Dave Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 4 hours ago, burbleboy said: Nice that DD has been oot again! Calipers are the scurge of Honda My Accord sat for 10 days and o/s/f caliper sticking slightly. Freed off and all ok. But i had washed the car then parked it up for the 10 days so that was likely the reason. Still pish. Back driving it until sold to keep 'fresh'. My dad ain't complaining as he has my BMW! (my dad is 72 and a petrol/diesel head) Ref coilovers on DD. Standard suspension is just too crappy IMO. Raise her again slightly and find the happy medium. Even raise to standard height and stiffen to give some feel at least? Shame to de-modify her just for a few scrapes during a few hundred miles a year.....just my 2p worth! Haha, same as my Dad. It was because of him I got so into cars, used to love watching him fix them when I was a kid. He did everything, mechanics, welding (he was a professional welder to trade for the NCB!) bodywork etc. Used to repair other peoples cars too. Hence why I've loved cars all my life. Bet your dad is loving "playing" with the BMW! And I thought it was you I saw drifting it round that roundabout the other day.....lmao Get what you say about the coilovers mate, I'm just kinda stuck with what to do. They are up as high as they can go,just can't seem to get the balance I want. Like I say, all we do is cruise in DD now, so handling isn't really a priority. Just want her to be as comfy over the bumps as she can be and no more scraping. Gonna see a guy I know who has a wee garage with a 4 post ramp so I can get her up and have a good look underneath. Hoping to get the underneath all re-undersealed to keep her good. Would adjusting the springs maybe help, as they are just set as they came from MeisterR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burbleboy Posted June 9, 2018 Share Posted June 9, 2018 Ive always been into cars when younger but my dad was never good with fixing them, only driving them fast etc! That's what got me hooked also! You can adjust the actual spring to make softer/higher if you wanted. The added benefits of being totally adjustable. Nut under spring. Done that with my civic, tinkered until i got my perfect setup. Im sure a garage that knows suspension will be able to do this....i certainly learnt alot through a decent garage (took me three attempts to find one that knew what they were doing). I dont see how DD can be bottoming out on certain roads, my civic was low but never really scrapped the road, except the undertray, on memorial run up that mountain as an example. Just take the slight scraping as part of the modification world, im sure the damage would be minimal. If you seriously cant handle it (being old and brittal...you not the car) then choose decent roads!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 10 hours ago, burbleboy said: Ive always been into cars when younger but my dad was never good with fixing them, only driving them fast etc! That's what got me hooked also! You can adjust the actual spring to make softer/higher if you wanted. The added benefits of being totally adjustable. Nut under spring. Done that with my civic, tinkered until i got my perfect setup. Im sure a garage that knows suspension will be able to do this....i certainly learnt alot through a decent garage (took me three attempts to find one that knew what they were doing). I dont see how DD can be bottoming out on certain roads, my civic was low but never really scrapped the road, except the undertray, on memorial run up that mountain as an example. Just take the slight scraping as part of the modification world, im sure the damage would be minimal. If you seriously cant handle it (being old and brittal...you not the car) then choose decent roads!!!!!!!!!! Ah, so maybe uncompressing the springs (not sure of the term) would soften the ride and allow the shocks to be set stiffer? So would avoid the front end diving, but keep the ride comfy? Don't think there's anywhere around here that would have a clue on setting the suspension up mate so may need to look further afield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 Just back from another wee run in DD and had the strangest thing happen! As she got really dirty during the run last week, she got left like that in the garage. So took her to a good car wash near here (I know, cardinal sin and goes against what I usually do which is always handwash her. But I've been ill again since Thursday so not got the energy to do that at the moment). We were half way through, and Gayle screamed "There's water dripping onto my feet!" . I thought instantle it was the drain tubes are blocked, and as the car windows were misting up realy badly put the fan on full blast (to the windscreen) with the aircon on. Didn't seem to clear it at all, and Gayle said the fan was still blowing at her feet. Checked (still halfway through the car wash at this point!) and it felt like either the pipework for the vents or the cover for where the pollen filter sits had popped open. Could feel the air being blown out through it. quickly clicked it shut and water stopped and windscreen cleared quickly. A fair old bit of water had got in though and soaked Gayle and the car mat. Took it our once were were out of there and luckily the carpet underneath the mat was bone dry (just shows the quality of oem Honda civic Mats!) so now got the mat outside drying off. Never had this happen before so not sure what had popped open or why. Again, as I'm not well at the moment, couldn't really check any further today but will have a look once I'm better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burbleboy Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 8 hours ago, Dave said: Ah, so maybe uncompressing the springs (not sure of the term) would soften the ride and allow the shocks to be set stiffer? So would avoid the front end diving, but keep the ride comfy? Don't think there's anywhere around here that would have a clue on setting the suspension up mate so may need to look further afield. Spring pre-load mate. I can't remember exactly, but fairly sure that if you make spring longer (turn spring nut downwards) it softens spring but actually lowers it I'm sure. I was surprised when it happened. So you may need to raise it again once spring is 'unloaded' slightly. Strange for water ingress mate during the wash! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gel Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 As an old boy that likes his comfort I'd recommend you go back to stock springs and uprated shocks......selling the Meisters means you can fund the new callipers without the open wallet surgery. Your severe ingress of water should be easy enough to resolve whereas minor leaks are a pig to trace....so good luck on that score. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 7 hours ago, Gel said: As an old boy that likes his comfort I'd recommend you go back to stock springs and uprated shocks......selling the Meisters means you can fund the new callipers without the open wallet surgery. Your severe ingress of water should be easy enough to resolve whereas minor leaks are a pig to trace....so good luck on that score. Now hadn't thought of that, would save me loads! Yeah, I'm with you on the comfort side of things Gerry, although not really looking forward to stripping the suspension all off again. Mind you, was going to renew the trailing arms etc so would make sense to swap in the oem suspension at the same time. Want to fit a new set of tyres at some point too, cos although the tread is fine on the current ones (think they're Perreli or Michelins) the tyres areover 5 years old now so have slight concerns about degredation. Suppose the sale of the Meister's would help with that too. Water ingress stopped after clipping whatever it was back in place so hoping nothing more to do on that front. Just found it a bit strange that it happened, never come across water coming in there before on any of my previous Civic M's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gel Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 My car has healthy stock springs and dampers but no ARB so handles like a boat......doesn't worry me because I rarely get past 40/50 mph here in congested London. If sedate cruising is the norm from now on who cares about pin sharp handling ? Once your car is back to standard ride height and general spec you'll find it'll get a lot of attention from the purist brigade. He he I'm no different when it comes to tyres i.e. I'm about to replace my rear tyres for the exact same reason as you. Look after DD ....she's worth it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krzys Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 As Al said, wind off the spring preload to zero, usually set at something like 5 or 10mm and you'll also need to adjust the height to compensate. Not forgetting the damping adjustments you can make too. Shame to swap suspension for once or twice a year because you're getting too old for it @Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted June 12, 2018 Share Posted June 12, 2018 6 hours ago, Krzys said: As Al said, wind off the spring preload to zero, usually set at something like 5 or 10mm and you'll also need to adjust the height to compensate. Not forgetting the damping adjustments you can make too. Shame to swap suspension for once or twice a year because you're getting too old for it @Dave So if I wind out the springs, will I need to adjust the height higher or lower? think the way they are just now, they are probably set as high as they can go? With the springs unwound, will I need to then stiffen the dampers or should they be fine with what they are just now? Never mucked about with the springs before so want to make sure I don't faff it up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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