Hi guys, I'm having some problems with my installation of the D2's.
First, how did you guys tighten down the little allen screws on the camber plates? It doesn't seem like they move around but it seems like my alignment would sometimes shift from being too much left to too much right. Feels pretty unsafe to drive.
Secondly, I'm getting a clunking noise out of my front passenger side strut. It sounds like something is loose but I'm pretty sure everything is nice and tight. I've also greased the hell out of all the perches and the part between the camber plate and the pillow ball mount. Hopefully this can be easily solved.
Lastly, how do you guys recommend I adjust ride height? By turning the lower mount that attaches to the wheel, or using the adjustment wrenches to move the perches?
Thanks in advance.

 

Try the following, and it will most likely make everything smooth and quiet:

If the camber plates are moving, tighten the 4 allen screws firmly, but be careful not to over do it as they may snap. Might want to make sure the wheels are at the proper camber angle when you tighten the plates.

Adjust the ride height only by moving the whole strut assembly up or down into the lower mount. The collars that the spring sit on should be adjusted by turning them until they are firmly holding the spring in place, and then move them down 1". Don't change that setting from here on. Use a ruler or measuring tape to measure the distance between the spring collars and the lower mount. Both sides should be the same.

 

I thought there ought to be that bit of collar pressure holding the spring in place when it was installed. If you lower the collar 1 inch, the spring will be loose on the perches before you lower the car back down off the jack/stands. I know it will compress when it's on the ground, but shouldn't the springs be snug when it's on the jack?

 

In a perfect world, yes. The springs would not move when you fully jack up the car. This is why many coilovers come with flat wire helper springs. However, on the D2's, if you have tension on the spring when the car's off the ground, that means the shocks will be in a fully extended position. That's not good. When the car is sitting stationary, the struts should be at 1/2 travel. Not fully extended or compressed, and this is probably the #1 reason people blow struts. They damage the delicate shock internals by having the shock at one of its travel limits.
Just try out the settings I mention before, and see what you think.

 

I have the smooth part down, just not the quiet... :P

So I should have about an inch of play with the spring when the car is jacked up. But once I put the car down, won't I have problems getting the spring to sit properly on the perch?
So to lower the car, I do move the lower mount up towards the strut tower by spinning it? I may have put too much preload on the springs...

 

The spring shouldn't have a problem seating, although it won't hurt to check before the car is all the way on the ground. Just lower the jack a little, check both sides, and then set it down.

Wait! Don't remove the lower mounts! To lower the car, you simply spin the whole strut assembly into the lower mount. Or else your camber will change everytime.

Let us know what happens.

 

I see. Thanks for the tips!

 

maybe my coilovers r different, but i thought u were supposed to have the springs snug so when u lift the car theyre not loose at all, i figured all coilovers were the same, but maybe not

 

Unless you have the crap-style Ground Controls, you're coilovers should be set up the same.

 

Well, I just took the pre-load off my springs. I didn't drop that collar an inch. Just enough to take all the pressure off the spring. I greased the upper and lower gaskets too. Took it for a short ride and there was NO noise!!!

 

it will be back with a vengence. the noise problem in in the lowermount with the alan screws. you need to really tighten them up, dont be shy. if they are loose at all they will clunk like crazy.

this whole thing with the spring having an inch of play while jacked up... i dont think you are right. I will call UI on monday and ask them.

 

I might be wrong, however taking the pre-load off of the springs and giving the strut an inch of play will allow the strut to sag more when rested and you will be fully compressing them when you go over a bump... they still compress when set down even with pre-load on the spring. the pre-load will allow the strut to stay up a little more giving your suspension more travel and not letting it bottom out.

i have a slight amount of pre-load on my springs and the strut still compresses about 4" when set down.

 

you loosen the lower mount and spin the lower mount up the strut to drop the car even more. I am pretty sure you cannot spin the assembly, only the lower mount.

this is why you want to finalize your adjustments before you get your camber readjusted.

 

I found, after lifting my car up, that the lower locking collar for locking the lower mounts were gone on both sides!!?!?! I know that there were there when I installed these things. The only explanation is that maybe the allen screws were loose and the vibration from the lower mount completely destroyed the collar. Gonna have to give UI a call...

 

i just installed mine how they came, and followed the instructions in the box, ive never had any problems or noises, exp the squishing over hard bumps, and im running JIC's none of that ground control stuff, no hating to all those g/c users. i just love my JIC's

 

Wait. I'm trippin' only the rears have that 3rd locking collar. I tried tightening the allens and the two large bolts on the lower mount, the 3 nuts around the camber plate, the 4 little allens to adjust camber and I still have the nasty clunking noise from my front right. You guys have any ideas? Maybe I got a bad pillow ball?

