Carl's Springs and Swaybars & Ride Height

[jhjacobs]

Last night I installed the front set of my new springs, spring pads, Bilstiens, and swaybars from our good friend Carl. Really nice stuff. My front end dropped 1" / 2.5cm exactly (useless spacer thingies previously removed).

Installing the shocks and springs was painless. I put the front of the car on stands (windows cracked), removed the old swaybar, and then jacked each wheel up (under the main ball joint to apply pressure to collapse the spring. I then applied my $37 spring clamps from Advance Auto hand tight (no need to compress any more) and removed the shock nut with an impact wrench (27mm I think). I then slowly lowered the wheel and the whole assembly pops out. I was just able to get the top of the shock and spring to clear the wheel well. The spring just lifts out and the top of the shock has a big spanner nut. To loosen the spanner I pushed the springless strut back in to position and jacked it back up into the tower; this let me get nice leverage. The new springs are a bit shorter and I did not need to compress the to get them installed.

All in all, the spring and shock work was only about 1.5 hours. The swaybar on the other hand is another story. It should be simple. Two bolts for the bushing linkages and two for the pivot point brackets. Yeah, right! :evil: First, the new brackets are too deep and won't slip into position. I had to grind off about 1cm from the back; this is hard steel and it didn't like grinding. Second, the slot for the bolt is not deep enough and I had to drill it out about 2cm more. Finally, for some reason the manufacturer put a square tube on top of the bracket which absolutely would not fit in the space alloted; I think this is designed to allow a 1/4" ratchet wrench to be used to compress the bracket -- more grinding. Even with all of my modifications it took about 4 hours, lots of possum grease, and every curse word I could think off to install the freaking swaybar. Perhaps I'll ask Orangener for some German curse words which may work better than the ones I used. At leasts it installed now and if it would stop raining I'd go for a spin.

I will say that this swaybar makes the OEM swaybar look like a joke and lizard green color is, well, unique. :roll:

More to follow on the rear installation.

 

[jhjacobs]

Ok, both axles are installed. The rear was not nearly as bad but the springs were a bit of a hassle because they are not linearly flexed when installed. They go in with pretty much the same technique: jack the car by the frame, compress an axle with a floor jack, clamp the spring, decompress the axle and pull the spring - it takes some coaxing but it will come out. The rear sway bar is a much better fit and no modifications were required. The entire rear axle process took about 4 hours.

The before / after ride height numbers (wheel center to top of wheel well:

LF - Before 15" / 38mm - After 13.75" / 35mm
RF - Before 15" / 38mm - After 13.75" / 35mm
LR - Before 13.5" / 34.5mm - After 13.25" / 33.5mm
RR - Before 13.5" / 34.5mm - After 13.25" / 33.5mm

This is basically 1.25" down in the front and 0.25" in the rear. Carl told me to expect about 1.5 in the front and .75 in the rear. I am quite pleased with the results. Before the front always seems high, now the car looks level.

As for the ride, OHMG! Truly amazing! The springs may be stiffer but not annoyingly so. However, the new Sport Bilsteins and the massive swaybars put the car on rails without sacrificing ride comfort. I will say there was a slight decrease in the normal under steer. This is not a modification that I regret.

So, if you considering Carl's springs and swaybars I give them a big thumbs up! Plan on the better part of a weekend to get them installed considering the modifications require for the front bracket. You should also invest is some cheap spring compressors; this is what I picked up for $36:

http://www.partsamerica.com/productdetail.aspx?MfrCode=APO&MfrPartNumber=T70570&CategoryCode=3492

If you want to discuss any of the finer points of the process drop me a PM or email. 8)

 

[decoupe]

JJ - what thickness of spring pads did you use? Did Carl make recommendations on them?

 

[TodB]

suspension

Did you go with Bilstein sports or HDs?

Are the sway bars adjustable? If so, how did you set them up?

 

[AndyM]

I've had that spring/swaybar combo on my car now for a few years and I agree its awesome! Sounds like the sway bars may have changed, though. Mine are silver and I don't recall any problems installing them.

Sounds like you went with the Bilstein Sports? Not too stiff? I'll bet you didn't get those from Carl -- he would've talked you out of them. I run the Bilstein HDs and they round out the ride quite nicely as well.

 

[jhjacobs]

I think I may has mis-documented the shocks - I went with the ones Carl recommended which are, I take it the Heavy duty version (assuming the Sports are stiffer - I always forget).

I've had the spring pads for a while - I don't even recall where I bought them but it was not from Carl. The front pads are very thin, perhaps 1/8" under pressure. The rear are quite thick; I'd say about 1/2" or so.

The front swaybar is not adjustable. The rear swaybar is supposedly adjustable - it has three different holes where you can connect the bushing down rod. However, the urathane bushings are so stiff that I would hate to try anything other than the center setting which was hard enough to line up.

The springs are silver and the swaybars are lime green. I seriously thought about painting them red or black but then I remembered that I have banned myself from painting because I generally manage to get more than half the paint on everything except the intended target. :roll: