installed ground control kit so why is this my car so low?
949
Senior Wagonist
i just installed the complete kit they sell on ground control's web site. the back is fine but the front is super low. even with the fronts spring perch turned extra tight i can barely get it be flush with the fenders. i dont even have a finger gap. but it does go very very low.
my goal is to just at least get 2.0 inches in the front fender gap. nto looking to be slammed.
my car is:
91 civic wagon
17 x 7 inch wheels
my goal is to just at least get 2.0 inches in the front fender gap. nto looking to be slammed.
my car is:
91 civic wagon
17 x 7 inch wheels
Comments
im not sure what your talking about? snap rings??
here is the picture before i put it on. i still dont see what im supposed to look for?
also is it in the rear too?
the location im looking at is at the most bottom section of the shock. its the part that gets installed into the stock lower arm area. this is the part that gets removed from the original suspension and installed onto the yellow shocks. here.
there was actually only 1 indentation when i installed them. just to be 100% sure ill double check agian. be back in just a few to report.
i forgot but is the stock oem wagon suspension normally taller than other civic models?
On a DX? I think its about the same in the front. If not identical to other EF's.
I do have a question though, why would you spend the 1200$ for the setup to go stupidly low, and then not want to go low...
good question as some might have the same thought.
i was planning on lowering it and wanted to do it later on but something came up on the car and i just decided to do it now instead.
i decided on this because of a few reasons.
1. life time warrenty on the shocks.
2. had past experience with just the ground control sleeves on a previous civic and really liked it.
3. had plenty of experience with cheap to expensive coilovers. down side of coilovers is that they are not life time warrenty and are very expensive to get overhauled. if you end up overhauling one of these the down time is very lengthy and for a daily car its not an option. im currently selling a set of endless zeal super function type R with custom spring rates for a subaru sti 05+. rates are front 18k rear 12k. bought them new for about $4k. now selling for $2k. nothing wrong with them just sold subaru sti.
4. there wont be any down time because GC america will sell me a shock and when i get the shock back from koni GC will refund me the money i spent for the new one. so no down time.
5. custom rates with no extra charge.
6. thought that it would sit like stock if i adjusted them properly. i believe i just read somewhere that the stock shock length on the wagon is longer than other versions of the same year. so it was not my purpose to buy something that would only work as slam or super slammed mode.
7. i like quality brand new parts even if it is for a car that is only worth a few hundred dollars. i believe that quality is the only way to go.
8. i could have gotten this setup for a little less but i would need to wait for 2 weeks or more. my current situation required that i get this car up and running asap.
9. the quality of the ride is supposed to be near stock confort to maybe a little stiffer.
so was there a password? i've been trying to find it, and wanted to know if it even gets you anything? what spring rates did you end up going with?
400/375
You could save a few hundred and just buy the shocks off ebay or something, and then the springs from GC, and make your own tophats. Plus you can get a bit more travel with custom extended ones ;-)
But the ground control ones do look pretty snazzy.
I'm all for the koni/gc setup, in fact I want to get them myself, but I really don't think its going to be able to go up to stock height. But as far as your reason #4, why not just keep your oem struts? blown or not you can still rock them for a few weeks?
that f'd up man. i looked for an hour or so for that password. how's the ride?
going to be doing an at home alignment before taking it to the professionals because i dont think my tires will survive even 2 miles the way they are pointing.
the stock suspension on a wagon is much higher than the other civic models in the same year.
therefore the shock on the koni will not be long enough to allow to be brought back up.
the koni shock is much shorter, my guess is for those who wanted to be low. so since koni is shorter and the wagon is higher than there is a huge deficiency.
koni does not have anything longer per ground control people.
the only band-aid i can do is to remove the upper top hats and give the car back about 52mm of length again, thusly raising the gap between wheel and fender 52mm. remember with the wagon the spring is turned all the way up and almost to where i am giving it some pre-load on the spring just to get it to sit fender level.
there is some pro's and con's.
con's is that even with the perch ring all the way up its pretty low. so if you wanted larger rims 18"+ on this suspension then you will hit the fender what ever the lowprofile size tire you choose.
pro's if you want the dumped on the ground look for the wagon and still get a stock or above range stock feel ride than this is the way to go. you can set the car on the floor and feel pretty good. so those who have 14 or even 13 inch wheels will love these.
Drops em down to like 990 I wanna say.
EDIT:
Id call them and see if it still works. GCISOG
I don't need it. found koni struts for cheap. it's going to cost about $800 total with the ground controls
Back on topic
Then you just move the circlip to that new groove and now your whole sleeve sits higher on the strut meaning you will have more adjustment
Only option is to run a conventional top hat like 949 has mentioned.
His strut is sitting 52mm higher from the extended tophat. Using a standard tophat will allow the strut to move down 52mm. Thus allowing him to raise the spring perch 52mm
Nevermind. As you were.
So you are saying that by raising the whole sleeve up you will not effect the height (basically enabling you to wind raise the spring higher up), but by changing the tophat which has no bearing on height other than it will keep springs captive when lowered you will make it higher?
His shock travel is completely maxed out (up) with the extended tophat in place. You can raise (preload) the spring all you want, it will do nothing because the strut is limiting it to go any higher.
Now if you move the strut(shock) top mounting point down it will give you room to move the spring or sleeve up.
Shouldn't be this hard to explain.