Odd. My car's probably exposed to some of the coldest weather up here in Toronto. I noticed it takes these shocks minutes to warm up if that much on really cold -15 to -20 degrees celcius mornings. And my car sat outside for most of the winter as my place doesn't have a garage.

 

+1 for k-sport. Good service, and descent turn around time. Took 2 weeks to get there, repaired, and back to me

 

That's good to hear!

Is anyone's spring isolators begining to fall apart? I looked at them a few weeks ago and they were beginning to wear through. I have a pic i may post later. This might be the cause of my neverending binding in the springs when i turn the wheel. I can never seem to fix that.

Also, if i were to replace the spring isolators with ES ones does anyone know what size to get? I might just have to take one out and measure it myself.
Here are my options: http://www.energysuspension.com/pages/sboots.html

 

I have an extra one in my car... which is at home because it's out of commission until tomorrow. Someone jump on AIM and remind me this evening or something...

 

Hey has anyone ever snapped one of the bolts off of one of the tophats? If so, how do I get the stud out of the rear tophat? We tried with a hammer and it wasnt working. Are those attached to the tophat in some permanent way? Thanks.

 

I think they're pressed in. If that's the case, you'd probably have to drill it out, or else heat up the top mount and try getting it out then.

Not 100% sure though.

 

I bought some Ksports for my 04 used and Im having them installed on friday. Anyways I just noticed a couple things missing from the rear. On one of the rear shocks there are 2 thick rubber bushings and 2 washers, on the other is only 1 bushing and 1 washer. Does anyone know what these parts are?

 

Nope, actually you're not. I switched my 9/7 units out for 8/6 springs a few months ago and the ride is much much more comfortable. In the process, I ended up lowering it a tiny bit (like 1/2") and absolutely completed the look. I would definitely suggest the 8/6 springs.

 

Maybe this will make things more clear. Im missing that spacer next to the spring, one of the bushings, and a washer. I figured the washer could be found at home depot or something but anybody have any ideas about the other stuff?

 

Those are to assemble the top mount. You put a washer on the top of the shock piston, and then it goes bushing => mount => bushing, and that little metal cylinder goes into the hole through the bushings and the mount. Then you put the second washer on and tighten the nut on the threads at the top of the shock piston to hold it all in.

Call up Ksport and tell them to send you that stuff post haste. I'd send you the extras that I have but there's always the remote chance that they won't be the same in my kit and yours...

 

Thanks for the help, this is what the guy who was installing told me as well. He said something might be able to be done with the stock stuff. I dunno if Ksport can get me these things by friday. Should I just contact one of the guys on the forum who holds the group deals?

 

Ended up just calling Ksport and its setup for 2day shipping so I should have the parts by friday. thanks for you help doodfood.

 

HEY GUYS, I NEED SOME HELP.

You kno the bolts around the dampening in the front, when i turn my steering wheels, both of the bolts turn as well. I was wondering if that bad for my car, cuz am afraid that it will brake one time and i'll probably in hell. Just wondering if its a big deal.

 

What's ksports aim, i want to contact 'em about the problems, but if you guys can help me, i would appreciate it alot

 

it is ksportsupport, but they arnt on right now

 

so do you guys have same problem as I do??

 

Got the coilovers put on my 6th gen last night and theres a BIG problem. The front is fine but the rear sits wayyyy too low. I cant even get my finger between the tire and the fenderwell and the coilovers cant really go up any higher. Plus I have a BAD popping/clunking for the drivers side rear and its driving me crazy. The car looks retarded as it sits and so far this has just been a bad idea, if anyone has any ideas on what the problems might be then let me know. Im thinking there could have been some missing parts from the rear since I bought them use but I wont know unless I can see a pic of the 6th gen coilovers to compare.

 

I cannot believe it. . .


I realized why My car has been so bouncy, I was about 5-6 turns from full still and I bounced all over the place, adjsuted it to two turns from full stiff and the ride was better but still boncy. What I thought was adjust the preload wasnt. . .

. . . turns out when I was adjsuting the ride height, I move BOTH collars down . . I'm about 26" from ground to fender. I did this for front and rear. After about 15mins of searching on how to adust pre-load because I know thats why my car is so bouncy I find out . . . I only need to move that one collar that adjust the height, the collar above it, is for repload!!!


In short, I had my pre-load collar with the collar for the ride height. . . this made for a bouncy ride but not as bad as you'd think, but still very bad at times. . . Now I realize I have ZERO pre-load, and I need to put some on to stiffen this baby up. . . I think its killing my wheel bearings this bumpy ride.


I would cringe when going over train tracks, the car bounced like crazy, it was emberassing, even going 3 mph it was very bouncy.



Now I know. . . and knowing is half the battle. . .

