Discussion
I live down a partly unmade road and it's getting to be a real pain navigating around the potholes to get the car home. On the best route the exhaust still scrapes along on a few sections.
The car has AVO adjustable shocks so I've decided to attempt to increase the ride height bit by bit until I'm clear of the bumps. About 1/2" to 3/4" should do it.
There are spring seats on the threaded lower part of the dampers but I'm not sure which way to turn them!
I'm guessing that compressing the spring by adjusting up will lenghten the damper and increase height, would this be correct?
Is there a standard factory setting for the distance between some point on the car and the ground that I could aim for? Though even that may be too low for some of the road but it gives me a starting point.
Cheers,
SteveO
The car has AVO adjustable shocks so I've decided to attempt to increase the ride height bit by bit until I'm clear of the bumps. About 1/2" to 3/4" should do it.
There are spring seats on the threaded lower part of the dampers but I'm not sure which way to turn them!
I'm guessing that compressing the spring by adjusting up will lenghten the damper and increase height, would this be correct?
Is there a standard factory setting for the distance between some point on the car and the ground that I could aim for? Though even that may be too low for some of the road but it gives me a starting point.
Cheers,
SteveO
SteveOS3 said:
I live down a partly unmade road and it's getting to be a real pain navigating around the potholes to get the car home. On the best route the exhaust still scrapes along on a few sections.
The car has AVO adjustable shocks so I've decided to attempt to increase the ride height bit by bit until I'm clear of the bumps. About 1/2" to 3/4" should do it.
There are spring seats on the threaded lower part of the dampers but I'm not sure which way to turn them!
I'm guessing that compressing the spring by adjusting up will lenghten the damper and increase height, would this be correct?
Is there a standard factory setting for the distance between some point on the car and the ground that I could aim for? Though even that may be too low for some of the road but it gives me a starting point.
Cheers,
SteveO
For your question on factory setting height do a sesrch in the advanced search on ride height - there are loads of threads on this.The car has AVO adjustable shocks so I've decided to attempt to increase the ride height bit by bit until I'm clear of the bumps. About 1/2" to 3/4" should do it.
There are spring seats on the threaded lower part of the dampers but I'm not sure which way to turn them!
I'm guessing that compressing the spring by adjusting up will lenghten the damper and increase height, would this be correct?
Is there a standard factory setting for the distance between some point on the car and the ground that I could aim for? Though even that may be too low for some of the road but it gives me a starting point.
Cheers,
SteveO
Wrt your question, compressing the spring will reduce the amount by which the damper is compressed when the car weight comes on to the sspension as the spring (which is what takes the weight) is already compressed partially. This is known as the pre-load and by changing it will change ride height but will also affect ride wrt stiffness, re-coil etc.
Mark
Sorry, wasn't quite clear in what I meant wrt ride but V8S has explained it below, i.e. travel limits and steering, geometry etc - must learn not to rush a post!!!!
Edited by mep12345 on Saturday 17th January 14:38
Hi SteveO
Yes you're quite right. Turn the spring seat as if to 'compress' the spring. The laden spring length won't actually change, but the length of damper sticking out below increases. I don't see how the spring rate will be affected unless the suspension geometry changes substantially. Remember that due to the 'lever arm' effect the ride height increases more than the amount you lengthen the damper, so don't over-do it!
The car on your profile looks like the ride height is a little lower than average. I had similar problems with my S3 over speed tables at work and set the ride height a bit on the high side - 175mm from the bottom of the main chassis rails (not outriggers) to ground at the front and 185mm at the rear. This gave me ~100mm exhaust clearance and didn't seem to upset the handling at all. I was able to adjust all four corners with the car sitting on its wheels on the ground, although the rears were fiddly and had to be done blind. If you jack up the car and unload the suspension, drive it around a bit before you finally check it so that it settles first. If you keep the front lower wishbones close to horizontal and the back a little higher than the front you won't be far out.
Good luck!
Graham
Yes you're quite right. Turn the spring seat as if to 'compress' the spring. The laden spring length won't actually change, but the length of damper sticking out below increases. I don't see how the spring rate will be affected unless the suspension geometry changes substantially. Remember that due to the 'lever arm' effect the ride height increases more than the amount you lengthen the damper, so don't over-do it!
The car on your profile looks like the ride height is a little lower than average. I had similar problems with my S3 over speed tables at work and set the ride height a bit on the high side - 175mm from the bottom of the main chassis rails (not outriggers) to ground at the front and 185mm at the rear. This gave me ~100mm exhaust clearance and didn't seem to upset the handling at all. I was able to adjust all four corners with the car sitting on its wheels on the ground, although the rears were fiddly and had to be done blind. If you jack up the car and unload the suspension, drive it around a bit before you finally check it so that it settles first. If you keep the front lower wishbones close to horizontal and the back a little higher than the front you won't be far out.
Good luck!
Graham
Adjust the bottom ring a set number of turns - then at least you can return to your original settings if you need to.
There's a proper spanner available to turn those rings - I think it will be specific to the make of shocks you have.
Clean the threads well first and maybe even put some lubrication on them to help the ring turn more easily.
I found with mine jacked up it wasn't that hard to turn the rings
There's a proper spanner available to turn those rings - I think it will be specific to the make of shocks you have.
Clean the threads well first and maybe even put some lubrication on them to help the ring turn more easily.
I found with mine jacked up it wasn't that hard to turn the rings
Changing the ride height won't affect the ride stiffness unless you run out of travel on the suspension.
The way to look at it is that the spring length (when the car is at rest on level ground) is fixed - it depends on the spring characteristics and the weight of the vehicle and you aren't changing any of those.
So when you adjust the bottom spring seat up and down you can pretend the spring is a solid bar. The bottom of the damper body is rigidly connected to the tyre and the road so it isn't going anywhere. If you wind the spring seat up, the whole spring moves up the same amount and takes the top of the damper with it. Since the chassis is attached to the top of the damper, the chassis goes up too and you have increased your ride height. Wind the spring seat down and you have reduced your ride height.
You need to be aware that changing the ride height can have a small effect on the suspension camber and toe settings and the handling and steering feel is very sensitive to these changes so after changing the ride height you should check the geometry and correct as necessary.
While playing with the ride height please be sure to keep a nose down attitude on the car. It may look better with the rear tyres tight inside the rear arches but it isn't good from the aerodynamics and handling point of view.
The way to look at it is that the spring length (when the car is at rest on level ground) is fixed - it depends on the spring characteristics and the weight of the vehicle and you aren't changing any of those.
So when you adjust the bottom spring seat up and down you can pretend the spring is a solid bar. The bottom of the damper body is rigidly connected to the tyre and the road so it isn't going anywhere. If you wind the spring seat up, the whole spring moves up the same amount and takes the top of the damper with it. Since the chassis is attached to the top of the damper, the chassis goes up too and you have increased your ride height. Wind the spring seat down and you have reduced your ride height.
You need to be aware that changing the ride height can have a small effect on the suspension camber and toe settings and the handling and steering feel is very sensitive to these changes so after changing the ride height you should check the geometry and correct as necessary.
While playing with the ride height please be sure to keep a nose down attitude on the car. It may look better with the rear tyres tight inside the rear arches but it isn't good from the aerodynamics and handling point of view.
Edited by GreenV8S on Saturday 17th January 14:31
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