go on megans site they have the preload instructions on there use their instructions not a sticky on here. i used theirs for my megan coils and have had no issues at all.

 

IMO this garage post needs to be closed or needs to be explained as this is not correct!

Megan Racing specifically voids the warranty if you follow this method described in this post!

http://www.club3g.com/forum/suspension/85074-how-install-megan-racing-coilover-suspension.html

Compressing the springs as shown below voids the warranty!

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Measuring Pre-Load

1.) Lower the car off the jacks. Now your car will settle down. The springs were uncompressed, now since the car is on the ground the springs have compressed. This is called preload.
2.) Since you set your suspension higher, at the install you should have enough handroom to take these measurements. Best way I found out is to take a metal/wooden ruler, and measure the springs this way. You will be measuring the from the top of the plate plate on the rears and front the top of the spring plate on the fronts. Be sure to record these numbers.
3.) Once you measured the preload on your car. Time to raise it up again. However this time I recommend.you raise one side of the car and support it with jackstands.

Formula = Uncomprssed Spring 180mm - Compressed Spring XXXmm = Pre-Loaded Spring
I.E. 180mm - 149mm = 31mm or 3.1cm

Adjusting Pre-Load

1.) Remove your wheels.
2.) Now with the supplied ring wrenches time to make the adjustment.
***This step is a real pain in the ass to do it with just the rings and wrench, it would be a good idea to get some spring compressors to make your job a lot easier***
3.) Now before turning anything. Spray all the rings and threads with WD40 or other lubricating spray.
4.) Now loosen the bottom ring from the top one. Now to make the adjustment for preload you have to spin the top ring until you reach the amount of preload needed. This is going to get much harder once the spring gets more compressed.
5.) Once you reach the proper preload tighten the bottom ring from the top So the spring is secured.
6.) Now Measure the distance from the top of the bottom ring to the bottom of the secondary top ring. Record this measure ment. It will be need to adjust the ride height.
7.) Repeat for the rear and other side.


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If you're gonna whine about coilover warranty don't get them. Coils are for cars that need handling capabilities which means preloading accordingly. If you're concerned about damaging them with how you're gonna run them then get heavier duty ones.

Besides the only one who should be setting your coils is your local alignment perfosnce shop. Blindly preloading is dumb. Get it corner balanced.

 

No one is whining.. I'm saying is it either right or wrong or misleading as hell.

If the forum is going to have a garage, how to thread, with a super star rating then the thread should include something about what the hell the setup is for. How does a garage thread with 13.5k views and 5 stars lack so much information? GT, GTS, RS, GS, BS.... Just go ahead and set them all up this exact way...will be fine...
Any dumb ass like me that read what seemed to be a very valuable thread and took it for face value has come to realize that unless you trailer your car to the most pristine tracks in the world this thread has ZERO value....

If the only person that was supposed to touch the preload is the performance shop then why is the tread even in the garage to begin with?

Must be a read only how too.....

 

You do not want any pre-load! What you did is remove all down travel your suspension should have had! So now your tire is just skipping across the top of the pavement instead of following it. The springs are supposed to compress when the car is lowered off the jack, that is how your wheel continues to contact the pavement after it hits a bump, without down travel your vehicle is incredibly unsafe to drive for the reasons you just mentioned.

All the more pre-load you should have is just enough to keep the spring from moving when the damper is unloaded (off the vehicle) There should be just enough tension that it requires a small amount of strength to turn the spring between the perches.

 

If this forum represented my set of beliefs it would be a very different place. I believe in doing things right, shooting in the dark is something I don't condone. Sure, setting mild preload via that sequence isn't going to hurt the average coilover user. It'll be better than what they come up with in their own head knowing nothing of setting up coilovers. But I believe if you're going to set up a car with coilovers it better be to extrapolate the gains they offer which means not on daily drivers and set up by pros who can measure shit and maximize potential. Otherwise spending two grand on your suspension (because if you do coils you better do it ALL) is retarded. Either enjoy the car for its street character or make it a beast. There is little success in between and I have spent a lot of time and money finding that out.

 

Most people on here just do it for the stance yo! and really don't care about much else as long as it gets their car low and they can brag about how the car is on coilovers.

Through my many years of playing with these things I've learned that making the thing work vs. just making it safe to drive is a huge gap that makes a major difference in performance. Corner balancing is invaluable to making the car handle consistently. On top of that it makes me cringe with how many cars I see that have uneven ride heights in different corners, not only does this mean corner balance is way off, the way it weigh transfers has become completely wrong. The adjustments exist for a reason, if you aren't going to use them get a set of Koni's and lowing springs, it doesn't make sense to do anything else.

Also I don't like using wet lube on the threaded bodies of coilovers as it attracts dust and dirt and holds it in the threads. When I put my set up together for the first time I use dry graphite, and add more each adjustment. This has made adjustments much easier.

I agree with not shooting in the dark, but there is much that is unexplored with this platform as a whole, so its important to be able to make intelligent estimations when approaching the unknown or else nothing new is revealed and no progress is made.

