Pfadt coilover trouble

[advfire]

ok all, I am writing you from the garage and having some problems with the Pfadt coilovers i am installing. just finished replacing stock and the ride new ride height won't go down, i lower the spring over 2 inches and my drop is almost 1/2 of an inch. i lower the coilover more and the spring is lose and floats when off the ground, what am i doing wrong, seeing that it's saturday and just about midnight,

HELP

[55Designs]

Hope this helps. Most coilovers you screw the perch counter clockwise to raise the ride height, this does not compress and shorten the spring to slam the car then clockwise to lower. I am not familiar with the Pfadts but give this a shot. Take measurements from the lower collar to the shock body for a reference point.

[advfire]

i have tighten the coil to the top and then the bottom total of a little over 1/2 of an inch different. when i loosen the coil towards the bottom the spring gets loose and floats within itself when off the ground. i can't think that could be right, if my front end was to go airborn the spring could loosen and dislodge, reseating when preasure is reapplied and be offset from the mounts???

what am i doing wrong???

[55Designs]

Originally Posted by advfire

i have tighten the coil to the top and then the bottom total of a little over 1/2 of an inch different. when i loosen the coil towards the bottom the spring gets loose and floats within itself when off the ground. i can't think that could be right, if my front end was to go airborn the spring could loosen and dislodge, reseating when preasure is reapplied and be offset from the mounts???

what am i doing wrong???

let me take a look at there design to see if something is diff hang on.

[55Designs]

beside from being an inverted design there are no helper springs its pretty straight forward. How low are you looking to go? look at the Pfadt illustrations on their site

[advfire]

i was looking for about 1.5 inches. i am just about at 3/4 right now no matter what i do.

[55Designs]

Originally Posted by advfire

i was looking for about 1.5 inches. i am just about at 3/4 right now no matter what i do.

hmm maybe you have the valving set full hard not letting the piston compress at all?

[ZX1truth]

You have the car on the ground .... with the setting at around 0 to 5 .....right????

[advfire]

just opened them to 20 clicks, seeing if it drops, at about 1' so we might be getting somewhere

[TCao]

Have you driven the car yet? The suspension does not settle completely when you just lower the car from the jackstands. You don't need to go very far. You can try backing down the driveway and move forward and brake a few times. HTH.

[advfire]

Ok, still need help. Pulled out everything and reinstalled, everything looks right, the odd thing is that when I lift the front end to remove the tire the coil over spring is loose, that troubles me ( is that right ??? ). If the car goes air born in the front the spring is not tight enough to stay in place.

The ride height in the back appears right and the spindles are set mid way. The fronts are what is bothering me. I set them all the way to the bottom with the damper set Full off ( 20 clicks ) and the front is still sitting high. I drove it down the block and back and still no change.

Any ideas

[Rob@WretchedMS]

I've never installed a Pfadt coilover, so i'm not exactly sure how the install goes on these.

Issues:
1. Ride height isn't low enough in the front.
2. The spring is not held in place when the car is lifted.

Possible Solutions:
1a. The bushings are bound up and need to be released with the weight of the car on the wheels, this is typically done on a drive up lift like an alignment rack.

1b. If you lower the spring seat 25mm (1") it should lower the car more than 25mm, this is due to the geometry of the suspension, so if you have moved the spring seats 1.5" and it's only moves .5" then something isn't right. Be 100% sure the springs are seating, and be sure that the strut has full travel and isn't binding.

2a. This is a drawback of this design, if you lower the spring seat to lower the car, you will get to a point that the spring isn't held securely anymore. Not that there is something wrong, it's just a design issue. Some manufactures will use a helper spring to solve the issue, and this is a good option but it doesn't appear these use this type of setup.

[michael's maro]

I switched my coilovers over from MTI RACING to the Pfadt coilovers, I had the same problem that you are having, it's the way the Phadt coilovers are designed..I ran the Pfadt coilovers on 2 different road tracks, I will be taking the Phadt back out and putting the MTI coilovers back in...The Pfadts to me felt as if my car was very loose on the track, I set my dampering's on 15, still felt real spongey..

[blazzin1]

I would highly suggest getting ahold of the folks at Pfadt before doing anything drastic. They have superb customer service and I'm sure can help you out.