megan coilover settings

[1.5]

With my wheels mounted now I am trying to get my fitment and ride height just perfect but I'm running into some issues. I have Megan coilovers and sit on xxr 531 in 15x8 +20 with 195/50/15s

1. My driver rear tire is getting beat up. All of my other tires have little to no rubbing but my rear driver tires is getting so gouged it looks like I could be splitting my sidewall in the future if it keeps up. My fronts are rolled with a slight pull so i can see why those would not rub. The rear passenger side does not even have any wear marks. Both rears are set to springload practically 0 and the stiffness is set to 6 (1 being hardest 32 being softest).

2. In the fronts I use the spacing between the springload collars and the locking nut on the bottom shaft to measure ride height. The passenger side is set to 39mm between and the driver side is set to 42-43mm. However the passenger side has ~ 20 mm between tire and fender, and my driver side has only ~ 5mm. So the passenger side is set lower than the driver side but sits higher??? What is going on here?

I have a theory that both issues are caused by my weight being only on the one side. I rarely drive with a passenger except when my 115lb gf rides in it every now and then. I weigh ~230 lbs right now and could the fact that I only sit on the one side be causing the passenger side to not settle? Is my weight also too much resistance for the damper to rebound against causing my fat ass to push the rear on top of the tire?

Thanks guys.

[DeathBeard]

any pics of the install?

[1.5]

You mean the install or how its set now?

[cali yaris]

Couple of things...

Ride height should be set by fixed points on the car, not how many threads etc. you have on your collars.

Pictures would help a lot.

Assuming you had the car aligned after your install, or after your install and your adjustments, what are your exact alignment settings?

[vten]

I would go to set the drop you want first, put the rear shim , get alignment and if it's still rubbing then you can roll the fender or in my case is the connection between the rear bumper and the lower fender, that needen to be cut a little and hammered flat.

[1.5]

OK I will get some pics up of how I'm set up now.

Garm regarding the measurements, the heights of each coilover from left to right can be at different heights while the actual ride height of the car would be the same?

No alignment. Would an alignment effect ride height? I guess it could explain the one tire rubbing. Don't know why I didn't think of that lol.

Yeah Tan I guess I can't really complain when there are so many variables possibly out of spec. I do need to shave that bracket it rubs the fronts on hard turns. Might go with a bumper quick release.

[vten]

here's my alignment spec...

when I first put my xxr wheels on , it stuck out like a 4x4 , but after the camber bolt installed and the alignment done , it tucked in slightly ....no front fender mod done

good luck 1.5 ! ( i dont remember your name ...I feel bad :D)

[1.5]

Phil, but I'm getting my alarm and alignment done this week. Hopefully that fixes my issue.

[1.5]

So I took the yaris in for an alignment and still have some questions.

I had the ingalls ez camber bolts installed and an alignment done. The ingalls bolts I believe go up to -1.75 however the tech installed them and told me they maxed out at -1.18 on driver side and -1.13 on passenger. He said the spindle was touching the shock body and he could not set them any further. I even had him remove the bolts and reinstall them and paid for the additional labor time for him to do so??

On the rears the tech told me he could no make any adjustments. I get that camber/toe would need shims but he said the rears can't even be aligned and that dropping the car and mounting wheels barely effect the alignment. I though alignment could always be adjusted???

I want to know if this is accurate information and if not, what is the real story?

Also I continue to have rubbing on only my rear driver's side tire but none of the others??

Top numbers are front, bottom numbers are rear

48137

[cali yaris]

He said the spindle was touching the shock body

Can you get under there and take a picture of that?

I use the same bolts and I can go to -2.5 by rotating them correctly.

Did he offer to oval the holes at all? That's a common technique to get more (mine aren't though).

Why are two tire sizes listed on your report?

[1.5]

Can you get under there and take a picture of that?

I use the same bolts and I can go to -2.5 by rotating them correctly.

Did he offer to oval the holes at all? That's a common technique to get more (mine aren't though).

Why are two tire sizes listed on your report?

I will try and get a picture of the setup once the rain stops. He installed the bolts from the bottom without removing the wheels, Idk if maybe he installed them backwards or upside down lol (no idea what the install looks like or if that is possible)?

He did not offer to drill out the holes at all but it is a service they offer because the guy who made my apointment asked if I needed any drilling done. I had thought no and told him no so maybe that is why they didnt ask.

