Those of you with megan coilovers please chime in

[1.5]

nice find.

There seems to be the never ending disagreement between how to properly set shock body length. I have heard from a few suspension gurus on my civic forums and from Jeff @ MI and they agree that shortening the shock body too much reduces the amount of available droop. Doing this causes the shock piston to "top out" and this is what is causing all of us to blow the top o ring.

Now there are those like Seth and Jason who say that we need to shorten our shocks more and customize them to be even shorter. This again is going to cause the shock to "top out."

I don't know if there is a "sweet spot" or if you guys are just lucky your shocks have not yet blown, or if it also is due to our respective terrain but why such the disconnect?

[seth_man]

the upper seal being "shocked" by the valve stack hitting the upper cap seems very unlikely to me, the valve stack has a "shock absorber" or "bump stop" built in, between the valve stack and the top cap is a rubber disc to stop contact and dampen the movement when the shock is fully extended.

The top cap is to the left, in the center is the "bump stop" and to the right is the valve stack.





IMO the biggest problem with all the cheap coilovers is material quality, every leaking or "blown" set i have seen has had the same problem, poor quality plating on the shafts. the chrome comes off and dirt gets into the top seal destroying the seal and letting all the oil leak out every time the shock is extended. this particular megan shock has fairly low miles on it, 15,000 ish. the chrome flaked off the shaft and that was the end of it.

[Jason@SportsCar]

Originally Posted by 1.5

nice find.

There seems to be the never ending disagreement between how to properly set shock body length. I have heard from a few suspension gurus on my civic forums and from Jeff @ MI and they agree that shortening the shock body too much reduces the amount of available droop. Doing this causes the shock piston to "top out" and this is what is causing all of us to blow the top o ring.

Now there are those like Seth and Jason who say that we need to shorten our shocks more and customize them to be even shorter. This again is going to cause the shock to "top out."

I don't know if there is a "sweet spot" or if you guys are just lucky your shocks have not yet blown, or if it also is due to our respective terrain but why such the disconnect?

If your shocks are failing due to lack of droop that is a quality issue. Don't use cheap parts and save the droop for the off-road guys.