- Okie Dokie boys, lets just get right into it.
First off I just wanna let the world know
that apparently my wife didn't mow the entire lawn
because there is a spiders nest in a certain section
and she said "All lives matter" so now I have
to very nicely cut grass with a
two by two section of 14 inch grass.
But anyway, listen, I'm gonna be honest
on this one.
Coilovers can be, well just
a little bit of a pain in the (beep).
Mostly because there's a million things
you can adjust on em.
They come in a million different trims
and sizes and pieces and colors.
Their a bit like, uh like buying
earrings for your girlfriend.
I'm Alex, @Alex.fi on Instagram
and today we're gonna be talking about
some good ole classic rookie mistakes
people make when adjusting their coilovers.
(base thumps) (computer beeps)
(base guitar strum)
- Bop ba ba bop, bop ba ba ba bop bop ba, ba ba
(whistles)
(static sound)
- And if you're looking for after market
wheels, tires, or suspension be
sure to hit up FitmentIndustries.com, we've got it all.
Like coilovers, and shirts.
Wheels, too, and give away stuff
like we just did one with "Fortune Auto"
so if you wanna learn to get some free
coilovers go take a look at the
description link below.
First thing when it comes into dialing
your suspension, or more importantly
when you're trying to slam it on the
(beep) pavement, is not taking the coilover
out of the car to adjust it.
This most commonly happens with adjusting
ride height because lets be real.
Who wants to take an entire coilover,
out, to lower it,
and, and have, ya know proper
techniques and processes pfft?
Have you gone to college?
Pfft.
Procrastination is the key to success.
And now, in all honesty
you should actually take them out to use the
lower threaded body of the coilover
to adjust the height of the car.
Using much else isn't usually a good idea.
Just sayin.
Threaded lower bodies won't
come on all coilover options though
so you're gonna wanna make sure
ya keep that in mind, which kinda
bleeds in to numero B.
The second rookie mistake people
always seem to make when they're
adjusting their coilovers is using
their locking collar on their coilovers
as a height adjustment tool.
This is where it gets a little bit confusing.
Which, no, in short, but using the
locking collar as a height adjustment is not
really what you're supposed to do unless
you're a special Sammy with a special coilover
and that doesn't come with a lower threaded body.
Which case we're gonna get into linear and
progressive rate springs here shortly.
But this is especially when you're
looking to do major adjustments.
Now, I know, I get it,
procrastination, threaded collar easy.
Its just your knuckles that are gonna bleed.
You think to yourself "How could I
"make my car look the best with
"the least amount of overall work possible?"
Don't lie.
However, try to stay away from the collar
if you have progressive springs,
and lower threaded bodies.
Now pro tip, a myth about locking collars
is how it messes with preload and then
how that preload effects your spring rate,
and how that overall effects handling.
The simple answer is no.
Preload won't make the spring anymore
or any less stiff depending on the type
of spring that you have.
Most of the time you're gonna have linear.
So, it does depend on the type of spring
you're talking about whether that's a linear rate
or progressive but most of the coilovers
that you're gonna be looking at are linear
rate, which means the stiffness won't change
no matter how far they're compressed.
So, while you can use the locking collar
to adjust ride height minutely,
on a linear spring rate you don't really wanna do that
if your coilover has other, more purposeful
adjustments meant specifically
for overall height.
That's a doozy.
Another good rookie mistake when you're going
to adjust the coilovers is not actually
using the adjustment features that coilovers
provide you to, you know, dial em in.
Listen, coilovers got some neat (beep).
They got knobs, turntables, dials,
twisty boys, and then if you don't use
the things that help you dial in your fitment
then you might as well just come to F-I
and slap Dakota in the face because
that's what you're doing when you
don't use your coilovers correctly.
Breaking it down to all the fun little
features of a coilover you view things
like your adjustable dampers,
which control the sensitivity in response
to the overall suspension movement
through the passing of hydraulic fluid.
You can get into the adjustabilities through
your compression, rebound, or both
depending on how much dolla bills
you have in your wallet.
Which usually get a little bit
(whistle)
Your adjustable spring load allows you to change
how much compression is needed to get the spring
to travel depending on the type of coilover you have.
Then you actually have your threaded bodies
for your overall height.
When you're dialing in fitment its important to
use those tools and not just slam it on its nuts.
As much as we want to.
Mostly because, although it'll look proper
right off the bat, you may find yourself
crying, slowly, on the highway as you try
to figure out why, your car oddly rubs,
at 42 miles an hour, or when a leaf makes it way
underneath your car and now your car
is leaking oil.
Dialing in coilovers allow you to make it
look absolutely (kiss sound) ah bootaful.
But also you can drive it, it's neat.
But if you don't use the dialing in tools
it's gonna look good, but it's gonna perform
like absolute (beep)
I feel like dialing in fitment doesn't always
have to be terribly difficult.
But the problem is
most of us get insanely impatient
since it requires constant tweaking.
Coil overs are, iconically, the same,
depending on your use of coilovers,
whether its for the track or for the show,
dialing it in always changes.
Pro tip though, those threads, will either become
your best friend or your absolute worse enemy.
When adjusting your coilovers you're gonna wanna
make sure that you're throwing some anti-seize
on those moving parts, especially if the car
is driven in inclement weather.
It helps a ton when you're playing around
with the adjusting your lower body or collar
since the pieces themselves,
like metal on metal,
and cold and warm, overtime just doesn't do well.
Just historically never, does, well.
My mind always spins when we talk about coilovers
because there's just, there's so much, son.
Adjusting coilovers is the number one reason
that anyone should actually buy them.
The same reason multi piece wheels exist.
To dial in your wheels exactly how you want them.
Cause this is America.
But when you aren't using the reasons
that you spent 2000 dollars on them,
then your actually not doing anything
besides lowering em, and then you're gonna have,
(inhaling breath) rookie fitment.
Once you've gone through and dialed in
your fitment torque to spec your cam
replace it and control arms, no duggas,
and you finally think you have it seated properly
don't forget that you need to account for suspension rest.
The good ole suspension, will rest.
Anywhere from five to 10 millimeters after you
swapped to coilovers and a few millimeters more
just within dialing in your fitment
depending on what ya doin to it.
Because if you put different wheels and tires on
its gonna change it if you end up adjusting
your coilovers again.
If you go smack hard with perfect fitment
the first time around you'll end up smashing
your wheel, slash tire, into your fender.
Patience, boys and girls.
Just do it, over time.
In your opinion what's the biggest rookie mistake
you've seen people make when dialing in
their wheel fitment?
Drop a comment below so we can laugh,
or either sympathize with you.
Heart emoji.
If you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires, or suspension
you know where to go.
FitmentIndustries.com
I love the comments,
like just keep saying that.
We should just get a T shirt,
that has it on there.
Let us know what you wanna talk about next
of course in the comment section below
so we can keep making awesome videos,
like this.
I'm Alex from "Fitment Industries"
and we will see you later.
Peace.
(heavy base hip-hop beat)