So now you are the coolest car owner since you have coilovers spring which improves the handling of a car, they prevent the chassis from bottoming out, and they also mitigate or reduce body roll when taking turns and cornering, especially when you are driving at higher speeds. However you got them because they are adjustable, and you would love to use them accordingly. Before you go about adjusting them, you need to know these common mistakes car enthusiasts make when adjusting coilovers.

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Adjusting the ride height by the coilover’s base

Many coilovers allow you to adjust the ride height in two ways: by compressing or uncompressing the spring by way of a pair of jam nuts at the spring perch(which will alter preload) or by threading the shock’s base up or down(which will alter shock travel). Every spring should be subjected to at least some preload. It’s what keeps them from flopping around when fully extended. Preload won’t change your spring rate, and when applied conservatively, it won’t affect handling.

Adjusting the ride height by the way of shock bases is problematic though; since you won’t have the droop travel and suspension travel; which is what’s keeping the tires planted on the road and gives you maximum grip. If you adjust the ride height by threading the coilover base you are shortening the shock body, and hence you’re taking away precious suspension travel.

When you shorten shock body length, you’re also increasing bump travel, which means the bump stop now can’t do its job properly. This also means that the suspension can potentially bottom out on shock towers [and] wheel wells. If you shock the body enough, you’ll also prematurely wear things out like ball joints, bushings, even CV joints.

Not Using the Adjustment Features

Another common mistake is not using the adjustment features that coilovers are built with to help you to dial them in. Coilovers have knobs, turntables, and dials, that are supposed to help you dial in your fitment. There are features like adjustable dampers, which control the sensitivity in response to the overall suspension movement through the passing of hydraulic fluid. There are also features to adjust compression, rebound, or both depending on what coilovers you invest in. Your adjustable spring load allows you to change how much compression is needed to get the spring to travel depending on the type of coilover you have. Then you have your threaded bodies for your overall height.

When you’re dialing in fitment, it’s important to use those tools. Dialing in coilovers allows you to make your car look gorgeous without sacrificing drivability. However, if you don’t use the dialing-in tools and rush things, it’s gonna look good but perform horribly.

Not Accounting for Suspension Rest

Once you’ve gone through and dialed in your fitment, torque to spec your camber plates and control arms, and you finally think you have it seated properly, don’t forget that you need to account for suspension rest. The suspension will rest anywhere from 5 to 10 millimeters after you’ve swapped to coilovers and a few millimeters more just within dialing in your fitment depending on what you’re doing to it. If you put different wheels and tires on, it’s gonna change if you end up adjusting your coilovers again. If you go hard with perfect fitment the first time around you’ll end up smashing your wheel/tire, into your fender.

Using the Locking Collar for Adjustment

The most common mistake people seem to make when they’re adjusting their coilovers is using their locking collar on their coilovers as a height adjustment tool. Using the locking collar as a height adjustment is not really what you’re supposed to do, try to stay away from the collar if you have progressive springs, and lower threaded bodies. It’s important to remember that while you can use the locking collar to adjust ride height minutely, on a linear spring rate, you don’t really wanna do that if your coilover has other, more purposeful adjustments meant specifically for overall height.

It is important that coilovers are adjusted and set correctly since not doing so results in handling and performance issues. Avoid these mistakes at all costs when adjusting your coilovers so that you do not have to deal with the handling issues that come with incorrect adjustment.