preload on coilovers?

[S1Five]

hey all,

just wondering are there any suspension guru's out there who can explain preloads?

i might want to start playing with preload to see if my tein flex absorbs better

as suggested by this post http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=834616

or my other solution is to start playing with the amount of travel i have.

Has anyone out there experienced with changing preloads? or anyone with tein flex done it be4?
thx!

 

[Nicely]

Pre-load should be about 5-10mm from when the locking collar starts applying pressure on the spring. Too much pre-load is a bad thing.

 

[S1Five]

nicely: do u know what exactly preload does?

 

[Nicely]

My understanding is that you are loading a certain amount of pressure on the springs to ensure that, should a wheel leave the road, the spring will still be held firmly between the plates and won't be loose. Too much preload means too much of this pressure on the springs. This could cause the suspension to bottom out.

 

[S1Five]

do you know how to measure if i do actually have any preload on my suspension?

 

[Nicely]

I just used a ruler when I did mine Wound the bottom plate till it placed pressure on the spring. Measured the distance between the plates, then wound the bottom plate up till the gap decreased about 7mm. Repeat for all four.

You wouldn't be able to tell what preload you had without setting it.

 

[JEZ 8553]

Isnt the preload affected by your ride height with coilovers ? The less preload (if any) means a lower ride height ?

*Edit - Just realised that some coilovers allow you to wind the shock into the lower strut to counter this. Im getting confused with the lower locking collar maybe ?

 

[Dazz0i]

preload is used when corner weighting your car.....

basically.... if preload is put on a spring, it compresses less....cause, some of that pressure is already put there... makes that corner stiffer...

which is why you get coilovers that can pre-load and then move the bottom of the strut to level out the car.

it's good to have an amount of preload on all corners just so the spring doesn't dislocate like nicely said....

but, to set it all properly, you need to have it corner weighted.

 

[Nicely]

Failing that (as its not a regular nor easy thing to get done), just set the preload equally as stated above

 

[Dazz0i]

yea, people stuggle to get it done.... and if set wrongly, you can really harm the handling of your car!!!

 

[S1Five]

icic

i do want to have zero preload for now until i get more serious and do corner weighting and try to get the car more balanced

thx all!