I have no idea and neither of those are my correct tire size. I am on 195/50/15. I think those sizes are the stock options for a Yaris so maybe that was only the computer identifying the make model and trim?

[cali yaris]

Did he change the upper or lower bolts on the struts?

[1.5]

Upper. He did offer to sell me a second set of camber bolts he had lying around and install those on the bottom but he wanted double what you have the ingalls bolts for so I declined. Plus I want to make sure the top bolt install is correct before I start installing more.

[cali yaris]

Interesting how the numbers changed for the rears even though they didn't adjust anything. Neat way to see the margin for error in their machine, I think.

[1.5]

Yea that stuck out to me too.

I am afraid I may have gotten poor service or an incorrect reading, which means potentially having to get a second alignment done and pay more money for it. :(

Also The descepancy between the left and right rears is so far off?

Do you think I should go to another shop?

I compared my numbers to the printout that Tan posted and we have a lot of similarities like the different readings from left to right and we both have similar toe readings so maybe its the car?

[cali yaris]

Every car is going to be different, and there will be differences from side to side and such -- not sure that detail is critically important.

[DeathBeard]

You mean the install or how its set now?

no as in what you said on page 2
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40291&page=2

[1.5]

sorry I am trying to fix my camera cable right now it has a short so I need to work on that and then my DIY and build thread will be posted.

Sorry for the delay^^^

[xnamerxx]

With crash bolts I only got -1.5 and I needed to slot the holes to get an additional -1.5. Your neg camber can also vary depending on how much you've lowered the car as well so if Garm's lowered 3" hes going to be pretty deep into his camber curve whereas if you've only dropped an inch you won't have much camber gain. Remember suspension travels on a slight arc.

The right left readings will always be there because there is always tolerances built into everything. The .3 difference is meaningless and isn't even noticeable in most applications.

As for your rubbing you have +20 offset wheels that are 8" wide and with the relatively light spring rate in the rear with the megans and possibly a car that's been lowered to far you'll get rubbing when you hit a bump or turn hard or even have a few heavy passengers in the back.

[1.5]

As far as my drop I am slammed pretty low with about <4" of ground clearance. So by your information I should be able to get more camber gain.

As for my wheel/tire size, I understand I can rub on turns or on big dips, but this is only the rear driver side that rubs. The passenger side does not rub at all. I am also gutted so there is no one in the back. With the stock megan coilovers I have the stiffness now set at 4 (1 being hardest 32 being softest) and I still rub that one tire. If my tire/wheel size was an issue, both sides should rub.

I am getting skinnier tires to stretch on, adding shims to apply neg camber to the rear to tuck them into the fenders, and get some higher rate springs.

No one seems to know why only one tire would rub though?

[xnamerxx]

Your wheels are to wide with too little offset. Its not a tire issue is a wheel issue. Your offset should really be in a 40+ range for those wheels and at +20 they are going to stick out to much.

Shock stiffness doesn't equal spring stiffness, your rear springs are 170/" which means for every inch they compress their holding 170 lbs so your body weight will compress the spring slightly when you get in the car. But your weight gets distributed between the 4 wheels but more so on the drivers side so your likely compressing the spring 1/2" just by being in the car and when you hit a bump the force compressing the spring can be many many hundreds of lbs even with a shock set to uber stiff the spring will still compress. So what does this all mean you ask?

To fix your problems you need to do fix the problem
1)Raise the ride height so the wheel no longer contacts the body or
2)Get way stiffer springs so the wheel can no longer compress enough to contact the body
3)Get narrower wheels that tuck within the fenderwell and cannot contact the body

[1.5]

To fix my problems I am getting stiffer springs, skinnier tires, and shims.

I was just inquiring as to if it is the low offset wheels why is it only one side?

I WILL NOT change wheel sizes. Unless going even lower. I am not concerned with why wheels rub only why it is only one side.

[xnamerxx]

To answer your question again. Its not just one reason but the main reasons why its happening is because you have low offset wheels, are heavy, have soft springs, and are lowered to much.

So to dumb things down when you sit in the car your weight gets distributed between the 4 wheels into something like this

60lbs|50lbs
80lbs|40lbs

So what happens is that one rear wheel has to bare an extra amount of weight and the more weight that wheel has to bare the more it sags so now you have one corner of the car that sags more than the others when you drive around and when you hit bumps and dips it rubs because of just that little bit extra weight on it.