 

lol! whew i thought you were gonna say they blew.
dude...my car bounces too, ithought preload CAUSED this. if you put preload its just gonna be stiff and all of the bump is gonnna go straight to your seat or what?
my car gets bumpy on bumpy roads. other people in the car get annoyed by my stiff ride. i DO have it on full stiff all the way around but i feel like this is just how coilovers ride in the city so i accepted it.
it doesnt bother me that much i think i'm actually used to it. plus, aftere putting on some new tires in the front (drove the old ones bald) taking fast turns feels so good.

 

my car bounces all over the place already with almost full stiff. When I add some preload tommorow, I'll go back to maybe 3 or 4 turns from full stiff.

I feel foolish now. . .lol

 

My ksports came in the other day and, although ive been periodically reading this thread, i thought what the hell, lets start from the beginning..who knows what helpful hints/tips i can pick up for the install and for further down the road. SOOOOOOO 6 hours later on my day off work ive gone through 36 pages of posts and i feel relatively comfortable to do the install on my next day off hehe.
Now all i have to figure out is where i can jack up the car from. I have a hydraulic jack and a couple of jack stands but im guessing one of those machines that raises the whole car up would make things alot easier.
Also need to figure out where to position the collars for the drop i want(2 front, 1.8 rear). I also want to take pics because there is a serious lack of for the install or anywhere else in this thread. Ill keep yall posted and I gotta give props to d00df00d and the others for their contribution to this thread from the beginning.

 

How much r the Ksport Coilovers?

 

I think that I have about 3.5 inches between the collars on my fronts and about 3 inches in the back. This puts the center of my front wheel arches at 26 inches, which is about a 2 finger gap with 18" wheels. The rears have the same wheel gap as fronts.

By the way, I am running with no significant preload either.

 

on my k-sports i cannot raise the car up any higher, i went rhough a raxles in a week on my passeneger side. my driver side has been 100% fine. but my passenger keeps messing up.

in my sig that is as high as my k-sports will allow my to go. is there anything wrong with this?

 

I was able to go higher than that when i had my stock rims on. I went as high as i could go feeling comfortable with amount of thread i had left on the lower arm.

 

If you want to go higher but it doesn't look like you can, try taking your coilovers out, disassembling them, reassembling them at the highest height possible while they're off the car, and then reinstalling them. Worked for me. You never know what you might be missing by trying to adjust them on the car.

 

We may have to do that, he said he could get it higher in the back but he would have to do something to the springs that would mess up the handling and said Ksport should have made the lower strut piece taller. heres a visual for now...

 

mine is so low, no one wants to align my car, i found one place for $80 and i had to take off my lip and everything to get it on the machine. and the alignment did not last long. my driverside tire is extreamly messed up, on the inside. i need to get the thing raised and aligned with new tires quick....

 

Have you checked your tie rods and wheel bearings? If they're worn and have play in them, they will wear your tires real fast.

 

Yea that makes sense to me. I dont understand how Manual Maxima and Glude cant raise theirs up. As far of the fronts go, I know you can unscrew that black collar at least another inch past the end of the strut(?) with it still actually on it. Uhm yea this is all from manhandling them. We'll see how its gonna be when i actuall put them on the car

 

I cant raise mine up because theres only about an inch of the shock left in the lower mount. If I screw it up anymore it could be potentially dagerous and possibly strip or fall out. You guys see what im saying?

 

And you can't preload the back at all? If you preloaded the rear it would raise the car up. Are the threaded bodies in the front, the same length as those in the back? If not, maybe the front and back are reversed? that's a weird problem to have.

 

We can preload the back, but thats a last resort because I dont want it to ride like crap. The front is completely different, im not having any problems with the fronts.

 

yea i see what youre getting at man. The fronts do seem to have more height adjustability vs. the back ones. Not sure how much the 4th gen differ from the 6th gen but they cant be that differemt right. Also i have not messed with the lower spring perches so preload is whatever they set it at at the factory.

 

but look at the lower mounts on the coilovers, on the front, the holes are parallel with the threaded shock body, and on the rears, it mounts below the threaded body, so with the whole assemblies in the car, you should have just as much adjustment in the rear as the front. IIRC the Illuminas were a little shorter in the back as well, because the rears mount differently than the fronts and don't need as much length.

 

i have a question is this safe? i need my car higher no joke.....i have to have it higher......the lower mount is fully threaded and the black collar atthe bottom has a good amount of thread on it. do you think that this will be safe? cause i would imagine all the pressure is put on the collar above the mount......please hit me back up...

 

I'm no expert, but I think that once the collar is tightened, the whole lower mount assembly and collar would lock in, essentially making the strut one piece. Mine are like the ones in the pic, and I have had no problems.

 

i put them on at the way they are above, i have not drove it cause i am not risking damage but it is about stock height at the point it is in the pic, i need ot lower it more now.....but i am just not sure about stuff when i doubt if it is safe or not...

 

For the longest time I had my lower collars threaded by only one turn. No ill effects here.

JeremysBlkMax97 is right. Just tighten the HELL out of the collars -- which you would do anyway to prevent noise -- and you'll be fine.

 

when you put it on the ground all the pressure is gonna be pushing the collar upwards anyway so you should be fine