- All right, ready?
- [Man] Yes sir.
- Oop, coffee, okay.
Hey guys, before we even get into the video,
if you want to take part in the entering in to get
win a free set of BCBR Series Racing coilovers
pick up one of these t-shirts,
helps us make a donation to nonprofit,
and of course, the description link's below.
We've sold a ton of these and you guys absolutely love 'em
and we've only got a few left
and it ends at the end of the month, but anyway.
You guys have seen the video where somebody goes in
and they try compressing a spring and it's just about death
because you don't know if they're gonna
actually make it out alive.
Any sort of time that you make those sort of, let's say,
gambling games, you're never really sure if you're
going to make it out alive.
You've seen the videos on YouTube,
you've seen the videos on Facebook,
and then you comment, "Oh my God,
I'm pretty sure the guy actually died,"
or maybe you've researched how bad
cutting springs really is,
I mean mean, pfft, come on!
How bad, how bad could it actually be to just
slice a (beep) right off.
Well, there are a few rookie mistakes out there
when it comes down to installing suspension.
It's just kind of like a thing
because any time somebody works on their own stuff
whether you're doing it on a home, a car, you know
maybe some sort of table or some kind
you're probably gonna make some rookie mistakes.
So I'm Alex, Alex@FI in the picture page
with the cats, dogs, and cool cars,
and today we're talking about rookie mistakes
people make when they decide to go and install suspension.
Roll the intro!
(suspenseful music)
(digital glitching)
(suspenseful music)
We actually have one.
It's actually pretty neat.
Like a Tron Matrix-y like thing.
By the way they're making another Matrix.
I'm not entirely sure how they can make another Matrix
because spoiler alert, he died at the end, so.
The first rookie mistake that people make
when it comes down to installing suspension,
as shocking as it may be,
is that people just like throw it in.
They install it and it's ready rock and roll,
you've got nothing to worry about, now!
Well, many coilovers do come preset based on the
year, make, and model that you select
that doesn't inherently mean that they're just
ready to just like yeet into your like well, you know?
Like you're gonna wanna know a couple things
before you just go and do that
because there are some coilover companies that don't
preset their coilovers when they send them to you
and you're gonna wanna make sure that you know that
before you go and install them.
They're not just perfectly always ready to roll,
and when you have to dial 'em in perfectly
the best time to do it is before you go
and install the suspension, at least fine tuning to a point.
You'll wanna make sure that if you do start fine-tuning
the coil over before jumping into installing them
that you know what you're messing with,
Understanding where you generally want to be
with your damper, with your preload,
with all of that sort of stuff,
maybe an overall ride height is gonna be crucial
to know before just, you know, throwing it in there.
Now the good thing to note is that
a lot of suspension companies,
especially coilover companies are starting
to already preset this for you.
But companies like BC can often help assist you
with figuring out where others have
set up their coilovers based on
the same application or year, make, and model.
They'll help you with spring rates,
you can help with this, with that, and the other things
so that when you do go to install it
it actually feels how you want it to feel
instead of just being a random guess.
If this is your first time buying coilovers
it can be a little bit of a daunting task,
so usually what we recommend is of course
try to use your resources or try to actually just
ask the company or ask somebody like us
what you've seen other people do
once you actually pick up the coilover kit.
Another common rookie mistake when installing suspension
is honestly, now hear me out.
Just 7:00 in the morning.
You know if we wanted food companies to sponsor us
I would love it if a coffee company could sponsor us
because I drink coffee like five times a day.
The real thing that you guys have to remember,
and I said hear me out, is not tightening your pieces
or camber plates after you've installed your coilovers
or just aftermarket suspension.
It happens so often and it happens all the time
that you can't help if you wanna laugh or cry.
People get stoked to dial in their Fitment, their coilover.
They tighten down the bottom section.
They're ready to go.
They got the lefty loosey.
They got the righty tighty.
They're ready, and they completely forget
about the top half of the coilover
and the good ol' three nuts at the top,
little strut tower thing.
You got a little ch ch ch,
you gotta torque those.
You don't, and the next thing you know
one of your wheels on the front is just
(crunch)
over to the wrong side of the wheel well.