So like I said before to fix the problem pick one of the 3.

[1.5]

So to dumb things down when you sit in the car your weight gets distributed between the 4 wheels into something like this

60lbs|50lbs
80lbs|40lbs

So what happens is that one rear wheel has to bare an extra amount of weight and the more weight that wheel has to bare the more it sags so now you have one corner of the car that sags more than the others when you drive around and when you hit bumps and dips it rubs because of just that little bit extra weight on it.

So like I said before to fix the problem pick one of the 3.


That's exactly the information I was looking for thank you!

It clearly explains with my weight vs the different spring rates combined with my sitting position causes different scenarios for each corner.

[1.5]

Garm you asked for pics of the camber bolt and the spindle touching the shock body, I got under the car and took pictures but I don't show them touching at all... was I just lied to? In the last two pics you can see there appears to be space between the two.

48216

48217

48218

48219

[DeathBeard]

so any news on your camera cable? I want to get these coilovers but confused as to what oem parts I am going to be transfering over to the megans? All the current diy's don't shed any light on this and the instructions from megan seem abysmal at best

[DeathBeard]

With crash bolts I only got -1.5 and I needed to slot the holes to get an additional -1.5. Your neg camber can also vary depending on how much you've lowered the car as well so if Garm's lowered 3" hes going to be pretty deep into his camber curve whereas if you've only dropped an inch you won't have much camber gain. Remember suspension travels on a slight arc.

The right left readings will always be there because there is always tolerances built into everything. The .3 difference is meaningless and isn't even noticeable in most applications.

As for your rubbing you have +20 offset wheels that are 8" wide and with the relatively light spring rate in the rear with the megans and possibly a car that's been lowered to far you'll get rubbing when you hit a bump or turn hard or even have a few heavy passengers in the back.



did you use a 7/16 drill bit to slot the struts? I'm assuming you used the top hole?

[xnamerxx]

did you use a 7/16 drill bit to slot the struts? I'm assuming you used the top hole?

I used a die grinder and a carbide bit but I couldn't tell you the size it was just something I grabbed from the shop. I slotted it out to the edge mark of the bolt on the upper bolt hole it give you an idea of how far I went out.

A drill bit would make the job take quite a bit more time FYI since most of the shocks are thick DOM.

[1.5]

I did get my new card reader for Pro duo cards so I will make the diy soon.

I did not slot the struts I only installed the bolts to the standard holes.

[DeathBeard]

awesome thank you..Yarisworld seriously needs a good DIY on these coilovers

[1.5]

LOL yes I will try to do this tomorrow and get it up soon. Should be a slow day at work for me.

[DeathBeard]

Hopefully Barber doesn't mind, but this is the only real picture I could find anywhere on the coilovers..Confusing because my understanding is your supposed to remove the strut bearing (round metal thing under his index finger) and press it into the red top plate provided by megan and then the rubber doughnut, your supposed to toss the black oem top plate and not reuse it?

[1.5]

Yea you do reuse the stock bolt he may have just put that one on from the other side to make a comparison. The red tophat is also used maybe he just forgot it in this pic. I think the rears have an even larger size difference. So much so, the megan coilover springs set to the highest height are still too short to say in place with the stock struts on.

[xnamerxx]

did you use a 7/16 drill bit to slot the struts? I'm assuming you used the top hole?

By top hole I assume you mean the upper of the 2 bolts that secure the strut to upright not the upper bolt hole that secures the strut to the chassis.

[DeathBeard]

yes like this

[DeathBeard]

I used a die grinder and a carbide bit but I couldn't tell you the size it was just something I grabbed from the shop. I slotted it out to the edge mark of the bolt on the upper bolt hole it give you an idea of how far I went out.

A drill bit would make the job take quite a bit more time FYI since most of the shocks are thick DOM.

is your die grinder hooked up to air? i dont have access to a compressor

[DeathBeard]

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=562723

[xnamerxx]

The die grinder was pneumatic but a dremel works as well its just slower. I wouldn't use a drill only because it'll take a really long time.

If you look at his picture the only thing you actually need is the silver piece it pops right off the mount that silver piece is the actual bearing the black piece is the spring support which isn't be needed.

[DeathBeard]

Ok so take the "silver piece" press it into the red top plate provided by megan put the stock black donut on and install? The thing confusing me was if we had to reuse the top oem black springplate or not