 

Let us know what UI says.

I really tightened those allen bolts on the lower mounts of the front struts when I greased the spring gaskets. There was no noise on my 20 mile commute this morning. We'll see how long it stays quiet.

For the pre-load, I just screwed the collar up enough so the top of the spring was snug against the top perch. I also can't believe that there should be an inch of play.

 

Just spoke to UI and they said that the "inch of play" theory does not sound right at all. I was told that every application they send out, has the spring snug with a slight amount of pre-load.

The D2's are not a crappy GC design they are full coilovers. I am not sure if that is what you are saysing I just wanted to clear that up.

 

While you're on the phone with UI, also ask them how much they know about suspensions and if they have personal experience adjusting and using coilovers. They just sell them, doesn't mean they're suspension experts.
I've proven them wrong in several threads, and they admit to being unsure about adjustments.
I don't know what soft spring rate you're using, but the springs sure as hell don't compress 4 inches! As I clearly explained before, by adjusting the collars further down, it will still keep the strut more than 1/2 extended. Yes, they'll be loose when you fully jack up the car, and that's the reason higher end coilovers come with helper springs. I highly doubt there's any way it can bottom out.
Doesn't anyone reaize that you need suspension travel in both directions? Not just upward wheel movements, but also downward like when you go over a crest, or a wheel goes over a dip.

Do you not realize that it's the same thing? Either way the strut goes further into the lower mount. One needs to only turn the coilover assembly, there's never a need to loosen the lower mount-to-strut bolts after original installation. The whole assembly will spin, and go down or up to adjust height from the lower mount, so that way you don't lose suspension travel. Removing the lower mount from the hub every time to adjust the height would be retarded.

 

Thanks, upstate! Looks like I did it right.

 

Yes UI does install them, when I talked to them the guy even told me he has installed D2's on 18 different applications.

is there anyone else who set up thier coilovers like this?

And my "soft" spring rate is a 9/7 and yes the suspension settles about 3.5 to 4 inches when dropped. I have no problems with bumps. as for your theory of more downward suspension travel for bumps, it does give you an extra inch more travel and if you use it, the spring will unseat and clank around every time, good idea.

and as for the lower mount, please tell me how you are going to spin the strut assembly into the mount when these are installed... i honestly dont see a way to do that. I have tried to spin the assembly and guess what they dont spin when bolted up. to spin them in you would need to drop them back out of the strut tower and that is a PIA, it is much easier for me to just let it off the hub and spin up the strut.

 

Looks like the new batch of coilovers still have manufacturing problems... I found this
in this thread:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=coilover

Does anybody have UI's # handy?

 

upstatemax:

i have my d2's setup like this with no noise whatsoever

and what stillenmax2k is trying to say is that 9kg front springs mean for 9kg of weight, the springs travel down 1mm. Or in inch terms 1 inch of travel = 503.94 lbs

for if your spring is compressing 3-4 inches, that means there is 1511.82-2015.76 POUNDS per side on the front coilovers. Which in our case, is impossible

as for spinning the strut assembly by loosen the allen bolts on the lower mount, the only reason it wouldn't work is if your turning it up against the resistance of the spring. If you were to loosen the top nut holding the strut and the bottom allen bolts, there is nothing to hold the strut assembly from NOT spinning freely

 

Hey guys, does anyone has a detailed explanations for the D2 setting, there was no explanations sheets in the box, I can try the different **** setting but it doesn't tell me much.

 

what do you mean by detail explanations?

just turn them to what you like, the more turns to the + side means the dampening rate is stiffer

 

When you say turning the + side do mean clock wise ? Mine are pretty stiff, I'm going to look tommorow morning.

 

Yes, clockwise is stiffer. You should be able to make 6 full turns with the ****.

 

Holly cow, ok now I understand why the car is so stiff...

Thank you guys, I'm going to play with the setting tommorow.

Cheers

 

Here is a possible source of my problems:
What did you guys do with the 4 large washers that came with the kit? I thought that they might be used to replace the small sleeve that goes around the strut shaft and into the pillow ball socket. Shown here:

There is some play between the washer and the nut so I'm gonna tighten that down but I'm not even sure if that washer goes there. Of course the kit didn't come with instructions sooooo......

 

i don't think the washer goes there because it will limit how much that top nut can seat into the two thingies in the left pic.

try what I told you in the PM withOUT the washer

 

Cool. Thanks Larry!

 

I used the washers on the rear. One between the bumpstop and the top mount and the other on top of the top mount before I put the center nut on.

Yeah, it's a bish that there are no instructions....

 

The washers go in the rear! The pillow ball up front needs to have a sleeve inserted on each side.