.
I cut off the recommend 1" from the bump stops and had no bottoming out when hitting any bumps on the afterwards test drive, just as we found after doing Reichler's a few weeks ago.
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Old 08-01-2016, 09:36 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRZN View Post
Kept the stock OEM shocks and struts, they appear to be in good condition yet. They have no signs of leakage and worked fine with the stock springs.
I cut off the recommend 1" from the bump stops and had no bottoming out when hitting any bumps on the afterwards test drive, just as we found after doing Reichler's a few weeks ago.


Oh ok, I didn't know of that procedure to cut from the bump stops. Guess I could have saved some money but on the other hand I do still have the stock springs, shocks and struts if I need them. I love the way the wheel gap almost disappears from the wheel wells, looking at the before ride height of our Camaro's make me sorta cringe when I know what they can look like ya know. Overall looks good bro.....




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Old 08-02-2016, 02:46 PM   #5
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Yup, it's amazing how much time we cut off of that one after we did mine and learned a few things along the way.
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Old 08-02-2016, 03:07 PM   #6
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Dropped it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Reichler View Post
Yup, it's amazing how much time we cut off of that one after we did mine and learned a few things along the way.


And to think how much labor time and rate we get charged when they already know the process.... now I know any thing I believe I can most likely do, I will do it myself just so I won't get ripped off. YouTube university is our friend people hahaha


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Old 08-16-2016, 08:29 PM   #7
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Looks great . Now I just gotta get the courage up to install mine !
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Old 08-16-2016, 08:40 PM   #8
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The drops do not appear to be correct. Have you timed the bushings and done an alignment?
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Old 08-17-2016, 09:45 AM   #9
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You bring up a good point Pete. I never timed mine when I installed my springs. I'm going to do that today.
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Old 08-17-2016, 11:51 AM   #10
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Yea I read that on another thread about re-clocking the bushings because of the new ride height, it's said its a must! Like I said I changed the shocks and struts myself also but this one I must seek a professional as to I don't know what I'd be doing....


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Old 09-04-2016, 05:02 AM   #11
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Alright, I timed the bushings yesterday.
Well all but two on each side in the rear.
Check out the attached .pdf Bushing Timing.pdf
At the rear, #3 Trailing Arm Bushing bolts close to the rotor I couldn't get any standard hand tool onto. I may be able to use a 12 point 3/8" drive 18mm socket on the bolt side with a length of pipe on the ratchet handle to provide some leverage. The nut side of the arm appears to have enough recess to hold a box end wrench secure inside itself. Or I find a set of hub stands for rent somewhere.

#8 in the rear, the Upper Control Arm Bushings. Again, no standard hand tool would work. I'm thinking a swivel head 21mm box end wrench that's 18-24" long.
#5 was a bear. I had to leave penetrating fluid soak onto the threads overnight to break it loose. This car has 60K+ miles on it and it sits outside 24/7/365.

The front wasn't too bad, a bit awkward as I had it sitting on Race Ramps which didn't leave me much room to maneuver, but doable.

The height has changed after timing the bushings from what I'd shown in post #1, three corners dropped a bit more, while the LR actually came up 3/8"
Now:
RF 25 7/8
LF 25 3/4
LR 25 7/8
RR 25 1/4

Here's how much drop we now have from stock:
RF -7/8
LF -1 1/4
LR - 1 3/8
RR -1 3/4

I can see where the front fenders are now making some slight contact with the tires. Phastek Performance recommended a +23mm offset on her front 20x10" wheels fitted with 285/35 BF Goodrich g-force comp-2 tires. That offset has the tires sticking out quite a bit.

Now time for an alignment, just to be safe. I believe I have everything still in the stock locations. Up front there's a very visible mark to keep the camber as it was. In the rear, bolt #7 adjusts the rear camber and there were green paint marks across the control arm and washer indicating the stock location. Bolt #6 out back adjusts the toe in/out. I couldn't see any markings and tried to keep the adjustment side in it's original location. I did a check of the rear toe after a test drive and the rear wheels measure parallel to each other still.
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Old 09-09-2016, 03:10 PM   #12
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Refer to the pdf in the previous post, I was finally able to break bolt #3 free on the trailing arms today with the wheels on and the weight of the car on the suspension.

I sprayed the bolt's threads liberally with Penetrating Fluid and let it soak for a couple days. I used a 3/8" drive ratchet on the bolt side with a 12 point 18mm socket attached. On the nut side I placed an 18mm box end wrench and wedged the open end side into the trailing arm. For leverage on the short ratchet I used an 18" long piece of galvanized pipe with a 1" ID over the handle.

The RR's now sitting at 25 7/16" and the LR at 25 9/16"

The only bushings I've not been able to time are those on the upper control arms.
Lookin' good
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Old 09-11-2016, 09:28 PM   #13
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Is that where the saying, "Timing is everything" comes from? I couldn't resist...
Funny you guys should have this post up as I just did this process today with my 1.25 BMR drop springs, lower control arms, trailing arms, cradle bushings, adjustable toe rods, end links and sway bars. Yeah I went a little nuts under there. I put the tires (315's) on and dropped the car down on cinder blocks with the hoist just an inch below in case those blocks didn't hold (safety first!). I let it sit over night bounced on the trunk, shook it side to side and even pre-lubed the grease fittings all to make sure that thing clocked in correctly. Truth be told some of those bolts I had to get very creative with in order to use a torque wrench on and hit the correct specs. Whatever that device is in the picture would have made my afternoon go much faster. You will read this in any install that you do, MARK the Inside bolts as a couple of them are cammed and had I not done that I would have come no where close for the drive to the alignment shop. Car looks good with the drop, I'm still waiting to drive mine aggressively this week to see the difference.
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Old 10-14-2016, 02:35 PM   #14
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Did you time your bushings without a lift? If so, how hard was it? Any tips?
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