Quote:
Originally Posted by jwzimm
The spring settling thing has been around for a long time. Honestly, spring steel does not experience creep that would result in any ride height change.
What can settle in is other suspension components, especially if things were not done correctly. One thing that is often overlooked is that the bushings in the swing arms are indexed to ride height. That means to properly install new springs/dampers you need to re-index them. That involves breaking the bolts loose where the arms attach to the body and then putting the vehicle weight down on the suspension to put it at ride height. Then you re-torque the bolts. Coilovers make this more problematic as the neutral height is adjustable. The point of doing this is to make it so that the bushings in the swing arms are not put under stress when the vehicle is at normal ride height. If, like most installers, you simply install the new springs and then set the car down you will be putting a lot of torsion on that bushing. Then, as your drive around, the bushings begin to fail and release that torsion; resulting in a slight drop in ride height. The thing is, those bushings are very important to the handling of the car. Adding that torsion to them can make then fail very prematurely.
Also, the bolts for the swing arms to chassis are torque to yield which means that should be replaced, which I bet most do not do either.
When I did the installation of my KW V1 coilovers in my 335 I did reindex the bushings properly. I set up the ride height how I wanted it and took measurements. I got it aligned immediately. I took measurements at intervals afterward and I did not see even a millimeter of "settling" in the ride height.
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Good info! I am installing new shocks and springs this week and will follow this.
