Springs Have Sagged A Little - Now Scraping Front Tyres

[mikel]

Hi guys,

I put whiteline springs in about 8-10 years ago, and needed to have the rear guards rolled at the time - the springs were softer than the ridiculously stiff coilovers the car came from Japan with.

The guys that rolled the rear guards said the fronts usually don't need it - which was the case at the time.

I've noticed over the last year that I get an occasional scrape on the front now with heavy cornering if I hit a bump mid corner.

The ride height at the time was setup for the best handling height, which based on my recollection was 340mm - 345mm centre of wheel to the wheel arch.

The current height is 335mm from centre of wheel to the wheel arch - so some sag, but I can't remember whether it was set up originally at 340mm or 345mm.

Looking at the front guards, there's some discolouration of the paint at the very top of the guard, but it hasn't taken paint off (yet).

New springs would be overkill - should I get the front guards rolled, or lift the car? - the bilstein shocks have circlips and grooves.

Obviously I'd need to adjust front and rear and get a front/rear wheel alignment etc.

cheers

Mike

[GTSBoy]

Easiest would be to put the circlips up 5-10 mm. Springs can also be tensioned. But in all seriousness, new white line springs are pretty cheap.

[mikel]

cheers GTSBoy,

changing the circlips is what I figured was the best option.

You'd suggest a spring swap based on ~5mm of sag over 10 years?

Surely a bit of sag doesn't mean the spring is at "end of life" - the car's only done about 30K km since the springs went in?

Maybe I'm being naive, but you change springs if they're the wrong stiffness for the job, not because they "wear out" (assuming low km)?

If that was the case I'd go to a different spring that didn't sag (or sagged less) rather than putting whiteline springs back in.

cheers

Mike

[GTSBoy]

Well, yeah. Springs that have sagged are no longer "as designed". They have either lost some rate or they have permanently deformed so that they have lost free length. On that basis I would have no issues with spending ~$150/pr to replace them.

If you didn't have Bilsteins with the slots, you wouldn't have a choice. Given that you do have the choice, it's certainly your leading option.

[GTRPSI]

5mm sag, and possibly your shockers have worn some too allowing more freedom for the suspension to travel further.

Seen people stop rubbing by hardening the shocker settings instead of harder or longer springs in the past.

Not the right way to do it obviously but pointing it out as your springs have only sagged 5mm but shockers are also known to wear.