TRD Suspension Install - What am I missing?!

[turblown]

2010 Yaris Sedan

Hello all. Thanks in advance for your help. I installed TRD Lowering Springs (PTR11-52070) and TRD Shocks (PTR04-52061) this past weekend. I test drove it and have been driving it all week with no issues. I just went to tighten everything down before I put the windshield cowl back on and noticed a gap that was not there with the old springs/shocks:



This is what it looks like for both front shocks. The nuts are tight on top. If I jack up the front of the car the gap gets smaller. My fear is that I will go over a large bump and get total movement of the shock assembly. I took a few pictures of the old shock assembly and the new shock assembly during the install. Unfortunately I cannot see any difference from the pictures.





So, like the title of the thread states, What am I missing?

Did I get the wrong parts or install incorrectly? I was vary careful to keep all of the old shock assembly parts in order when transferring to the new assembly. It's as if the metal plate (more like a cup) that sits on top of the shock assembly in the engine bay should be dipping down into something, but is not able to.

The only thing I can think of is that I did not use a spring compressor for assembly of the new spring on the new shock (only disassembly of the old one) as it was not needed to get the nut on there. Would this cause the nut holding the assembly together to not be able to go low enough to clear this gap? That is my theory at this point, but I would like to get everyone's opinion before I take everything back apart. Thanks.