Fletchiepoo

I installed some lowering springs, struts and hotpart mounts up front. Before i put the new springs in i couldn't get the A-Arm up high enough to thread the nut on the strut rod. It would just lift the car so i put the drop springs in and got it mounted but now im scraping the plastic air scoop from hairline cracks in the road. It's a little lower than i was expecting, could the spring isolators be the reason? They are supposedly a 1.2" drop, and if I were to put the stock springs back in is there a special trick to getting the strut to mount with raised mounts?

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't call it a "special trick" exactly; but, the thing you do it with is, a spring compressor.

Fletchiepoo

I used a spring compressor, got the spring in and indexed good then started jacking. I removed the compressors before i used the jack at the end of the a-arm to lift the arm and try to get the nut on. I also tried it on the other side WITH the compressors still on and got the same result. I was thinking of just going to a machine shop to get a long nut with male and female threads to extend the strut rod and return to stock height springs. Am I missing something?

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

Many things wrong here.

Front insulators dont affect the ride height, they are very thin and just for noise reduction. With the aftermarket strut mounts you cannot reuse the factory plastic strut covers, sounds like you may have.

There should have been no reason you couldn't get the strut nuts on wi th the stock springs, most likely the strut shaft was binding in the bearing a little and would slide through all the way.

What lowering springs did you use? These cars have a long nose and will scrape in driveways and such, but taking the turns slowly and at a different angle this will be kept to a minimum.

Fletchiepoo

I just wrapped the top coils in electrical tape instead of insulators (I saw it on here somewhere). Also I didnt re-use anything from the original setup. With the stock spring the top of the threaded part of the rod wouldnt even reach the mount, it barely cleared past the fender wall. The lowering springs were Vogtland, I believe i got them from hotpart, it didnt say on the site how much of a drop it was so i just emailed them and they got back to me quick which was nice. Im off to work, ill jump back on here when i get home, thanks for the replies!

plum92_camaro

I second the comment on make sure you removed the factory strut dust cover, they don't fit with aftermarket stuff. I used rubber accordion style strut dust covers like the baja trucks use. Remember that Hotpart.com/J&M products strut mounts are raised 1" to help the strut stay in its ideal range on lowered vehicles. I have them on my car.

Are Vogtland springs the ones that compress creating multiple dead coils? I was not impressed with that style.

First time I've heard that. I've seen many posts claiming that adding or removing the isolators can change ride height up to 1/2". Yes, they are thin but even 1/8" is something.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

They are pretty thin, probably 1/4" at best. Then once the cars weight is on them and they compress and squish out, its half that at most. Then figure the location of the spring vs the location of the ball joint and figure the actual drop, and you get nothing measurable.

Most people wrap the top of the spring with heater hose to deal with squeaking and such instead of messing with replacing the stock rubber piece.

plum92_camaro

Correct me if i'm wrong but if you add or subtract(isolators) 1/8" from the spring in the center of the lever (a-arm) the amount would be greater at the end of the lever. This would explain the claims of greater amounts of change.