UMI / Strano / AFCO review
09-06-2017, 10:01 AM
#84
Pretty in depth review as always Darth. I have the Strano/UMI coilover on for a while now. I have had a problem with the front springs coming out of the cup up top and scraping against the side of the shock body. Only happens on the front and seems to be isolated to the drivers side. UMI mentioned moving up to a 800# spring up front to correct this. I'm curious if other are having this problem as well. I don't have many street miles on my car as it is a auto-x setup. I have had about 10 events on the coilover setup and other that the adjustable ride height they feel really close to the Strano/Bilstein HD setup I had before. I went with the coilover setup as once I put the UMI road race k-member on, the strano/bilstein setup was high in the front. Get some miles and let me know how they go.
09-06-2017, 10:40 AM
#85
It seemed to have worked itself out. It may have just been the case of the springs settling a bit as my ride height when I first set up the coil overs was 27 1/4" in front and now I am riding at like 26 1/2". It looks good but I may have to go and raise the front back up just a little to regain a little more ground clearance. But as far as I can tell no more rubbing on the shock body has occurred.
09-06-2017, 06:41 PM
#86
Well....I lied. They are still rubbing on the shock body. I am going to tie them to the upper spring cup with some safety wire. Kind of sucks that they need to be messed with like this but that's the price of admission I guess.
09-06-2017, 07:01 PM
#87
Wow..you went from a 27 1/4 ride height to a 26 1/2??? Are you sure the lower perch set screw was tight? That seems like a lot of sag loss out of a spring to chalk it up to "settling". I set mine to 26 1/2" floor to fender...my koni/strano setup was about 25 1/4...way too low for my liking.
I noticed the same thing when installing mine last weekend. At full droop I have about 5/8" gap between the spring and upper perch and this is "normal" for high rate coilovers according to many I have spoke to.
I'm running a 850/250 10" long springs. Only way to fix that is to get longer free length springs. It's a balancing act. I have yet to race my setup though.
I noticed the same thing when installing mine last weekend. At full droop I have about 5/8" gap between the spring and upper perch and this is "normal" for high rate coilovers according to many I have spoke to.
I'm running a 850/250 10" long springs. Only way to fix that is to get longer free length springs. It's a balancing act. I have yet to race my setup though.
09-06-2017, 08:19 PM
#88
Originally Posted by Chrisingermany
Well....I lied. They are still rubbing on the shock body. I am going to tie them to the upper spring cup with some safety wire. Kind of sucks that they need to be messed with like this but that's the price of admission I guess.
When I set my ride height up and let the wheels drop fully, my springs will not move. In order to loosen the springs up enough to come out of the cup my car would be sitting on the ground.
After getting such a nice setup I hate seeing them scraped up like that. Let me know if you want me to take pics of anything. Or a vid of he shock fully extended.
09-06-2017, 08:21 PM
#89
Originally Posted by smitty2919
Wow..you went from a 27 1/4 ride height to a 26 1/2??? Are you sure the lower perch set screw was tight? That seems like a lot of sag loss out of a spring to chalk it up to "settling". I set mine to 26 1/2" floor to fender...my koni/strano setup was about 25 1/4...way too low for my liking.
I noticed the same thing when installing mine last weekend. At full droop I have about 5/8" gap between the spring and upper perch and this is "normal" for high rate coilovers according to many I have spoke to.
I'm running a 850/250 10" long springs. Only way to fix that is to get longer free length springs. It's a balancing act. I have yet to race my setup though.
I noticed the same thing when installing mine last weekend. At full droop I have about 5/8" gap between the spring and upper perch and this is "normal" for high rate coilovers according to many I have spoke to.
I'm running a 850/250 10" long springs. Only way to fix that is to get longer free length springs. It's a balancing act. I have yet to race my setup though.
09-07-2017, 07:10 AM
#90
Now I suppose it's possible to have this rubbing happen, but that would mean during racing the wheel would have to be coming off the pavement during cornering to be constantly unloading the spring from the upper perch and allowing it to move around.
It's POSSIBLE to do that, but I bet you need to be on slicks and having some good cornering speed. Judging by Chrisingermany's signature mod list, he isn't a drag racer.
