Warpig

My rear setup was off too in my C2 and I was absolutely TERRIFIED to drive the car in the rain it was so bad. The car was completely unpredictable. Her *** was all over the place. it was like driving on dull ice skates. I was even MORE TERRIFIED to try and pull off onto the side of the road and stop. The car was also eating rear tires. I went through a nearly new set when I bought the car in about 4K miles.

New Bilstein HD's corner balance and alignment and the car is a completely different animal. Not sure about the tire wear issue yet. I put new ones on and have about 1K on them and they seem to be doing well so far. I'll know more come end of summer 2010.

Nick

C4S993

Thanks Nick, I am sure my alignment is way off.

My local P-dealer wants $200 to 4 wheel align my 1996 C4S, I have paid it twice before there and would gladly pay it again if only I could get more than 6k miles on the rear tires. I went to NTB and got 10k with hardly any wear showing (rears) so far. But now that I replaced the shocks all around, I need it set up right. I actually wanted to get rid of the car a year ago due to the scary nature of it in rain, the rear wants to go places I don't (guard rails etc). I could use NTB this week to get it close and then drive to a larger city (80 miles) that would have a pro that could get it perfect.

If the NTB "guru' lacks the special Kinematic tool I can buy it for $175 from the source noted above by Canysmc.

Bob: I was thinking about why you got the required rear drop link clearance and not I (until I raised the shock's Perch out of specs up another 10MM). The only variable I can think of is that I may have over wrenched the upper shock's large nut and inadvertenly lowered the car in the process ? I have quite a bit of threads showing on those two rear nuts and thus I may have compressed the shocks to a point that I lowered the car ? What do you think of the instructions that came with the PSS10 kit, regarding that rear range of 195mm to 210mm ?

BTW: I took it off "Soft"-1 setting and put them on 10-"Sport" in the hopes the "Soft" bounce will not cause the drop links to hit the Toe Arm.

Patrick
1996 C4S

boulderbobo

Patrick, man I don't recall any way to adjust the height of the shock perch (top) front or rear. I did my install over a year ago so I am a little foggy on the exact details. I do recall that the on rears and maybe the fronts the installation guide requires you to use some of the oem parts but not all of them.

Make sure you followed the assembly directions closely.

The only thing I can think of is that possibly you assembled things incorrectly and in turn the shock is sitting lower than intended.

If you over torqued the bolts (4 - 13 mm), you would know it. They would break.

I don't think that clearance between the drop link and the toe arm changes much. If you have good clearance unloaded you should be good to go.

I'm pretty sure that the PSS10s go from 1 to 10. 1 being the softest and 10 firm. I run mine at 4 in the front and 5 in the rear.



Bob-

C4S993

Bob, I didn't mean the small 13mm nuts, I meant the large single 18mm upper shock nut (rears) and by over wrenching it I may have compressed the springs further (at the shock top "hat") and actually lowered the height regardless of that noted Bilstein range of 195mm-210mm noted in their instructions.

Patrick

boulderbobo

Patrick, as I recall, that nut is torqued with the shock/strut assembly off the car. If you torqued it to its specs it should be right.

Are you confident on the assembly?



Bob-

C4S993

Bob: I am 100% sure the shocks were put together right, I even bought new "hats" for the rears as the original ones were ratty looking. I wrenched the rear nuts with the shocks off the car and put the 13mm nuts at 30-ish pounds/foot. I suspect you did not use the instructions regarding that 195mm-210mm range and I should have ignored them as well (as far as setting the ride height). I will call Bilsten later today and ask them why they use that range in the first place as it is really the resultant height that matters.

Patrick

MarkD

As Bob said, be sure your assembly matches the Bilstein diagram exactly. Sounds like you are sure... but we saw an example here where a shop didn't do it correctly and it caused a problem.

There is no way tightening the top hat nut can change the ride height. It needs to be tight and torqued. Once it is, that is it.

The price you saw on the Kinematic Toe tool is in Euros, so the actual price is roughly double that.
Having the tool is one thing, the tech needs to know what to do with it.

The dampener setting will not change the ride height.

Lastly, I wouldn't get too hung up on what Bilstein published in their doc. Set the car at the desired height and you are good to go.
Great job hanging in there and sorting this out!
Next time we install a PSS10 setup I am going to measure just for fun. You've got me curious

C4S993

Hi MARK ET AL.,

"The dampener setting will not change the ride height": dO YOU MEAN THE SHOCK'S TOP HAT 18MM HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RIDE HEIGHT >?

I called Bilstein, East and West Coast, but they are not there, early 2010 let out.

I just backed it out of the garage and I felt no more metal to metal sounds so I guess I am ok as far as clearance between the rear drop luinks and the lower Toe Arm.

I did a Euro to USA$ conversion and I came up with $175 for that special Kinematic tool.

If I bring it (Kinematic tool) to the NTB "guru" I am almost sure he could make sense of it.

I will know more Friday.

I measured everything, original stock versus PSS10 stuff, and I ended up having to go out of Bilstein specs to yield the right clearances.

Patrick

boulderbobo

Thank you Mark for the assistance. I was starting to feel a little out of my league.



Bob-

MarkD

No, the dampener setting is the **** at the bottom.

You said "BTW: I took it off "Soft"-1 setting and put them on 10-"Sport" in the hopes the "Soft" bounce will not cause the drop links to hit the Toe Arm." and I may have misunderstood what you were trying to do by setting it to 10.


The top hat nut needs to be torqued to spec. There is no adjustment at the top.

Sounds like you are good to go.

steve porter

]hi guys another way around the ride heght /drop link position setting for H.D.Shocks is to order another 4 lock rings from bilstein , they only just fit but set the drop link bracket right down so that the link is lined up with the shock when compressed and independently set the ride height pretty well spot on. my car is fitted with H&R lowering springs. If i can work out how to do it i will post a pic of finished ride height steve

C4S993

Steve: The PSS10 kit comes with three lock collars for the rear (each shock) and two lock collars for the front (each shock). For the rears, two lock collars lock the springs into position (ride height) and the 3rd lock collar locks the Drop Link Perch into position. The PSS10 also comes with new rear Drop Links that are shorter than the originals in order to allow even lower ride height on the rears and to allow for the lower than stock actual Perch Height (relative to the shock's body).

Patrick

steve porter

sorry patrick. the original post at the start said H.D. but that was another member.
regards steve

pcarhombre

Great going guys! While I would rather perform circumcision on myself before I would attempt something like this, its great to see others do it and succeed Ok Nick, give us some impressions of the ride with the new HD's. TIA

Nollie

lol wow that's an unpleasant mental image