Tony Posted February 21, 2015 Report Share Posted February 21, 2015 There is no set position since we are all different but i would lower the fronts to 8 from soft and test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Thanks for letting me have a go Iain Just fuelled the craving for a '5 even more. Suspension is pretty damn hard now with plenty of banging on the dips. Turned down to 3 clicks was still pretty harsh so I dread to think what 32 is like. On the plus side the car corners like it's on rails, just doesn't want to let go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Sounds like the spring rates might me a touch higher the the Meisters. What are they like on full soft? Mine rides better than standard. That said on full hard they are maybe not as hard as I'd like but it's a compromise I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 These are the lowest spring rates as well, although not sure of the figure. I've never had coilovers so to me they're pretty hard even though they were only turned up 1/3 of the way! At 3-4 clicks it was better but would be an uncomfortable ride on roads with alot of bumps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2IM Posted February 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Initially when we went out it was on 4f ad 2r. Pretty low and that is still firm on bumpy roads. Upped it back to 10f and 8r to see the difference and I dont think I can leave it on that setting for too long. My back would give in. They should be the lowest spring rate which is 5/4Kg/mm Haven't ran them all the way down on full soft yet but I cant see the last couple of clicks making it as soft as stock. Wonder if the level its been lowered has anything to do with it? Would raising it a little soften it up a bit as well? Or is the height irrelevant with the BC's and the amount of damping that can happen? (This is the bit that confuses me) Steve - what spring rate did you go for on the meisters and how soft do you run them for normal driving? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 On 10f and 8r it'll definitely be a back breaker and would annoy me eventually. That last road going back to mine was pretty bad, in the Accord it's only the big dip in the road I notice, the rest is a fairly smooth ride. You might have a point with the springs, if the coils are very close together they won't absorb any of the road imperfections so raising it slightly could make alot of difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted February 22, 2015 Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Initially when we went out it was on 4f ad 2r. Pretty low and that is still firm on bumpy roads. Upped it back to 10f and 8r to see the difference and I dont think I can leave it on that setting for too long. My back would give in. They should be the lowest spring rate which is 5/4Kg/mm Haven't ran them all the way down on full soft yet but I cant see the last couple of clicks making it as soft as stock. Wonder if the level its been lowered has anything to do with it? Would raising it a little soften it up a bit as well? Or is the height irrelevant with the BC's and the amount of damping that can happen? (This is the bit that confuses me) Steve - what spring rate did you go for on the meisters and how soft do you run them for normal driving? Mine are 6kg front and 5kg rear. I am running them about 5/6 clicks off full soft (all round) and i find them decent. on full soft they are perfect for what i want. No complaints. If you look in my blog when they first were fitted joe decked it and it was too low (despite looking great) so its gone up 10-20mm but tbh it made no difference to the ride quality. The whole point of these are you set the springs and you can adjust the height with no effect on the ride. I used to have to mess around with spring preload on my old coilovers when i adjusted the ride height and it complicated matters a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2IM Posted February 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2015 Ok cool. If your free next week at some point we can meet up for a run and comparison. Ill try them on full soft next week and then a lot harder to get a feel for them at differing levels of damping. In theory with the lower spring rates I should be able to tune them for a comfy daily drive. I remember when you took me for a blast last year on uneven roads ("that" back road in Chesham) the car felt similar to how mine is now with big dips. But ill let you have a drive and see what you think. The only other thing is Ill need to trim the mud guards/take them off as they scrub round hard/long bends! Did it earlier and made me jump Or raise it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2IM Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Car is going back in Thursday to be checked over and the suspension raised. It'll need at least 15mm to clear the bumps I have to deal with daily. So this will take the ride height to around 340mm. Out of curiosity I rang BC to have a chat about the rear jumping around and the chap was very helpful. He mentioned it sounded like pre-load and it might need adjustment. He also advised ride height should have no bearing on the damp settings as I thought I might have been too low. Not sure what the pre-load was set to on install so will ask Thursday but he seemed to think around 4mm was a good setting for a new install? How is pre-load measured? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 Normally the preload is already set out of the box i think these days? I had a feeling the ride height wouldn't be part of the problem as all the adjustment on height is down on the lower part of the shock thats twisted up/down as necessary and doesnt affect the spring perch/collars. If i recall when i was doing it i got the tape measure out and i tightened the preload collars just enough to hold them in place and not rattle around and made a note of that measurement. Then from there i might have given them another turn or so if i noticed any chatter fom the springs when driven. I basically went for the least amount of preload possible. This could be the wrong way of doing it but it seemed to work ok from a DIY perspective (the handling didnt kill me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2IM Posted February 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 They confirmed it isn't set but gave the ideal of between 3-5mm. And yes that's what they said about the height adjustment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 So it doesn't matter how high or low you have it the ride quality would be the same if you left the damping on what they currently are, 10f and 8r? