Coilover help

[irishkev90]

Not really sure where to put this for maximum exposure so if it needs moving, feel free.

Anyway, I'm finally sick and tired of the bouncing. I've determined the bounce is coming from the tired flexing because the front springs don't compress enough/at all. I tested this by setting the struts to full soft and jumping on the upper radiator support area. Reviewing the video revealed that the suspension barely moved at all, but the tire flexed like crazy. I disassembled one of the front struts to see if anything was seized up and the only weird thing I found is the strut only has about an inch of travel between fully extended and fully compressed. It did compress/extend properly and the firmness adjustment works as I could feel a difference when pressing the strut into the body, but that small amount of travel worries me.

As for the rear, I figured the same thing was happening so didn't do a jump test. However, after jacking the car up and down I did notice that the rear does compress with the weight of the car. But only about an inch. This has me thinking that the rears are actually bottomed out and causing bounce that way. I tried adding preload to the rear spring, but the collar is seized in place and I was actually chipping the wrenching surfaces trying to loosen it. I gave up after that. But being a linear spring, I don't think preload makes much of a difference anyway, or that's what I've read anyway.

I did manage to find the part/ID numbers for the springs, but can't get any information when I google them. The fronts are 11.5_205 and the rears are 0_11_250. Ksport lists the spring rates for the BH set as 7.5 kg/mm front and 4 kg/mm rear, but I haven't been able to confirm that's what mine are. I want to replace the front springs with something a little softer and the rears with something stiffer, so if anyone knows what these numbers mean please let me know.

So, basically, I'm hoping someone here can give some insight on the strut travel and the spring rates. There's a guy on the FB page that sells Yellowspeeds that I was hoping would be of use, but it seems he'd rather criticize me for not understanding how coilovers work instead of actually helping me.

Thanks.
EDIT: Scratch some of what I said about the front. I just went out to double check and the front does compress with the weight of the car. The front may also be bottomed out. That being said, is the strut travel the issue or the spring rate?

[FE3-323]

spring rate is usually the issue.

[irishkev90]

It could still be, but now I'm concerned with the strut travel. No one can seem to give me a definitive answer on how much travel the strut on its own, no spring or anything, should have between full extend/full compress. I've contacted Ksport with no response, asked the Yellowspeed coilover guy on one of the Protege groups on FB, but he refuses to be of any use, and no amount of googling has come up with an answer. I need to know if my strut travel is abnormal so I can either save up to replace the whole setup or, if that's normal strut travel for coilovers, just a find a spring rate that works for me.

[firelizard]

The K-Sports have plenty of travel, but they bounce because the struts are soft relative to the spring rate. I think it's unlikely that you're bottoming out the struts, especially with stiffer springs.

It's possible the dampers are just blown, too. It was very obvious in the ride when both of my fronts started to leak. Normally, I did not have a problem with bouncing, but it was very pronounced when the dampers went soft.

Of course, this was 10-11 years ago, my recollection is a little faded.

[irishkev90]

Forgot about this thread.

The fronts are actually bottoming out, but not actually at the bottom. There's still a good 4 inches, at least, between the top of the bump stop and the bottom of the top mount, but something is physically stopping the strut from compressing any further. That's where the front struts have been sitting. I actually ended up taking the coilover apart and putting the strut in a press to see if I could break free whatever was stopping it without breaking the strut. It didn't budge and I gave up after putting more force on it than I was comfortable with. I added about an inch and a half of preload to raise them off whatever they're bottomed out on, but now I'm topping out whenever there's a small dip in the road. There's a very small range of travel in the front struts and I haven't been able to tune it in just right without bottoming or topping out.

The rear struts are dead. No signs of leakage, but they do not move freely when disassembled. I couldn't compress them by hand, so off to the press again. They compressed all the way, but didn't come back up. I had to clamp the threaded end of the strut rod in a vice and pull the body to get it to extend again. I did this multiple times with some WD40 in hopes of freeing whatever was sticking, but, again, didn't work.

I don't remember what the characteristics of the struts were when I first installed them, but they've always been a bouncy and now I'm thinking this is probably why. I just assumed it was one of those coilover compromises and I'd just have to live with it.

[FE3-323]

sounds to me like theres an internal bump stop or its travel is just that super limited.