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do you really have to preload??

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 6:25 pm
by fresh eh2*
i have omni power full coilovers im about to install 2day do i really need to preload them? what does preloading do anyways?

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 6:55 pm
by asianrob
i never preloaded any springs

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 7:18 pm
by ChicagoMike
eg8ferio wrote:i never preloaded any springs


x2

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 8:15 pm
by fresh eh2*
Good less work for me! Anyways the reason y I asked is cuz ppl said on HT that u have to preload in order to put ur coilovers in and if u don't your gonna have problems wen u put em in. I was like wtf are these ppl talkin about so I figured ill ask my ppl real quick. But yea wen I put my GC coilovers sleeves in on my old hatch I had no problems with it so I had no idea what they were talkin about thanks for clearing shyt up for me guys.

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 8:24 pm
by chnzgoofball
AddictiveAllMotor wrote:
eg8ferio wrote:i never preloaded any springs


x2


x3

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 11:37 pm
by Greasedmonkey
I preloaded my coil overs, and a set a friend put on his 240sx. its not really alot of work for the TRUE coil overs. All you do is spin the spring perch up a certain amount. I did 10mm on both mine and my friends.

Here is a pic.

For preload just move the perch circled in yellow up. For ride height move the locking ring circled in red, then spin the lower thingy...

Image

PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2007 11:40 pm
by EGcivic
Not sure what the Omni Power coilovers are like but with the D2/K-Sport coilovers it is best to preload them, only becuase they have that function available. The D2/K-Sports have seperate preload and ride height perches. Some coilovers only have adjustable ride height which can overtime (If the ride height is set too low, and you use the car on uneven road surfaces) cause the shocks seals to blow and lose all damping force. It's the same as using standard shocks with very low springs, the shocks will blow due to the fact that the oil in the dampers is under compression way over their natural resting point and the damper piston will have very little movement, and any movement will cause undue stress to the seals causing them to blow as the oil is only able to compress so far. So if you have the function to allow preloading then use it, as it will preserve the life of the dampers and actually make the dampers do the job they are designed for.

PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2007 4:41 am
by whiteEG
i never preloaded my omni powers and ive never had a problem with them.. still as good as the day i bought em

PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:54 pm
by thedaemon
To answer the "what is preloading" question. It's putting the spring under force so that when you suspension goes down really far you still have the spring pushing, instead of a gap being made and a bad sound from the spring crashing back into the perch when the suspension compresses. Preload a little if it allows.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:33 pm
by LowTEC-Derbo
the preloading simply means, the spring is not free when the shock is fully extended. It just simply provides ease to know that the spring is properly seated and will not pop out of place.




Another note is that spring preload can make the car feel a little stiffer as the spring is no longer sitting in it's normal natural position. There is force forcing the spring to compress already due to the preload and the spring is doing work to force itself back to it's natural position.

My car got a little softer, with less preload. I do have it still just to keep the spring from moving, but not as much as I used to have. Plus you can't lower your car to the FLOOR with preload :P

PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:46 am
by Graham
Glad someone cleared up what preloading is cos i didnt have a clue

I did preload mine though, ive got D2s and just wound the top ring so it was just compressing the spring...

Thats what youre meant to do isnt it?

PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:38 am
by LowTEC-Derbo
Graham wrote:Glad someone cleared up what preloading is cos i didnt have a clue

I did preload mine though, ive got D2s and just wound the top ring so it was just compressing the spring...

Thats what youre meant to do isnt it?


basically :thumb:


my Apexi n1 coilovers is barely pressing on the spring..lol