 

I use a fine wire brush when I set coilovers (I typically work with used ones because that's what customers bring in). Clean up the threads and blow them out with 160 psi behind the blow gun. I set ride height so it's even in all four corners with two and a half turns of preload past just touching the spring. If they're happy then off they go to Tires plus but if they're looking for actual performance I send them down to the alignment guy and he takes care of the rest.

All the same, I've seen cars on springs rape cars with improperly set up coilovers. There is plenty of handling potential in a good set of drop springs but that is relative to stock. The ride quality is not even a fathomable question. If it does not see significant track time or get driven hard on the street coilovers are a stupid investment. That said coils unlock some downright wicked handling capacity. Last drive I had with my silver car I was cutting cloverleaves at 85 and the front end would start chattering at the apex until I got back into it. Absolute blast.

 

That is why I haven't gone with coilovers for my Volvo, its just a waste on a daily driven vehicle, although they make 14" travel coilovers for it!

With the Galant I have the advantage of having started with a brand new set of JIC's and the car gets driven on the track and too and from, that's it. As soon as I get a trailer it won't hardly spend time on the street. Since its dedicated to the cause I can do things I wouldn't be able to or just wouldn't on a street car.

 

I'll take them all back out this weekend, clean and reset them appropriately.

The last alignment shop I took my car to decided to back it into a curb and proceed to blame it on "being a lowered car and that's what happens" and then claiming it was brought in with the exhaust tip bent in half.....right.....

I prefer the ride of the coilovers to the stockers. I want it to handle predictably and I like that I can feel the suspension in body and the wheel. more predictable and fun than the floating boat the stock suspension provided.

I push the car, not to the degree I am sure some do. But I thoroughly enjoy being able to take turns and on ramps and pretty much anything at any speed and know I am stuck to the pavement.

 

Do you have urethane bushings all around? Coilovers are pretty weak without them.

People typically think a stiffer car handles better even when they take corners at the same speed. I've driven about every combination of suspension options possible in these cars and a full urethane suspension is the only way to really make the car worth a shit in corners no matter what other mods are present.

 

Yeah, its on energy suspensions everything, just compliant enough to make it not skip along, but doesn't end up with inconsistencies due to component flex. Delrin might be better for a smooth track but generally I'm not that lucky.

 

Wat kind of coilovers do u have bruce?

 

I have the Megan street series:
Megan Racing

No aftermarket bushings yet. I will be working in that direction. I was hoping to have the coilovers set and done by now and could have moved onto new suspension projects. Its been educational and I am wicked fast at taking out every part in the wheel well. But I have probably 20hrs in the setup/remove, setup/remove, over and over and have yet to make any progress. starting to get old...

 

To elaborate on the preload mistake I made in following the garage thread. I only got to the rear suspension with the time I had and not yet performed this disaster on the front. Due to schedule constraints once I realized I made a monumental mistake I had to wait about 200 miles before I could get the coils set back to where I had them. In that short period of time I COMPLETELY wore off the entire thread from both rear tires. I put 12,000 miles on the tires in the last year and they were about half worn down to the wear bars. In 200 miles I ground them the rest of the way down to nearly completely flat....

What a disaster this has turned into... Hopefully now that I have reset the preload and got the wheels as straight as I can the tires will last to Saturday and I can get another alignment...

 

Coilovers should have no direct impact on tread wear. Dropping the car requires an alignment no matter how you set the coils up.

 

I agree with Silvertune, After any suspension upgrade you have to have a alignment done .And by your statement of tire wear i would def say that this is your issue.Improper alignment will result in tire wear.

 

I think it must have had more to do with the fact that the tire was not contacting the road correctly and skipping on the pavement due to the very accelerated wear.

I could be wrong but I don't think that compressing the spring and then extending the threaded height adjustment would have changed the alignment as there was no height change. I got it aligned for the lowered height already so compressing the spring and screwing out the height adjuster should have produced nearly the same wheel profile I started with.
At least to the degree that I would have gotten more than 200 miles from it. Something is way off to develop that kind of wear.

An alignment will happen either way at this point, but damn what a terrible experience. This is one case where I should have left well enough alone...

 

Exactly. Your coilovers have nothing to do with it wearing that fast.

 

You shouldn't ever do any major suspension work without planning on getting an alignment if you have to take apart anything involved with the cars alignment. There are some things that should go back together without changing alignment, but from my experience should doesn't mean will, and by that I mean it never works for me, haha.

I reset alignment for even the most minor changes, its just not worth trashing a set of tires because you where being cheap.

 

lesson learned...the hard way unfortunately...

 

This is the result of Saturdays Alignment...
Toe in the rear was way off...

Note to self: even if you think you didn't change anything, if even so much as touch the suspension, get the alignment ASAP...

 

So if I take out my coilovers and disassemble them for spring cleaning, when I put them back together at the same ride height as before would I need another alignment?

I'll measure everything with calipers so the heights will be nearly exact.
Is disassembly of the coils grounds for alignment?

 

What good is disassembling and cleaning them if they're going to get set at the exact same spot?

 

The fronts are not turning correct. Sometimes when I turn the springs catch and make god aweful popping sounds. Catching and banging as they release. So I was going to clean the sand and grit out of them and lube with some graphite or something.

 

That's just wait the cheaper coilovers do.