I can not speak to anything drag racing. Everything I mention has to do with autocross/road racing.
It's POSSIBLE to do that, but I bet you need to be on slicks and having some good cornering speed. Judging by Chrisingermany's signature mod list, he isn't a drag racer.
I can not speak to anything drag racing. Everything I mention has to do with autocross/road racing.
09-07-2017, 07:42 AM
#91
Originally Posted by smitty2919
Now I suppose it's possible to have this rubbing happen, but that would mean during racing the wheel would have to be coming off the pavement during cornering to be constantly unloading the spring from the upper perch and allowing it to move around.
It's POSSIBLE to do that, but I bet you need to be on slicks and having some good cornering speed. Judging by Chrisingermany's signature mod list, he isn't a drag racer.
I can not speak to anything drag racing. Everything I mention has to do with autocross/road racing.
It's POSSIBLE to do that, but I bet you need to be on slicks and having some good cornering speed. Judging by Chrisingermany's signature mod list, he isn't a drag racer.
I can not speak to anything drag racing. Everything I mention has to do with autocross/road racing.
09-07-2017, 09:08 AM
#92
TECH Enthusiast
Helper springs are needed to rid the spring from coming off the perch. Strano even addressed this
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...l#post19643369
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...l#post19643369
Last edited by dojob; 09-07-2017 at 09:14 AM.
09-07-2017, 09:45 AM
#93
I talked to UMI when I first noticed the wearing issue. They mentioned going to a stiffer spring up front (somewhere around 800#) but this was right before LSfest West, and I wouldn't have had time to get them in before heading to Vegas. Since then I hadn't really noticed the rubbing but I did notice the change in ride height. The coil over adjustment lower spring perch has a lock screw so I know that isn't moving. I also hit up Strano and he talked about the helper spring like dojob mentioned, I was just kind of bummed I needed more parts to fix this issue. Strano mentioned that with the rubbing he thought my ride height setting was way low but like I mentioned earlier I was sitting at right around 27 1/4" in the front (pretty normal I thought).
09-07-2017, 10:17 AM
#95
After looking back at the conversations with UMI/Strano. Strano mentioned he thinks that the actual spring is bending under load as well. He was looking at setting me up with some hydraulic spring perches (about $180 a piece). UMI mentioned spring bow as being common and with the larger body of the shock it makes it more noticeable. They then recommended the 850# springs. With the change in ride height and the tire rubbing on the fender liner I think the better bet would be to go with the stiffer springs up front. I may have to get with UMI here shortly as I would hate to do more damage, possibly even rub through the side of the housing.
09-07-2017, 11:56 AM
#97
After looking back at the conversations with UMI/Strano. Strano mentioned he thinks that the actual spring is bending under load as well. He was looking at setting me up with some hydraulic spring perches (about $180 a piece). UMI mentioned spring bow as being common and with the larger body of the shock it makes it more noticeable. They then recommended the 850# springs. With the change in ride height and the tire rubbing on the fender liner I think the better bet would be to go with the stiffer springs up front. I may have to get with UMI here shortly as I would hate to do more damage, possibly even rub through the side of the housing.
What spring rates do you run now? I assume 600 front? Coming from strano 550/150 combo, going to 600/200 wasn't worth it IMO. So far loving the 850/250 combo I have now.
09-07-2017, 02:11 PM
#98
Yeah, I just have the standard 600# up front. I came from the Strano/Bilstein setup so the coilovers didn't feel that different. I think I would prefer the 850# ones up front as well.
09-07-2017, 02:25 PM
#100
I think a lot of what issues I come upon have to do with not calling in and talking to anybody. When I say that I mean I thought I was getting the best of the best when I got the UMI/Strano coilover set, so I just added it to the online cart, paid and installed. I didn't call to get any expertise on the situation. I did the same thing when I did my turn one power steering pump. I went online ordered and I am still misting out of the cap even with an external cooler. I should have called and they would have set me up with a slightly different setup. Little did I know both of these situations would have been the same price they just didn't have them listed on the site.