EdmundGTP

Also, as far as fabricating the shim. My current train of thought on doing this, is to simply order a piece of 0.25" or 0.38" thick sheet of 50-70 Shore A durometer rubber from McMaster Carr, and cut basically a "washer" like patter out of it, to fit between the OEM lower spring perch isolator, and the suspension arm that it sits in. Really not much actual "fabrication" required. Basically if you can order the rubber and use a razor blade to cut a "donut" shape pattern out of it, you should be able to do this. As far as what the actual dimensions of that donut shape are (outer diameter and inner diameter), I havent figured that out yet.

Doing that will increase the "effective" length of the spring itselfy by .25-.38 inches, and since the wheel is further out on the "swing radius" of the suspension arm, the actual lift should be in the neighborhood of 0.31" to 0.41".

This will be the first experiment when the floor jack arrives..

MIGHTYMOUSE

iTrader: (59)

if you let the shock control the ride height, it will be too low sitting still or too high moving not to mention the ride will get rough as the shock stiffens up.

for the cars on hr springs sitting too low; why not call HR about this?

ive seen a ton of mm/hr combos that sit absolutely perfect, and its likely production variances, quality control issue, or some engineering revision on the part of HR to compensate for the nivomats.


if the rear sits too low, the spring is too short, or too soft... or i dare say that the front is just too high!! haha.

MIGHTYMOUSE

iTrader: (59)

oh yea and certainly if you were for some reason interested in letting the nivomats mess with your ride height, just shorten, or remove the stand offs between the plates.



OR add something to the spring, rubber spacer etc.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

I just wish you could dial in the autoleveling height. Sometimes when i have a ton of crap in the car im gonna want it high. Other times ill want it low for looks. Need a little dial.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

V with h&rs and mightymouse spacers. PERFECT imo. They are 245/45/18 F1 GSD3 tires btw which are cut noticeably bigger then most tires. I dont have any problems at all even with 4 people in the car and a sub in the trunk....rides at that height every time.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

God I am praying my 275s on 10" dont have THIS many issues. Ordering trailing arms soon. Then i guess I need to find a fender roller and a heat gun.

big reg

iTrader: (28)

I believe the problem is with H&R production variances. It seems only the latest batch is having this issue. H&R might have changed the rear springs to lower more to offset the Nivomat as not all people that own these cars know about the problems of self leveling when lowering.

I have to switch to coilovers now or just sell the car which I debate everyday to be honest. I have been debating an IS-F or E60 M5 which are falling in price. I will eventually have to address the rear on my car as well so that is really turning me off to this car.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

You sir make too much money!

Too bad you dont have more parts on your car. Id say sell the parts to me for cheap and sell your car.

big reg

iTrader: (28)

I have bought and sold Kooks Headers, 2-3 different cams. I am modding to stay on the same level as newer platforms. Now that prices are coming down I might jump ship. I paid cash for this car so even trading it in I would come away with a $200 car payment for an M5 w/o using anymore of my own money. Reliability issues have me worried about them and the IS-f is too small. V2 is where its at but resale is ridiculous on them right now. They are still well into the 50k range by me.

The same rubbing issues the OP is having started my hatred for the car. That and having to replace every bushing and mount now in addition to buying coilovers to adjust ride height. I am going to drive a new Camaro tonight as well.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

and why didnt the Kooks go to ME? HUH? Seriously?

Once I am done with the wheels/tires/trailing arms/fenders. Its headers and then hopfully cam before next season. If those dont get me where I want to be... NITROUS time since boost costs SO much on these cars.

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

Can anyone here confirm that when cutting the OEM rear springs, that I cut from the bottom? I can't see cutting off the small/tight coil at the top, but wanted to make sure. Also, with cutting from the bottom, most guys say 1-1.5 coils is good. I'm gonna try just one first. That'll basically just be cutting off that "flat" coil at the bottom. Will the spring still sit in the perch ok without having that flat coil anymore?

Also, I will be contacting h&r today or tomorrow.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

do not cut coils. Jesus that is so bad. Just get a good set of lowering springs. I happen to like my H&Rs. But cutting/heating coils is just a back yard mess. screws with everything (rates and height) and from my experiance always messes up handling/feel.

ColeGraham

iTrader: (8)

when i fist did the H&Rs and Spacers, my right rear sat too low while my left rear sat perfectly. mine was catching the inner fender on bumps and pulls, and completely chew through a tire.

turns out what i did was tighten the right spacer down more then the left. that caused the right to ride lower. i jacked the car back up, made each side show 2 thread lines on the top bolt, and i havent had any issues since (2 months on a new right rear tire).



GL

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

I'm not huge on cutting the stock springs either, but there are tonnes of posts around the forums where ppl have cut them on all 4 corners and been happy with the results. I havent read a single thread on failures due to cut springs (our V's specifically... I've seen the horror pics of others of course).
Here's the deal. It's consistently 70-80 degrees (or warmer) here now and my only options are these wheels/tires that need room to fit without rubbing, or my OEM rims that have EXPENSIVE winter tires on them. I've gotta get this summer set running asap before the heat eats up these soft winter tires.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

put it on the stock uncut springs until you can roll your fenders and pick up trailing arms(just bought mine). THen lwoer on hot rimness after sorting all that out.

Also look at colegrahms last post. Maybe spacers adjusted properly will help. Gonna be installing a lot in about a month.

Brake rotors/pads
Spacers
trailing arms
wheels/tires
Headers(if I can still afford it)

wes8398

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Cole - missed your post cause it was posted same time as I was posting mine. When I installed my spacers, I actually counted threads showing and matched both sides (re: OCD...lol). With that, fender to floor measurements from one side to the other were still 1/8th off. That coulda been measuring error or any number of other factors though.

ColeGraham

iTrader: (8)

my right was about 1/8 lower then my left when i measured. the key difference between me and you could be the 19s to my OEMs.

my rear tires are 275/40/18.

CTSVBiggie

iTrader: (1)

http://g35driver.com/forums/wheels-t...ing-chart.html

275/40/18 = cir of 83.72

275/35/19 = cir of 83.46


Actually smaller on the 19s. Of course different tires have more or less tread etc but thats still a godo measure of how sidewalls effect things.

MIGHTYMOUSE

iTrader: (59)

nice posts guys, the adjustment to the nut mentioned, i dunno why that would help but im glad it did!

my old car is cut about 1.5 coils, on the OPEN END

please notice the distance from the grass line to the ground effects.. at 1.5 coils its gona be dang low and will for sure rub the front on a stock sidewall tire and for sure rub the back on a larger than 245 width tire.

picture just posted by new owner in another thread.. still looking and sitting B.A. if i do say so myself

EdmundGTP

It's going to be hard to correlate a number of coils cut to an actual drop amount. If I were going to go that route, I'd seriously cut both back coils incrementally probably a 1/4 coil at a time. I.e. cut a quarter off. reinstall. observe drop. repeat. It will probably be a long, pain in the ***, process, but at least you know that way you wont overshoot your drop. Based on the pic that MM posted, I'd venture to say that cutting between 1/2 and 3/4 of a coil (maaaaaaaaaaaybe 1) will get you where you want to be.