Front coil over issues

[ben harcombe]

I have got a set of coil overs on the front of my car , not fitted by me the issue is when I jack the car up the suspension leg drops quite a bit. After inspection can I take the 21mm nut off the top , clamp the coil over spring and tighten the funny looking bolt underneath with the tool which I have bought G.S.F then rebuild back on the car , after all of this should I have no movement at the top of the coil over?

[dubvrs]

If you leave the car on the ground then take off the 21mm nut and strut top cap, you should be able to see if the lower nut is loose as the car will be compressing the coilovers. Use the tool to tighten it up and refit the cap and nut.

[ben harcombe]

I have tightened the funny one underneath as much as I can but still get alot of play when I jack up the car , i.e the coil over drops so would clamping the spring then tightning the bolt further down cure my problem? Should I have any movement at all when the car is jacked up?

[dubvrs]

All the funny nut does is hold the top mount to the strut. If you have tightened it up i would say your top mounts could be shot.

Take a look at your stut top cap. The older and more warn the top mounts are the bigger the gap between the cap and the body and this maybe the reason for the drop.

This is a pic of mine with new top mounts but no engine so there is no gap between the body and top cap but not a great lot more with the engine in.




Have a check of this first as it maybe the amount the strut drops by when you jack it up.

[dan_apps]

the other question is how old are the coilovers?

[ben harcombe]

The coilovers are spankers only been driven about 10miles tops since having them fitted by some C*%T who probably never gave a thought to what condition the top mounts were in

Is upgrading to g60 top mounts and the lowering caps from ebay be a good choice

[Wayne]

The coilovers are spankers only been driven about 10miles tops since having them fitted by some C*%T who probably never gave a thought to what condition the top mounts were in

Is upgrading to g60 top mounts and the lowering caps from ebay be a good choice

The lowering caps will not fit.

[twistedblack69]

OK, I don't know how much you know about cars...but you do know that when you jack the car up, the pressure the chassis puts on the suspension gets taken off, and therefore the suspension is gonna stretch back to (pretty much) normal stretch (if that's the word), right?

[Wayne]

OK, I don't know how much you know about cars...but you do know that when you jack the car up, the pressure the chassis puts on the suspension gets taken off, and therefore the suspension is gonna stretch back to (pretty much) normal stretch (if that's the word), right?

Spot on, springs can and will be loose with the car jacked up.

[DOA]

Do you mean that the spring is not compressed and loose when you jack the car up or that the top mount drops into the arch? Either way neither are ideal if you get any air. Is the car particularly low and do they have the helper springs attached?