[tinnsoldaten]

Almost done with my installation , my first coilover install ever.

Front was pretty simple.

Jack up car , put on jackstands. Remove wheels and start loosen up bolts.
In my case , a terrible mechanic had managed to install used standard shocks on my car which is equipped with sports suspension setup. I therefore thought I might getaway with uninstall without having to decomp of springs, and I was right.

The 18mm bolt that pinch shock to the knuckle needs to come off first , then I remove wires that is connected to the clip and then remove the clip that was held by the 18mm bolt.

Then tension rod to swaybar needs to be unbolted from shock , using a 16mm socket on the nut and a 17mm key to lock the bolt.

On one side you have the level sensor that needs to be disconnected , I used a 10mm socket pipe wrench and 10mm key to lock the bolt. I didnt want to pry on the joints , just in case.

Then it was time to loosen the 3 bolts on strut tower holding the strut assembly. When they where out it was time to put some force on the hub and carefully get the hole thing outside the fender. Use tape or some kind of protection on edge of fenders , that will save you should you be little unlucky during this step.

With everything now outside it is time to pry open the gap where the 18mm bolt pinched the shock. I used a flat crowbar and the key to loosen/fasten disks on angle grinders. With the key first in place in the gap I inserted the tip of the crowbar , that is slightly sloped and giving me the push I need to loosen tension on the shock. Gently tap with a hammer on the opposite side of crowbar and keep tapping till the shock starts to become loose.

Then simply rotate and tap on end of shock till the hole thing is out.

Time to install front coilovers... find a height that you think will be optimal for you and set the lower part of assembly accordingly. I didnt have a tape measure so I counted threads , and found 25 to be a good start.

Also I set the chamber to 1 notch away from 0 , giving some negative chamber.

I placed the coilover into the strut tower and then I used a jack to lift the
hub so that coilover stayed in place while I connected the 3 bolts , 13mm.

I pushed the top part of strut inwards so that bolts came in end position of the holes, then fasten.

Now its time to slide the loer part of coilover into the hole and jack the hub gently up till the coilover is fully seated , then I remove the crowbar and key and insert the bolt together with the clip for wire.

With the hub jacked up I tighten the 18mm bolt and connect the tension rod to swaybar.

In my case the lower locking ring for the front coilovers was missing. Might be that Im wrong but it clearly states 2 sets of rings to hold the spring in place and 1 ring to lock the lower part of coilover. Until I get proper new locking rings sent I MacYvered it with some steel wire and spun tight and secure it with a hoseclamp, I know , ghetto , but it works. Without it the assembly will rotate and noises will soon return.

I sat the setting for softest in front and car is no problem driving , I might lower it some more but I will wait until I get the locking rings.

Now the back.

The control arm holding the spring and shock is what you need to loosen / remove to get old parts out. Also remember to remove the level arm, 10mm socket pipe wrench and a 10mm key.

I started with first removing the lower nut on shock with a impact gun , you might have to hold the shock with your hand, but this should come of easily.

Now I place a jack under control arm and tension it just a little and then start with upper nuts on shock. I used a 16mm open socket and a 7mm socket.
Be careful to make sure you stay in focus while doing this step , you must make sure you only hold back on the 7mm and focus the force on the 16mm. Its easy to mess up and if you are unlucky the 7mm may brake. It did that on my passenger side one during uninstall. But in this case they are rubbish and solution is to use a wise-grip on shock arm. Just pull the shock and you will access the arm.




First I was unsure of how much I needed to preload the springs and tension on top nut of strut once installed , but my experience is that is works if you hand tighten the seating ring so that the spring is firmly fitted , then with the spanners supplied tension up the seat ring with one rotation. Lock the hex bolt on seat ring and lock the locking ring under it so its nice and tight.

Tension on top nut of strut , I used a 21mm key and tighten until the center part started to move. If you plan on reusing a shock with broken 7mm, use wise-grip and some wood or cardboard between before you pinch it.

Now I need to loosen the 21mm holding the control arm ,the outer one , but be sure that you have a jack under the control arm with some tension on it.
Next to make this very easy , take one of the wheel lug nuts and attach to the lower of the wheel lug nut holes , but first enter the lug nut thru the hole of end side of a monkey wrench, let it hang downwards and hand tighten. Place a second jack under monkey wrench and lift. By doing this carefully lift both jacks a little at the time and you should feel the bolt be loose enough to pull by hand. When reversing this I used a 8 allen key , a long one to guide the bushing into positioning with the control arm, aid with the jacks if needed.

Lower the control arm jack and then it should be possible to take out shock and springs.

Remove the rubber on control arm and replace with JIC CROSS rubber.
I dont have a clue yet on how low my car will be in the rear , but is choose 3 threads on spring adjuster. And I turned the lower part of shock all the way in and then 10 rotations back. Setting is on max soft.

EDIT :Rear its slammed now I think, so maybe I will put it slightly higher.

Then with the jack under control arm I lift arm so that spring get seated in its place and shock enters hole in strut tower. Here I am a little uncertain but I think I did good on figuring out what to reuse and what not. First on new shock is the old dust boot with bump stop , the use one of the washers that came installed on shock, this will seat on the reduced smaller arm, next put the old bushing back on, then the rubber seal, for ease put the new metal sleeve on and now you are ready to enter the shock thru the strut tower. On topside, install the JIC CROSS bushing that came installed on shock then the last washer and the 17mm nut. I tightened up this one till the adjuster got all the way thru the nut.

My rear shocks came without dust boot but I reused the dust boot from old ones , and kept the bump stops on dust boot. I know some need to cut these , time will tell.

I have seen some post where the old parts should be reused at the topside of strut tower , but since the threads are different size everything I take my chances with just using the parts supplied from JIC CROSS.

With strut connected to the strut tower I continue with the lower nut on the shock, hold the shock while tightening, dont torque it yet.

Best thing now is to drive the car up on a ramp if accessible and torque all nuts that was loosen during install. Or you can lift the hub with jack and torque, what ever you are more comfortable with.

I will post some pictures later , and remember this is a amateurs install . might be some install issues done by me , Im no professional.

I just wanted this major part to be done so that I can take my car in for wheel alignment later.

Im going away for work for 2 weeks and plan to do the alignment when I come back.

All inputs are welcome

[tinnsoldaten]

Now I tried to up the height by rotating the lower part of shock 10 more rotations.
I also upped the stiffness with setting 5 of 15

Result , still rubbing. Didnt look like it got so much higher.

Question:

Can wheel alignment at shop correct my rear wheels so that they have little more negative chamber and clear the fenders?

Secondly , how much work is it to roll the fenders out a bit?

[tinnsoldaten]

bump for some inputs....

[tinnsoldaten]

Update:

Had a talk with JIC Cross Tech and got help enough to finish my install.

With my car with already sport package, the car got really low in the rear , had to adjust the spring almost all the way out.

Next, preload for the spring thru adjusting the damper length. I shortened the damper all the way then gave it 4 rotations back. I believe this will help eliminate shock noise while travel.

Setting hardness in rear: I put it on 10 clicks from all soft towards hard. Car does not rub much more, the rest will be taken care of during wheel alignment tomorrow.
Maybe I can get some more space by rolling my fenders too.

I lowered it 10 rotations more in front and locked it.

Regarding locking rings , this version only have 2 , one thick one that is being locked with hex bolt thru ring. And second one locks the lower part.

I pounded away with impact gun on top nuts on all struts, had to remove the brace in front. Would like the M- brace instead

Numbers will be posted once I get car back tomorrow.