BC Coilover Setup: Compression/Rebound Settings, Ride Height Adjustment, Camber, Etc.

[Ferdball]

I thought 30 was the hardest setting

Check post #130.

 

[RichB]

Ahhhh ok. I found what you meant in post 120.

When people post their settings I believe they are using the convention that 0 is full soft. I have seen posted 8F/ 8R for daily driving and 16F/26R for the track. If they were using the convention posted in post 120 it wouldn't make sense to me.

 

[mrjoshyman]

yeah, so there still seems to be some confusion over the settings? i have mine set at 12F, 15R according to the manual. whats the deal?

ok, so i didn't do the install on these myself but i'd like to raise my front a little bit.

once the front wheels are off you see this:

what exactly am i going to want to do 2 change the height? i imagine it has something to do with the lowest collar, but a detailed response would make me feel much more confident then just going at it and messing something up

 

[Wastegate13]

yeah, so there still seems to be some confusion over the settings? i have mine set at 12F, 15R according to the manual. whats the deal?

ok, so i didn't do the install on these myself but i'd like to raise my front a little bit.

once the front wheels are off you see this:

what exactly am i going to want to do 2 change the height? i imagine it has something to do with the lowest collar, but a detailed response would make me feel much more confident then just going at it and messing something up

The fronts are super easy. The lowest collar is the height adjustment collar. Simply loosen it, then turn the shock body to your desired height and retighten the collar. Done.

 

[Ferdball]

To raise or lower the front, you will need to turn the bottom part that has the BC sticker on it. To do that, you'll need to unbolt the ABS sensor bracket and the brake line bracket. Then there is a bolt holding a collar tight around the bottom of the strut. Loosen that and lower the hub/suspension. Then rotate the bottom part of the strut. 7 times is about a 1/4". Repeat on the other side.

 

[CHIEFSMS3]

Ferdball you are not correct with that information.
You either have not changed the front height or you spent a whole lot of time doing stuff you didn't need to do.
Wastegate is telling you the correct way to change the height on the front.

 

[Ferdball]

you're right, you don't need to undo the lines.

 

[mrjoshyman]

The fronts are super easy. The lowest collar is the height adjustment collar. Simply loosen it, then turn the shock body to your desired height and retighten the collar. Done.

so the "shock body" is the threaded piece, i just did the driver side without much issue.

the passenger side im having trouble gripping onto the shock body, it seems like just the spring is spinning. i think it could have something to do with the fact that i originally had the front ride height set so that nearly all 3 collars were touching...basically had about 2mm between the bottom 1 and the top 2. (turn counter clockwise to increase ride height, correct?)

any recommendations on how to get the shock body to move or any other ways of adjusting the front ride height?

 

[mrjoshyman]

To raise or lower the front, you will need to turn the bottom part that has the BC sticker on it. To do that, you'll need to unbolt the ABS sensor bracket and the brake line bracket. Then there is a bolt holding a collar tight around the bottom of the strut. Loosen that and lower the hub/suspension. Then rotate the bottom part of the strut. 7 times is about a 1/4". Repeat on the other side.

by lower the hub/suspension do u mean take the whole strut out of the support its in? ie bang the s*** out if with a hammer so that the strut is completely out?

can't do it if u just loosen that piece up?

 

[RichB]

alright, what wastegate was trying to tell you was to loosen the bottom ring. That ring is the locking ring for the shock body height adjustment. Once you have that ring loose you rotate the threaded part of the shock body to either go up or down to increase or lower the ride height. You should not have to unbolt anything else since the threaded shock body is independent of the part that connects to the strut support arm.

 

[mrjoshyman]

alright, what wastegate was trying to tell you was to loosen the bottom ring. That ring is the locking ring for the shock body height adjustment. Once you have that ring loose you rotate the threaded part of the shock body to either go up or down to increase or lower the ride height. You should not have to unbolt anything else since the threaded shock body is independent of the part that connects to the strut support arm.

I know, I did that on the drivers side without much issue. On the passenger side I can't get the shock body to move, I loosen the lower ring but it won't move, I'm only able to move the spring. I basically had the height adjusted all the way down so I'm only able to loosen the lowest ring a little bit before it hits the top rings. Any suggestions?

as you can see, i dont have much room to loosen the bottom ring:

 

[RichB]

so your saying that both drivers side and passenger side are at the same height setting but the rings on the passenger side are that bunched?

something has got to be wrong! Both sides should look similar.

 

[Ferdball]

Okay, this was the first time ever that I did this, so I may need some clarification too. I thought to change the height you had to spin the bottom portion.

Are you saying you could just grab the threaded part and spin that? With the top perch tight and the bottom part still bolted?

 

[mrjoshyman]

Okay, this was the first time ever that I did this, so I may need some clarification too. I thought to change the height you had to spin the bottom portion.

Are you saying you could just grab the threaded part and spin that? With the top perch tight and the bottom part still bolted?

yup, thats how its supposed to work. it took me about 2 min to do on the driver side...now only if the passenger side would budge...

so your saying that both drivers side and passenger side are at the same height setting but the rings on the passenger side are that bunched?

something has got to be wrong! Both sides should look similar.