It's happened, and it's happened way too much.
It's hilarious and petrifying at the same time
because we laugh, but if something actually
happened that hurt you then we feel bad because we laughed.
And you just really wanna make sure
that when you're going down and you're actually installing
the coilovers, or you're installing your suspension
always go through every component that you touched
after you've installed the part
to make sure that everything is actually
tightened down and ready to go.
Almost every single piece that you touch
in your suspension component area is gonna have
some sort of foot pounds of torque associated it too,
so stop with the duggas.
There's no duggas.
No duggas in the suspension game.
No duggas in the strut tower.
No duggas a the bottom point.
No duggas with you lower control arms.
Get the duggas, just get 'em outta here.
If you do dugga, which is okay,
we're not saying don't dugga.
(rewinding tape)
Stop with the duggas.
There's no duggas.
I'm just saying that you have to take that part
off your car again you're probably gonna wish
you never dugga-ed.
Rookie mistakes are by default, rookie,
but there are some easy mistakes
that happen with even the most experienced
automotive enthusiast.
One good one is just how many minuscule differences
there are between coilover series
that people often overlook
because they're confusing as (beep).
You've got like BR Series coilovers from BC coilovers,
which is their most popular series coilovers.
And then you've got the RM series
that has slew of like different, little,
minuscule details from the BR Series.
Then you have the ER Series
which has a larger monotube damper.
It uses external reservoirs, and the list goes on and on.
Then that doesn't even go in to talking about
the ZR Series, the HR Series, DR Series,
and probably a few more that are out there
that either on their way in or on their way out
just depending on what people's, you know,
piece of pie is for the day.
The fact of the matter is if you don't actually
know the differences you're probably goin to
underpay or overpay and be disappointed
in whatever product you end up purchasing.
The toughest part about coilovers,
and probably the reason that people get so scared about them
is how many details are associated with buying coilovers.
And because there's so many different tiers
it's kinda like when you try to buy a car
that's way over optioned or has way too many trims
because you just don't know what you're supposed to buy
and you don't know what the best deal is.
Coilovers can be very simple.
What you need to remember is that
when you go into buying coilovers
you wanna understand the details
that you're looking to purchase them for.
If you're purchasing something for coilovers,
but you don't understand the options and features
you're probably gonna overpay
and you'll probably never use 'em anyway.
You will use them if you understand
what the reason is it for.
And if you start buying more expensive coilovers
you're gonna wanna understand that the level of detail
needed as you go up the ol' food chain
it's gonna be no longer recommended,
it's gonna be required.
Otherwise you're definitely gonna hate your life
when you spend four grand on a set of coilovers
and your realize you actually don't need that.
You about an $800 set of coilovers.
And a final rookie mistake when installing coilovers
is messing with your preload to lower your car.
Just don't do that.
Most coilovers, like BC for example, actually feature
a lower threaded body mount
that extends or shortens the overall coilover.
You want to use that one.
And don't sway you haven't done it.
I know you've done it because I've done it.
You've done it.
He's done it.
He's probably done it over there too.
You wanna use that to lower your car
versus the preload with your locking collars.
Doing that can actually loosen up your spring
and result in some less than stellar performance.
And don't cut your springs.
Don't cut your springs.
Props, looking at you too.
Don't cut 'em.
I mean you can, you just can't tell anybody, forever.
Rookie mistakes happen all the time,
which is actually why we're here doing this.
I know you love seeing this face,
but we're actually here to help first
and, you know, be this later.
So if you're looking for after market suspension
or you have questions on installing coilovers
be sure to drop a comment below
or check out fitmentindustries.com
for all of your goodie suspension needs.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
Don't forget to subscribe.
fitmentindustries.com
You know the spiel 'cause I say it ten times.
I should just get a shirt.
Maybe I should just get a shirt.
I just turn around when I wanna say it.
And of course guys if you have absolutely any questions
just let us know below.
Erik has to hard eye everything.
We've got new socials like Snapchats and TikToks.
I'm not entirely sure what that is,
but we'll figure it out.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
We will see you later.
Peace.
(suspenseful music)