Apexi Type V N1 Coilovers Fitted And Mini Meet!

[joe higgy]

steve get is money out that is a joke he is as bad as you mr crutch :P

i will sort a date out with steve and mr crutch and let you no. dont bring that tight get with you he will only have 10 fags and no money for beer. plus i will have steve and crutch there and that will cost me a s... load of money .aido i no you are not tight m8 you offerd to get the beer in and a macdonalds so you can come to xmas party. but dont come in that mini metro lol.

[Anees]

steve  get  is money  out  that is a  joke  he is as  bad  as you  mr  crutch :P

i  will  sort a  date out  with  steve and  mr crutch and  let  you no. dont  bring  that  tight  get  with  you  he  will only  have  10 fags and  no money  for  beer. plus i  will  have  steve  and  crutch  there  and  that  will  cost  me a  s... load of  money  .aido i  no  you are  not  tight  m8  you offerd  to  get  the  beer in and a macdonalds so  you  can  come  to  xmas party. but  dont  come in  that  mini metro lol.    

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Nice to see you finally say hello Joe! The tight get with the black Mini Metro (who is from Yorkshire) is Imi! :P

Hutch = Crutch

Sure your not a comedian??

[Gord]

Only a matter of time B4 joe was to say something :D all down hill now

[Anees]

Guys,

Its been almost two weeks since I had the Apexi coilovers fitted and have mixed opinions on them. :)

On the postive side obviously the handling improvements are fantastic and suprisingly they are great going over speed bumps! Because they don't move about like the springs used to I can go over them faster then before. The springs have settled abit and the car is lower then before too (at the back). It looks great. The car is also alot more composed and feels quicker. Also they are much better with handling weight - the backend doesn't drag itself along the floor under load as it did before. :D

On the negative side I am concerned that there is a problem with the rear coilovers. I have been playing about with the dampening and as a test I put on maximum dampenning at the rear. The ride was terrible. The backend jumping about allover the place and frankly I have ended up with backache! I have now put the backend dampenning on about 50% (8 clicks) and its MUCH better. The problem is that it still knocks like crazy over everything - even small things like painted lines on the road. Both the rears knock loudly and over rough surfaces the backend really does bounce about continually.

The fronts on the otherhand are superb. They are so smooth. It almost feels like I have stock suspension on the front and no suspension on the back! The difference in smoothness between them is THAT big.

When I had them fitted it was pointed out by Joe that he thinks the rear coilovers are faulty, because when we went for a drive I went over a steep hill at speed that cambered to the left and the backend started jumping about. With the coilovers only having done 4K I really doubt (and pray) that nothing is wrong with them.

I have to send Mikes C-Spanners back this week, but all I can think of is that the rears are not adjusted properly? The problem with this theory is that Steve (fitter) adjusted the fronts and they are perfect, so I don't see why he wouldn't have followed the same theory (Neils diagram) for the rears.

If they don't stop knocking and the backend jumping about uncontrollably over rough roads I think I will just put this down to experience and put sport springs back on the car (I wasn't really completely happy with the Eibachs either). Will miss the handling improvements however. :(

Thanks,

Anees

Would love an Apexi Coilover meet to get this sorted out! :P

[Mr Morse]

Anees - hang onto the C spanners mate, I'm going to be out of the UK for while

[Mr Singh]

Does it still knock with the damping completley wound off?

[Anees]

Anees - hang onto the C spanners mate, I'm going to be out of the UK for while

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Oh great! :D Thanks mate! ;)

Does it still knock with the damping completley wound off?

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Not tried it Am, I'm about to go out now so I will try it!

[Anees]

Right..I took all the dampenning off and went for a drive !

Suprisingling the ride wasn't that bad - but it was hard!

It is knocking like crazy still. Also noticed a kind of tapping sound too...

[MacRS200]

From memory there are about 30+ "clicks" from soft to hard so 8 off full damping is hard. I had exactly the same bouncing on 6 back off the hardest setting.

[Anees]

From memory there are about 30+ "clicks" from soft to hard so 8 off full damping is hard. I had exactly the same bouncing on 6 back off the hardest setting.

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I thought that the Apexi's had 13 different dampenning settings? :duh:

What do you suggest then mate? What have you got your rear end set too dampenning wise?

It is frustrating becuase the fronts the so smooth and silent so I know that the coilovers potentially are great!

[MacRS200]

Just been out and counted a total of 36 "clicks" on the rear damper!

Mine are set at 12 up from softest setting (fully anti-clockwise, 12 "clicks" clockwise).

[Anees]

Neil,

Before your last post I also went out and checked the adjustments on the rear dampener. I got 28.

I think my experiments have been one extreme to the other. Either tried with dampening fully wound off or dampening on maximum, not the middle. I have just tried 15 from hardest (about half-way) and its much better. :D The backend is more composed and doesn’t seem to be jumping about like crazy. The knocking has also been reduced too – but it still knocks. If I get the wheel arch and push it up and down I can hear a knocking so would that imply that the rears are not quite setup right??

Thanks again mate – my back feels much better too!

I am now going to try the same as yours (12 up from softest)...