No, no. Both originally looked like that, I was able to loosen the ring on the driver side and then turn the shock body. The picture is of the left side, showing that I don't have much room to loosen the ring/much to grip on to, and when i try to rotate the shock body the only thing that moves is the spring, the shock body itself wont move @ all. I gave up for the night and put the drivers side back to the same height as the passenger side. i just cant get the dang passenger side shock body to rotate

 

[RichB]

ah ok I see what your saying now.

A trick that might work is if you are trying to move the threaded body up try turning that middle ring in the up direction. It shouldn't move from it's position on the threaded body due to the top ring, but it will do the same as grabbing the threaded body and rotating it up.

If you wanted to use this method to go down you would rotate the top ring in that direction. It shouldn't move relative to the threaded body either but do the same as grabbing and rotating it down.

Does any of this make sense?

 

[CHIEFSMS3]

So, I got some new info today from BC. We covered everything I had questions on.

Rear configuration/ride height/preload adjustment:

Ok so as far as ride height, the lowest they are intended to drop the MS3 is about even with the stock tires. Some may like it, other may want more. If more drop is needed you can remove the lower collar and basically just have the spring sit on the perch and plastic washer. This will drop the rear about 1/2" more.

Rear preload is set pretty specifically. You have to unbolt both the spring perch and lower shock mount. Once everything is unbolted and loose you position the spring collar at your desired height and assemble the collar/spring/donut in the spring perches. Using a jack you compress the spring to the point where both the top and bottom are in contact with the upper and lower perch. While doing this grab the spring and try and wiggle it around. Keep compressing the spring by using the jack until the point where the spring does not move vertically or horizontally. Basically you are trying to bring the spring to max rebound without being loose. Once you are there throw in the bolt that attaches the lower spring perch to the knuckle. Now you raise or lower the shock mount to line up with the mounts on the knuckle. Once you get the shock mount and knuckle mount lined up, throw in the other bolt and tighten her up. Loosen the set nut on the shock body. By hand turn the shock body clockwise, which will shorten the shock. Continue this until you begin to feel some resistance. As you are turning it, more compression is applied to the spring. The resistance you feel is the proper preload on the spring. For me it was about 10 turns. The theory behind matching the height of the shock to the level established by the spring at max rebound is that in driving situtuations where max rebound is achieved you dont want to limit the available shock travel by having it too short. The same applies to compression. If its too short you will just hit the bump stops.

Also, worth noting is to periodically check the tightness of the supplied 19mm bolt that mounts the spring collar to the lower perch. I guess people have had it work itself loose or fall out. Torque it down pretty good (they didnt have any torque specs). I tightened mine to about 100ft/lbs. If yours keeps coming loose, just add some loctite.

The front is pretty self explanatory. They are supposed to come preloaded from the factory but in case you have to adjust yours they recommend a 5mm preload compression. Basically, raise the top adjustment collar until it secures the spring where it does not move vertically at all. Once its held in place rotate the second collar until it touches the top collar. While keeping the second collar at that same height, rotate the top collar to raise it 5mm above the second collar. Once you get the 5mm raise the second collar and lock the preload collars together. Then you can do what you want with the third height adjustment collar.

I ended up removing one of the collars from the rears and adjusted the shock 15 turns up from the lowest point. I also set the front preload and dropped it another 5mm. I'm still running 12/15 but may adjust it a little softer,maybe 15f/18r.

Once they settle and I get her aligned I'll post up some pics. Hope this helps.

If the spring is spinning there might not be enough pre-load on it. If the other side does not spin then you will probably need to tighten the side that the spring is spinning on.

 

[Wastegate13]

Okay, this was the first time ever that I did this, so I may need some clarification too. I thought to change the height you had to spin the bottom portion.

Are you saying you could just grab the threaded part and spin that? With the top perch tight and the bottom part still bolted?

Yup. No need to undo anything other than the locking ring. The entire shock body will rotate.

 

[mrjoshyman]

ah ok I see what your saying now.

A trick that might work is if you are trying to move the threaded body up try turning that middle ring in the up direction. It shouldn't move from it's position on the threaded body due to the top ring, but it will do the same as grabbing the threaded body and rotating it up.

If you wanted to use this method to go down you would rotate the top ring in that direction. It shouldn't move relative to the threaded body either but do the same as grabbing and rotating it down.

Does any of this make sense?

hmmm....so i am looking to extend my shock body to increase the ride height, that means turn the shock body counter clockwise. you're telling me that if i turn the middle ring counter clockwise then the threaded shock body will rotate? i've been trying to stay away from the top 2 rings b/c im concerned im going to mess with the preload....

If the spring is spinning there might not be enough pre-load on it. If the other side does not spin then you will probably need to tighten the side that the spring is spinning on.

on the drivers side it was spinning @ first too until i was able to get a grip on the shock body in which case the spring stopped spinning. i dont think the pre load would be too low because i never changed the preload...?

 

[RichB]

If turning the middle ring counter clockwise would move it up based on the threads, instead of moving up it would be restricted by the top ring. Since neither of these would be able to move up on the threads by doing this, it would then rotate the whole threaded shock body in counter clockwise direction. Does that make any sense? This is really hard to explain by typing it out.

This is atleast how it is done on other coilovers. I'm not sure how it would work with the BC's since I don't have em.

 

[RichB]

If you are able to move just the spring without a problem you have no pre load which is bad. On an earlier post somone pointed out the preload procedure for this kit.