Track-oriented coilover height adjustment issue

[burnrbr]

What is the normal range of height adjustment for a set of track-oriented coilovers? I just bought and installed a "new to me" kit with AST 5300 dampers, Swift main springs (7" 504 lbs/in front and 8" 784 lbs/in rear), Swift helper springs, and Vorshlag front camber plates. I have adjusted the front as low as they can go without unseating the springs at full droop and the rears as high as they can go. The front is a lot higher than the rear and it's higher than my ZCP car was when it was stock.

I had Swift Spec R springs with Vorshlag camber plates on the car before installing the coilover kit and the front and rear were level.

Am I wrong to think something is not right with the coilover kit I bought?

[burnrbr]

Anybody..?

[Pig Farmer]

If you're looking to balance out the height (for looks), I think you have a couple options... Remove the helper spring on the front which will drop the front without impacting your suspension travel. Or you could replace the 7" spring with a 6" spring, but this will reduce your suspension travel. Swift has a chart that lists the available travel by spring length & weight. You can try to increase the preload on the 7" spring, but this probably won't make much of a difference once the suspension is weighted, and it will make the ride very harsh.

[Pig Farmer]

Here's the link to the Swift charts...

http://www.swiftsprings.com/products...lover-springs/

[SYT_Shadow]

It's way to high. You should see what mine looks like...

In the E9x the method is to keep lowering until your rear wheel starts scratching at the fuel filler tube

[JustAnothaM4]

The spring setup is all wrong and it sits too high.

Correct Options:
1. 7" spring and no helper springs or 6" spring and helpers (standard choice)
2. The rear spring should be 9" (standard adj. perch) or 8" and a really long adjustable perch.

[M3SQRD]

F - you could switch from a tender spring to a helper spring (fully compressed height 1/8"-1/4") or try the 7" main spring without the tender spring. You may unseat the main spring at full droop depending on your F ride height - helper spring addresses this issue).

R - I'm surprised this is as low as the R goes with an 8" main spring. What brand is the R height adjuster?

[burnrbr]

Originally Posted by Pig Farmer

If you're looking to balance out the height (for looks), I think you have a couple options... Remove the helper spring on the front which will drop the front without impacting your suspension travel. Or you could replace the 7" spring with a 6" spring, but this will reduce your suspension travel. Swift has a chart that lists the available travel by spring length & weight. You can try to increase the preload on the 7" spring, but this probably won't make much of a difference once the suspension is weighted, and it will make the ride very harsh.

Looks aside, the disparity in front and rear height adjustment severely limits the ability to corner balance the car. The other issue is the higher-than-desired roll-center of the car given the high front end. I bought triple adjustable coilovers with remote reservoirs for track performance.

Thanks for the link to the Swift springs.

[burnrbr]

Originally Posted by project e46m3

The spring setup is all wrong and it sits too high.

Correct Options:
1. 7" spring and no helper springs or 6" spring and helpers (standard choice)
2. The rear spring should be 9" (standard adj. perch) or 8" and a really long adjustable perch.

This is the exact recommendation that AST gave when I called them yesterday :-)

[burnrbr]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

F - you could switch from a tender spring to a helper spring (fully compressed height 1/8"-1/4") or try the 7" main spring without the tender spring. You may unseat the main spring at full droop depending on your F ride height - helper spring addresses this issue).

R - I'm surprised this is as low as the R goes with an 8" main spring. What brand is the R height adjuster?

The rear adjusters are made by HP Autosport. I have them maxed out.

[burnrbr]

My car has EDC and the rear AST dampers are made for a non-EDC so I bought some new rear shock mounts to ensure there's no play. When I went to install them I had to move the rear remote reservoirs which began to leak around the swivel banjo seal. Here's a video of it:

I decided to remove the coilovers so I don't get oil in my trunk and based on the assumption that they need to be repaired. When removing the front, the front right shock started to leak a lot at the same seal.





I was told that this kit has 15-20K miles on which seems low given the leaking seals and the condition of the springs' finish. I spoke to AST yesterday and they say it'll be $1000 - $1500 to rebuild the 5300 dampers. They won't know until the open them up. I drove the kit for barely over a week before the seals started leaking. I texted the forum member who sold me the kit about all of this. I'm waiting to hear back from him.

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by burnrbr

The rear adjusters are made by HP Autosport. I have them maxed out.

Ok, now that makes more sense - you have it maxed out at the highest, not lowest, ride height setting. I originally thought you were saying the rear was at its lowest possible ride height.

Sorry to hear the F and R remote reservoirs are leaking. I know AST dampers had leaking issues in the past but their updated dampers (after purchase of Moton) supposedly addressed this issue. However, I'm surprised your dampers are leaking at the banjo fittings. I hope you hear back from the seller and he's willing to work with you on getting the dampers rebuilt. IIRC, he was selling them because he didn't need a setup with remote reservoirs

[///MPower15]

From your pics it looks like you have the old AST's. I believe AST left the US market around 2012, so this kit is probably from around then. Like M3SQRD said, this generation of AST had a lot of problems with leaking.