Y2K_Frenzy

Does anyone know which way the pigtails on the front coil springs should face? I was trying to compare where the pigtail is now to the old assemblies and I don’t think they were in the same spots. I didn’t take the tire off to look though, I was just doing a reach around..
I’ve been googling around and it seems like the spring either not spring not being indext correctly or not being seated correctly is a pseudo common install error. How can I tell if that’s the case? What am I to be looking for? Someone said to smack it with a heavy rubber mallet to try and knock it in place. He said to do it while the spring is under load though. Which side do yall think is messed up? The high side or the low? At first I was thinking the lower side but maybe the high drivers side isn’t seated correctly?

Y2K_Frenzy

I was able to confirm that the pigtails on the springs that are on the car are oriented the same as the ones on the shock assemblies that were replaced. I haven’t jacked it up to have a good look yet but when I was feeling around on the springs I sort of got a glance at the swaybar endlinks and I don’t think that they were sitting straight up at 90.* I might be mistaken though. Tomorrow I guess I’m going to take the tires off to see what I can see. I’ll take a look at the end links while I’m under. If ineed they are slanting afterward like I think I saw them I’ll get them sitting straight and see what happens. I was wondering if they had an alignment read out with the receipt so I took a look at it again and there is not mention of an alignment on the receipt. It just saw shocks and spring install labor. So I’m not sure if they aligned it or not but I’m thinking that they didn’t since it wasn’t mentioned on the bill.
I also shook the car side side by pushing and pulling on the control arm (car on the ground) and I may or may not have heard a knocking sound from possibly the shock mount area on the passenger side, which is the low side. I didn’t notice a noise when I did it on the drivers side.
I think the front measure 28” from the ground to the fender and the passenger 27.5”.

Finkledbody

Hey bro, sucks that it didn’t come out level the way you wanted. Getting the ride height even can be a real pain in the ***. If the end link isn’t broken, maybe adding a bit of heater hose to the low corner might raise it up just enough?

Y2K_Frenzy

I kind of think the low side might be the correct side. I took the tires off this morning to see what I could see. The top pig tail on the driver side, which is the high side, is about 1.5” or more away from the “stop” on top mount. On the passenger side the end of the pigtail is touching what I’m calling the “stop” on the top mount. There is about a 1/4” gap between the end of the pigtail and the “stop” on the top mount on both of the old oem shock assemblies. I’m not any sort of suspension guy at all really but I think maybe the drivers side spring isn’t clocked correctly and it’s causing it to sit high. Is that a thing?

Y2K_Frenzy

So before I go back to the shop tomorrow that installed the shocks to tell them that I think it’s high on the one side because the spring isn’t sitting correctly, am I correct?

Finkledbody

that gap will affect ride height, Best to start there for sure

Y2K_Frenzy

I took it back to the shop today and told them about the gap at first they said it was ok but in the end they agreed to take the driver side and re-do it. I hope they do..
When it rains it pours though. This morning the city started ripping up our street for construction so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get it home…

Y2K_Frenzy

Well it’s ready except the shop locked my only set of keys in the car and they’re closed. A locksmith is on the way..

Y2K_Frenzy

The locksmith came and opened it up and I drove it home. I had plenty of time to stare at it while waiting on him and I think it’s sitting level or pretty close to it. I drove it on the highway for the first time after the new fronts and I’m pretty pleased with them (Str.t) so far. It was only a mile or two stretch of highway but I gave the steering wheel a shake back and forth doing 75’ish and it went side to side pretty flat, where it used to roll and lean. It also no longer takes a nose dive while braking. I’m comparing blown front shocks to new shocks so it’s not exactly an apples to apples as far as how “good” of a shock the str.t’s are but so far they aren’t crappy by any means. If they last a fair amount of time I would/will recommend them. Especially to the stock spring crowd. Speaking of springs. I’m glad that the used front springs that I bought turned out to be the same as my oem’s. I’m also glad that I stayed with oem springs in general. I’d do it the same way again. I almost went with a stiffer spring but I don’t regret that I didn’t. I wouldn’t mind a little less wheel well gap
but I’d rather have a gap than a race car stiff ride. At one point I was looking at aftermarket oem replacemnt springs until I read the review about raising the ride height I’m glad I didn’t do that either. That would’ve been a major bummer. I still need to install the str.t rears. I’ll do that this weekend I guess. The Str.t fronts paired with the KYB excel G rears hasn’t been bad though these few miles I’ve put on it. The rear might be a tad softer and maybe with a little more float over bumps than the front, but not by a whole lot.

Y2K_Frenzy

I put the rears on this morning and it went easy enough. The Koni Str.t makes the KYB Excel G look like a pencil d!ck😂 I’m not bashing the KYB’s though they did ok enough.
I took it for about a 10 mile run down the highway and it did really well. The ride is early ‘00’s “sports car stiff” but it’s a decent ride overall and the body roll is pretty minimal. I’d recommend the strt and stock spring combo to someone looking to stay with stock springs. So far so good.