Exceedingly bad alignment after fitting coilovers

olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
hi guys,
after fitting my jrc coilovers today, my tracking is so bad to go in a straight line my wheel is at the 10 o`clock position. Mr kipling would be pissed!!
i have those camber bolts on and i tried to keep them in the same place as before but they`re bound to have moved.
The coilovers are 2nd hand and have adjustable top mounts on them.

Does it just need a proper full 4 wheel alignment?
shall i ditch those gay camber bolt things and just put normal bolts back in?
Was shitting it when i went round the block, thought a wheel was going to come off!!

cheers ollie:cry:
 
P

pulsarboby

Guest
every time you change shocks you will need wheel alignment checked as the bolts will never ever go back up in exactly the same place. trouble is that the holes are elongated so a fraction out can throw the tracking miles out. you must also make sure you really tighten those 2 hub bolts up as tight as you physically can, if using an airgun set it at maximum torque setting so they do not budge then get car tracked!
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
pulsarboby said:
every time you change shocks you will need wheel alignment checked as the bolts will never ever go back up in exactly the same place. trouble is that the holes are elongated so a fraction out can throw the tracking miles out. you must also make sure you really tighten those 2 hub bolts up as tight as you physically can, if using an airgun set it at maximum torque setting so they do not budge then get car tracked!
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thanks very much bob, will get them aligned next week.
ollie
 
J

Jon Olds

Well-Known Member
poor mans alignment; 8 bricks. two lengths of 4M string. one tape measure. set the two strings parallel to the four wheels at 1" wider. adjust. repeat, it works.......
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
Jon Olds said:
poor mans alignment; 8 bricks. two lengths of 4M string. one tape measure. set the two strings parallel to the four wheels at 1" wider. adjust. repeat, it works.......
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now you`ve opened a can of worms mate. The missus has used the spare bricks whilst gardening yesterday! i can`t take them out as she was really impressed! :)

i`ll get it all aligned properly i think on tues.

do you know where the report has gone from the beginning of this thread about setting up the handling?
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
i`ve been out in it tonight just round to me grandads (1 mile) and it feels like i`m sitting potholes on the front left when i hit any sort of bumps. could this be because my camber / tracking is out that its doing this? the front right is fine and sounds squishy when i go over bumps but the front left worries me.

when i jack up the car, put it on axle stands then put a large plank of wood under the wheel and compress the suspension it returns back fast and theres a definitive top out sound. it does this on the two rear socks too. The front drivers side returns back without topping out.

i`ve bought them second hand off another guy with a gtir off here. He says they were fine on his car.

Whats your opinions guys?
 
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vss irvine

vss irvine

Well-Known Member
they sound pumped, best way to check is the old mot testers way!

push down on car body, (at each corner) car should drop, rise then settle.

if it keeps going up and down, the shocker is knackered.
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
tbh they don`t move much as they`re pretty firm anyway, although it doesn`t "squish" like the drivers side. It definately doesn`t settle as quick either.
we`ve just opened up my friends garage and the only thing he can see is the massive amount of negative camber its running and the dampening not being that effective on the shock. I couldn`t check this until i had them on the car (i can`t compress shocks myself) and was sold them in good faith they were ok (the chap has been really helpful with after sale communication) .

the chap before had a shunt on the side where the knocking is coming from but is assuring me they were fine on his car and it was just the wishbone that was bent.
I`m really down hearted now as this was the icing on the cake prior to me sprinting it this year.
 
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J

Jon Olds

Well-Known Member
not heard of a damper so knackered it affected the steady state wheel geometry. check the basics 1st. believe me, string works..
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
Evening all, some developments:

Took off the shock tonight, done ~1 mile in it since it was fitted. Clearly its leaking to the extent where it is actually going onto the inner wheel arch.
i put a single standard shock back on the front passenger and it gave a noticable improvement.
The front right still was making wierd slurping noises and just did`t seem as stiff/efficient as the standard unit. Put my standard back on and a big improvement again.
pictures below:

Leaking front passenger on the car:


leaking passenger off car:



any opinions? I now got 2 rears that are good and two fronts that are useless.
I emailed JIC with the pics today and the guy hadn`t even seen this type of shock before, says it must be nigh on 10 years old. No replacements / overall is avaliable

:cry:
 
pulsar craig

pulsar craig

New Member
looks fooked m8, surely the guy u brought them off knew about it leaking, its not like its just started to go, looks like its been leaking for a while for it to be that bad
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
pulsar craig said:
looks fooked m8, surely the guy u brought them off knew about it leaking, its not like its just started to go, looks like its been leaking for a while for it to be that bad
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thats exactly my point.

This shock (the coilover he had a bump on) is that badly damaged that if you tip it upside down, and lightly compress, then oil runs out.

I bought all four shocks for 270 quid. He`s gave me 70 quid back for the broken shock but i`m still not happy.
I know have 3 shocks, that are not working perfectly, and are that bad that they couldn`t have been ok before when they were on the car.

any opinions?
i understand i was daft buying them looking like they do but i have pm`s and texts saying they are fine, in good working order with no leaks. Within an hour of getting the shocks home i have further texts talking about the leaking claiming to be wd40.
 
P

pulsarboby

Guest
just get your money back ollie and send the things back, there obviously boogered and not worth getting repaired tbh
 
olliecast

olliecast

Active Member
thats the problem, he won`t give me any more money back (refunded me the 70 quid for one shock). He`s saying i could have stripped them and caused them to leak / not work.

Why would i even attempt to strip a pressurized damper unit!! As i`ve said to him you can clearly see that they haven`t been to bits as they`re seized together.
They clearly were not sold as described.
 
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