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted February 23, 2015 Report Share Posted February 23, 2015 So it doesn't matter how high or low you have it the ride quality would be the same if you left the damping on what they currently are, 10f and 8r? thats right - once the preload is set you can adjust the height independently - so you can have it low as hell and still have a good ride Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 So changing the preload but leaving it at the same height can soften the ride? Just to check I've got this right but preload is adjusting the space between the coils? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 Yes so in essence your adjusting the reaction rate. BCR set the preload to zero and normally we never have to adjust it Best thing is let's get the height set, add 3mm preload check the geo re-set the dampers and test drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeB12 Posted February 24, 2015 Report Share Posted February 24, 2015 If it's too low at the moment raising it 15mm or so is the first port of call, while in there it's pretty straight forward to re-check the spring pre-load is all where it needs to be! Thursday morning shall tell! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2IM Posted February 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2015 So the car was raised 20mm all round up to 335mm. It had initially dropped 10mm to 315mm from the initial ride height set at 325mm. Preload was measured and added. According to BC preload is set out of the factory but 3-5mm has to be added. This was done (4mm) all round and the car is now not bouncing around or hitting the bump stops. A completely different drive with all the harshness gone. Even with the damp settings set to medium its now more than comfortable for the road. Setting it to full soft I think will take it back to stock in terms of ride quality. Only thing is its lost that sharpness it had in turning into corners/bends where you could kind of feel the front dive in. So perhaps once all has settled again over the next few weeks, will measure it again and see if we can take it back to 325mm all round (so no additional geo is needed as its only a 10mm drop plus after initial install the mud guards and speed humps didn't really catch). Hopefully that will give it the squirt and point feel back again. But we are getting there! So preload - adding this seems to have stopped the bouncing/harshness . Can someone explain to me what adding the 4mm has actually done to the set up as it is night and day. Would raising it stopped the bouncing as well as from what I have read above, the ride height shouldn't have affected the ride quality on these units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 27, 2015 Report Share Posted February 27, 2015 Here is a really good explanation> http://fixbroke.tumblr.com/post/39188918110/spring-preload-and-sag-what-does-it-really-do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2IM Posted February 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 Thanks. Will have a read of that Quite interested in learning how it all works together as this is the first set up I've had that's been adjustable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 28, 2015 Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 Well the bump/ rebound is a single point which really helps but there's no matter of fact settings you have to find them to suit. As said if adjustments are made do them sequentially front/ rear and then test drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted February 28, 2015 Report Share Posted February 28, 2015 They didnt feel hugely bad pre adjustment just on those larger bumps at sounded like there was no travel. I can fully imagine they ride just like the meisters now. Tbh i have up until now been adjusting mine at all four corners the same and been happy with the handling. I am running 5 clicks all round off full soft and it feels good. On full softs it feels positively wafty which i actually love. Its better than standard and glides over the bumps. So you should like that as well. On track : set to full hard all round. Traction out of hairpins and full throttle was absurd. Zero slippage. I think thats what started my std clutch slipping at the end of the day hehe : Also you might want to look at one of these if its the same as the mk1 : I have one of these on the rear left. It allows you to adjust the damper without taking off the metalwork shielding the fuel filler pipework. I can get to the other side anyway as i lose the spare on track days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 Are the meisters top damper adjustable then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 Are the meisters top damper adjustable then Yes mate there really is not much between the BC and Meisters. I woudnt be surprised if the same manufacturer was involved - but to ever so slightly specs.. The Specification of the Zeta-S Coilovers: *Aluminium Top Mount with Harden Rubber Bushing *Extended Rear Aluminum Top Mount *Monotube damper with 32 stage damping adjustment (Compression and Rebound Combined) *Linear Rate SAE9254 Chrome Silicon Steel Springs *Lengthen Heavy Duty Rubber Boot and Bump Stop *Aluminium Spring Perch, Locking Collar, and Lower Bracket *Dual Perch Coilovers Construction (Independent Ride Height and Spring Tension Adjustments) NA / NB MX5 Spring Rate: Front: 6.0 kg/mm Rear: 5.0 kg/mm not sure how that compares to the BC. Either way both decent coilovers. I've had BC before on my old 200sx (i dont know if you will remember but you aligned it back at kipling when i rolled in with them freshly fitted and i had some then unusual non-centric adjustable camber bushes? The only problem i had with them back then was the rear coilovers had aluminium bushes in the topmounts at the rear. What that meant was on cold days they would contract and knock a bit. I was very careful to make sure the ones going on to the mx5 had rubber I miss that car a bit - was great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 They are BCR's with a new coat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 They are BCR's with a new coat Quite possibly Best suspension i have had on any car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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