Quote:
Originally Posted by W Cole
The manual is a good start but unfortunately I didn't see where it explained any best practices on how to adjust? The manuals on all of these products seem amazingly poor. Anyone looking at the coilovers for about 10 seconds will know about as much as the manual explains.
For the fronts:
- Get entire front end of car in the air and both wheels off.
- **Mark position of strut into axle carrier with a sharpie** I also mark the position of the adjuster with the axle carrier and raise/lower in one turn increments.
- Loosen pinch bolt in axle carrier but no need to fully remove this bolt (just make sure it is completely loose).
- Put a jack under front wheel assembly so strut is sitting square in axle carrier (easier to turn this way) but do not compress the spring at all or put any upward force on the assembly that would make the adjuster harder to turn.
- Twist gold anodized adjuster at bottom of strut to adjust height. The entire strut will want to move so make sure to hold it steady (this is why you marked the positioning of everything in step 2).
- Re-tighten pinch bolt. TORQUE TO BMW SPEC. This bolt is very very difficult to torque by feel since it will feel somewhat tight but continue tightening for quite some time. I got myself in trouble the first time I installed as I did not tighten properly. First time I have ever had this problem so be careful.
Rear:
- Get entire rear end of car in the air and both wheels off.
- Mark position of everything. I like to raise/lower one turn at a time for simplicity.
- Loosen two adjusters with spanner wrenches by turning in opposite directions.
- The main problem with adjusting the rear is the gold threaded adjuster will want to spin when you adjust the height. Here are the pro-tips I've learned on this one:
A. If you want to RAISE the car (its easier to raise than lower). Spin the locking ring all the way to the top of the gold anodized adjuster until it bottoms out (don't worry it won't get stuck) and use the 2nd spanner wrench on this lock ring to prevent the adjuster assembly from spinning.
B. If you want to LOWER the car. Since there is a rubber pad between the chassis and the gold adjuster assembly if you compress the spring slightly the friction between the chassis/rubber pad/gold adjuster (top) will be greater than between the spring and gold adjuster (bottom). Sometimes it will only take about 1/8" of suspension compression to prevent this assembly from spinning, other times it will take more. Try to use as little as possible as putting load on the soft aluminum threads while adjusting is not the best idea. If all else fails you can remove the shock from the lower control arm, put two bolts into the wheel hub and have a buddy stand on the bolts to relieve pressure off the spring.
- Tighten everything back up and put back together.
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I thought it was well written myself.
I guess not everyone knows what to do, what your post will help those few DIYers.