Ride height changed after CMP/Vincebar

[K-Dawg]

This may be obvious, but new/different spring pads? Pictures of springs and height adjusters?

[George Hill]

That is correct, and you have the toe set all the way in, which will change how the tire fills the wheel well a little bit as well. Might be just a case of a bunch of little things adding up?

[Cubieman]

This may be obvious, but new/different spring pads? Pictures of springs and height adjusters?

The spring reinforcement pads are the same thickness as the old rusty ones I replaced. I did try putting the old ones back in with no effect.

I don't have any pictures of the springs, but they are indeed adjusted all the way down (same as before). The spring seem to be seating fine once the vehicle is sitting down on the wheels.

I noticed the little areas that protrude down from the car that the top of the spring seats onto doesn't point straight down but slightly rearward. I tried to see if maybe the springs were bent in one direction or another and did notice if I set the bottom of the spring on a flat surface and rotated it the top of the spring (and adjustment ring assembly) wad not completely flush (or flat) as I turned the spring if that makes ant sense.

[Cubieman]

That is correct, and you have the toe set all the way in, which will change how the tire fills the wheel well a little bit as well. Might be just a case of a bunch of little things adding up?

I scribed a line around each RTAB bracket and tried my best to line them up where they were previously, granted I will have had a change in geometry from the CMP bushes but I'll double check those brackets.

Another little thing I *think* is different as I don’t trust my memory 100% is that before the shock was "in line" with the hub, so I would simply have to moved the hub up/down to mate the shock with the hub in order to insert the bolt.

I now must pull the shock foward (towards front of vehicle) about 1/4"+ for the holes for the shock/hub to meet to insert the bolt.

Quite likely as you say about a bunch of small things adding up but still puzzling..

Edit: I also wonder about my new Turner monoball RTABs, I torqued the bracket around the RTABs to 81 ft. Lb. and then installed the brackets. I could still move the brackets by hand after torquing the RTABs but wonder about preload.

However I see no possible way to torque the RTABs once the brackets are bolted to the chassis..

[Arith2]

Drive the car yet?

[Cubieman]

Drive the car yet?

Not yet, waiting new nuts for the front subframe and new CSB nuts as well. Thought the dealership would have them in by today, but not the case unfortunately..

[01SG]

Does the monoball design need to be preloaded? I thought I read they did not. Maybe that would explain why you can move the bracket. On stock rubber the bracket does not move unless forced.

[Tbonem3]

Correct. A ball bearing is not a bushing plain and simple. Both bushings and balljoints are susp joints, but they are not the same thing.

[_10speed]

As others have mentioned, I would wait until you have the car fully back together and go for a test drive. I would expect the rear end to be a little higher after you have everything complete. You still have a lot of weight absent from the car. Since you want to be as low as you were before, and you are bottomed out on your adjusters, choose a replacement spring or adjusters. You could choose a lighter spring in the rear to get it to squat a bit more, or choose a shorter spring. All in all, these discrepancies are just part of the process.

[bigjae46]

They do go *only* one way, but people have figured out how to put them in upside down, I don't think this would affect the ride height though.

Have you rolled the car back and forth? The suspension could be bound up causing the ride height to be misleading.

lol...it is pretty easy but when you bolt it up to the body it looks very...WTF. Then oh damn! They're upside down!

I vote for this. Disconnect the rear sway bar and bounce the car. Check for free play in the suspension bushings.

Also...are the subframe bushings pressed in the right direction?

Are the subframe bushings are hung up on the studs and not sitting against the chassis

[Cubieman]

lol...it is pretty easy but when you bolt it up to the body it looks very...WTF. Then oh damn! They're upside down!

I vote for this. Disconnect the rear sway bar and bounce the car. Check for free play in the suspension bushings.

Also...are the subframe bushings pressed in the right direction?

Are the subframe bushings are hung up on the studs and not sitting against the chassis

I finished last night at about 2am and drove the car, I had previously tried rocking/bouncing the car (w/ no sway bar) with no effect.

SF bushes are correctly installed (lettering down) and flush to the chassis.

After backing out the driveway I drove 1/4 block and heard what sounded like my park brake adjusted too tightly, so I pulled back into the garge and decided to wait until today to drive it around town in the daylight.

In any event, the 1/4 block drive did indeed drop about 1/3 or more of my gap, so I'll report back after a more thorough drive.

Hopefully that's all there is to it!

[Cubieman]

Update: Ride height most definitely went down after a short drive around town, still a bit higher than it was before but maybe it has a bit more to go, didn't push the vehicle very hard.

Now I am dealing with a new sound (granted the whole back seat/under seat sound deading material/door cards/trunk floor/carpeting are still not installed) that I have not heard before.

Keep in mind CMP/Vincebar/Monoball RTAB's/All new OEM everything else bushing wise, some were worn.

Sounds like either

- Diff. whine, that would be annoying as it's quite loud (fluid topped).

- Parking brake not adjusted properly and rubbing in rotor

- Dust shield rubbing inner part of rotor(s), these did get bent slightly when I set them down a few times with the shield taking some of the weight of the entire hub.

Here are some before/after driving photos, the different angle doesn't show it quite so well, but I'd say I lost almost 50% of the additional fender gap.

[Estoril]

Update: Ride height most definitely went down after a short drive around town, still a bit higher than it was before but maybe it has a bit more to go, didn't push the vehicle very hard.

Now I am dealing with a new sound (granted the whole back seat/under seat sound deading material/door cards/trunk floor/carpeting are still not installed) that I have not heard before.

You are going to hear a wide variety of sounds with those sound-deadening items yet installed. Don't judge until its all back together.

[Cubieman]

You are going to hear a wide variety of sounds with those sound-deadening items yet installed. Don't judge until its all back together.

Yea, I hear creaks/spring sounds but this is a constant sound almost like a slightly locked up caliper.
When slowing to a stop I hear the sound kind of cycle on/off like the rotor might not be perfectly flat and contacting the dust shield or the parking brake contacting the rotor on/off.
My buddy heard the sound from 50ft away as I drove away.

I have the rear end up in the air currently and ran the parking brake nuts (under the park brake handle) all the way too their loosest position and no change. I can spin both wheels and at a certain point they both have a scraping noise, which is either normal pad on rotor noise or not normal bent dust shield on rotor noise.

[eacmen]

Yea, I hear creaks/spring sounds but this is a constant sound almost like a slightly locked up caliper.
When slowing to a stop I hear the sound kind of cycle on/off like the rotor might not be perfectly flat and contacting the dust shield or the parking brake contacting the rotor on/off.
My buddy heard the sound from 50ft away as I drove away.

I have the rear end up in the air currently and ran the parking brake nuts (under the park brake handle) all the way too their loosest position and no change. I can spin both wheels and at a certain point they both have a scraping noise, which is either normal pad on rotor noise or not normal bent dust shield on rotor noise.

Put the interior back together as suggested above.

Dustshield rubbing is fairly common, you need to pry it back. Takes more force than you would expect to bend it back. Short prybar makes easy work of it.

Could also be that the brake caliper pistons havent settled into position. Recommend a few hard stops to seat all the pistons.