Adjusting coilover height

[Daninplymouth 61]

hi, just wanted to check that im not being stupid but im thinking of raising my car a little.

i had it set up on tein flex a's i think its around 40mm drop, but theres one bump iv realised if im not paying attention the car just catches so was going to lift it 5-10mm. if i remove the wheels and just raise the rings 10mm all round this shouldn't alter geometry too  much should it? also regarding the adjustment ratio tein have listed in the manual i can ignore this, as it should all be set correct now so if i raise all 4 coils the same i will have the same stance as now just slightly higher?

regards

dan 

[Deacon 1357]

17 minutes ago, Daninplymouth said:

hi, just wanted to check that im not being stupid but im thinking of raising my car a little.

i had it set up on tein flex a's i think its around 40mm drop, but theres one bump iv realised if im not paying attention the car just catches so was going to lift it 5-10mm. if i remove the wheels and just raise the rings 10mm all round this shouldn't alter geometry too  much should it? also regarding the adjustment ratio tein have listed in the manual i can ignore this, as it should all be set correct now so if i raise all 4 coils the same i will have the same stance as now just slightly higher?

regards

dan 

Any change will alter the alignment but the less the change the less the alteration. 

On the teins make sure you don't adjust the rings to compress or decompress the spring as this will change the preload. Make sure you undo the collar and rotate the damper to get the ride height change you desire. 

The adjustment ratio in the manual refers to the amount of turns per mm of height change - doesn't have anything to do with the stance unless you're on about something else by 'adjustment ratio'? 

[Daninplymouth 61]

40 minutes ago, Deacon said:

Any change will alter the alignment but the less the change the less the alteration. 

On the teins make sure you don't adjust the rings to compress or decompress the spring as this will change the preload. Make sure you undo the collar and rotate the damper to get the ride height change you desire. 

The adjustment ratio in the manual refers to the amount of turns per mm of height change - doesn't have anything to do with the stance unless you're on about something else by 'adjustment ratio'? 

By adjustment ratio I meant as my car should be at the right level as it is. If I adjusted all 4 corners by 10mm on the threads this would raise or lower the rear more than the front but overall my car would have the same front-rear stance as it does now just at a higher height? Or would have to say raise the front 10mm and the rear 8mm for example

[Deacon 1357]

10 minutes ago, Daninplymouth said:

By adjustment ratio I meant as my car should be at the right level as it is. If I adjusted all 4 corners by 10mm on the threads this would raise or lower the rear more than the front but overall my car would have the same front-rear stance as it does now just at a higher height? Or would have to say raise the front 10mm and the rear 8mm for example

If you adjust 10mm front and rear you should see approximately the same ride height change front to rear so the rake should remain as it is now

[Lauren 2259]

As Jeff points out, any change to ride height will affect the toe and camber so you will need to get an alignmnent done afterwards. 

[Church 209]

By changing height on all corners, "level"/rake will be same, but even if not, it won't change handling drastically (especially if not tracking, just daily driving). But camber/toe, that will change too, affects handling more, hence nevertheless worth doing proper alignment afterwards to get those right, as several have already pointed out.

And if you will rise car back a bit, suggest to rise back so that drop is within 1"/25mm (vs stock height), so that some less tunable geometry bits, eg. roll center height and such, stay within normal setting. CV bearings will see less wear at more reasonable drop level too. And you will gain more comfort & compliance with more shock travel available.

[Daninplymouth 61]

14 hours ago, Lauren said:

As Jeff points out, any change to ride height will affect the toe and camber so you will need to get an alignmnent done afterwards. 

will it throw it out that much? i think at the moment i am around 40-45mm i know it will reduce the -camber but will it effect toe much if its just 5or10mm?

[Deacon 1357]

14 minutes ago, Daninplymouth said:

will it throw it out that much? i think at the moment i am around 40-45mm i know it will reduce the -camber but will it effect toe much if its just 5or10mm?

It shouldn't change it much but the only way to actually know will be to have the alignment checked after. Anything else is just guess work really. 

[Mike 458]

17 hours ago, Deacon said:

If you adjust 10mm front and rear you should see approximately the same ride height change front to rear so the rake should remain as it is now

10mm on the rings though? I thought changing 10mm on the rings wasn't going to raise the car 10mm, it'll be more. And if the ratio is different front to rear, he'll need to adjust by different amounts.

[Deacon 1357]

2 minutes ago, Mike said:

10mm on the rings though? I thought changing 10mm on the rings wasn't going to raise the car 10mm, it'll be more. And if the ratio is different front to rear, he'll need to adjust by different amounts.

I meant just literally raising the height by 10mm. The ratio in the manual refers to number of turns needed for mm of height change iirc. For the rake (which is what the op means by ratio I think) if he's lowered say 45mm at the front and 40mm at the rear and raises it by 10mm front and rear he'll keep the 5mm rake difference he has now. 

[Daninplymouth 61]

40 minutes ago, Mike said:

10mm on the rings though? I thought changing 10mm on the rings wasn't going to raise the car 10mm, it'll be more. And if the ratio is different front to rear, he'll need to adjust by different amounts.

Yes I mean by the rings, I think the front is 1-1 but the rear ratio is higher so will raise it more. My theory is that as my car has already been lowered they would’ve took this into account and the rings would be at different levels. So if I raise all the rings and equal amount from where they are now my car would keep the same rake as it currently has. But now I am doubting myself example 10mm on the rings raises the front 10mm and the rear 15mm now I think I would be gaining an extra 5mm of rake from where I am now?

[Mike 458]

If moving the rings changes the height differently between front and rear, you'll need to adjust them by different amounts to get 10mm ride height change.

Just measure the current height for each corner before you start and then you'll know if you've ended up with the right adjustment. Just remember the car may need time to settle fully so don't just lower and measure.

[Daninplymouth 61]

Well I had a little play around this morning, I think I got fairly close to what I wanted so happy with that.

One thing, I don’t know if it’s all in my head but it feels a bit softer. The teins shouldn’t effect dampening with the height changes or is it because the centre of gravity has been raised it’s not bad it makes it feel more comfortable