[Anees]

Neil,

I have now tried 12 up for the softest and its alot better. Much smoother. I owe you alot with all the help you have given with these coilovers! ;)

Still knocks however :duh: Is the procedure for setting up the rears the exact same as the fronts? I think I will take the car to Drury Lane (geometry centre) tommorow and give them a copy of your diagram and see if they can get it to stop knocking. Any tips apart from what has been covered in the other threads? :D

Thanks,

Anees

[MacRS200]

Anees

If you measure the wheel arch to wheel centre with the weight of the car on the spring and then jack it up so the wheel is off the ground, measure again you should get a difference or around 30mm. e.g. the distance should be about 30mm more with the car jacked up, it will probably be a bit more because of the lever effect of the wishbone. If that checks out the spring height is about right.

Other cause for knocking could be worn ARB bushes because the springs are harder and you have an up-rated anti roll bar so that will put higher shock loads on the bushes as both the springs and the ARB are less "compliant".

Hope that helps

Neil

[Anees]

Anees

If you measure the wheel arch to wheel centre with the weight of the car on the spring and then jack it up so the wheel is off the ground, measure again you should get a difference or around 30mm. e.g. the distance should be about 30mm more with the car jacked up, it will probably be a bit more because of the lever effect of the wishbone. If that checks out the spring height is about right.

Other cause for knocking could be worn ARB bushes because the springs are harder and you have an up-rated anti roll bar so that will put higher shock loads on the bushes as both the springs and the ARB are less "compliant".

Hope that helps

Neil

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Will do. :D

Regarding the ARB bushes- is it possible to tell they are worn just by looking at them? If they are the cause it is possible to get uprated ones so they don't wear as quickly or should OEM ones be fine? Don't want any that make the ride harder - its almost perfect at the moment.

[joe higgy]

Only a matter of time B4 joe was to say something  :D all down hill now   

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[Mr Morse]

What's this? caption competition time?

Here's mine:

"I know there's a brain cell in there somewhere"

[Anees]

its Hermun Munster!

[Anees]

Anees

If you measure the wheel arch to wheel centre with the weight of the car on the spring and then jack it up so the wheel is off the ground, measure again you should get a difference or around 30mm. e.g. the distance should be about 30mm more with the car jacked up, it will probably be a bit more because of the lever effect of the wishbone. If that checks out the spring height is about right.

Other cause for knocking could be worn ARB bushes because the springs are harder and you have an up-rated anti roll bar so that will put higher shock loads on the bushes as both the springs and the ARB are less "compliant".

Hope that helps

Neil

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Will do. :D

Regarding the ARB bushes- is it possible to tell they are worn just by looking at them? If they are the cause it is possible to get uprated ones so they don't wear as quickly or should OEM ones be fine? Don't want any that make the ride harder - its almost perfect at the moment.

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Been really busy but got chance to pop into a mates garage today as he was closing and hijacked his car jack and a measuring tape to try out Neils suggested at the rear of the car.

With the car on the ground:

Distance Wheel Arch to Wheel Centre: 360mm

With the car jacked up and the wheel off the ground:

Distance Wheel Arch to Wheel Centre: 425mm

I really am clueless at these things but thats a difference of 65mm so can this be a cause of the knocking.

I should also hopefully this week be able to get my antiroll bar bushes checked. Apparently the car has to be put on the ramp and then the roll bars pulled to see if their is any "play" or noise. Couldn't do it today because he was closing and the mechanic had gone to deliver a car.

Anees

[MacRS200]

Anees

On my theory that means the piston is about 30mm too low in the damper cylinder leaving you with not enough upward wheel travel, could be causing knocking.

What you need to do is wind the spring seat up about 30mm, this will lift the piston and car, so shorten the strut by the same amount and you should come back to 360mm with the car on it's wheels. The wheel will then have about 55mm up and 35mm down travel.

Hope that helps and the knocking will be gone :D

[Anees]

Anees

On my theory that means the piston is about 30mm too low in the damper cylinder leaving you with not enough upward wheel travel, could be causing knocking.

What you need to do is wind the spring seat up about 30mm, this will lift the piston and car, so shorten the strut by the same amount and you should come back to 360mm with the car on it's wheels. The wheel will then have about 55mm up and 35mm down travel.

Hope that helps and the knocking will be gone :D

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Sorry to do this to you Neil but I am trying.

What is the piston and strut? Its not in your diagram:

Your explanation makes sense to me in theory. When you say wind the spring seat up does that mean wind it so the car height is increased by 30mm and then I reduce the strut by 30mm to get back to the same height as before?

The spring seat is the top "ring" on the coilover is it?

The strut is the bottom "ring" is it?

Sorry for the annoyingly basic questions.

[MacRS200]

No worries I was getting my terminologies mixed up. Piston is the bit inside the damper cylinder attached to the damper rod, strut is the entire assembly.

The spring seat (as I call it) is the ring immediately below the spring, there is a further lock ring below it. Slightly loosen the lock ring and then wind the spring seat up the damper body till you have a 30mm gap between the lock ring and spring seat. Then wind the lock ring up and tighten against the spring seat using 2 "C" spanners.

This will have the effect of lifting the car 30mm.

So slacken off the bottom lock ring and screw it up the damper cylinder till you have a 30mm gap between the bottom of the lock ring and the top of the bottom mount. Then turn the whole damper cylinder screwing it into the bottom mount till the bottom lock ring contacts the bottom mount and tighten the lock ring using a "C" spanner.

This will drop the car 30mm back to the same height as you started at but with the damper rod and piston 30mm further up in the damper cylinder :D

Hope that makes sense, if not post again or PM me.

Cheers

Neil

[Anees]

You've got the patience of a saint!

I don't think I will attempt to do this unsupervised (who knows what I could end up doing! ) but your explanation is clear now.

Thanks again :D

Anees