HELP!! lowering V7

[Dan Newlands]

we took our 2001 V7 STI to a local mechanic to install a set of 4 king springs to lower the ride height of the car. the person dealing with us had trouble ordering the correct springs for the car saying they were "not captive" at each test drive. after 4 sets of springs and 5 days without a car, we have a car that is noticeably lower in the front than in the rear and I was informed that the shocks had to be cut down to insure the spring doesn't fall out. while driving the car home the clunking noise coming from the rear of the car is extremely loud and on a completely different level to the common noisy shocks you can get in a v7/v8 due to lack of grease. the car is un derivable and i do not believe it is safe to drive. also the mechanic that did the work decided to put a new warrant on the car even though it is not due for a warrant. I have owned a car exactly the same as this a few years ago. same year and everything. I bought a set of super low king springs and installed them in my garage. does anybody know why the shocks are so noisy, like metal on metal and why it would be higher at the rear????

[hijacka]

This is one of those moments where you need to have it physically checked by a decent mechanic hopefully one in your area can chime in and help you.. Perhaps start a thread in the north island section as there are plenty of good mechanics up there who are on theses boards regularly. I'll get the ball rolling anyway.. Are the swaybar links sitting right? what sort of links are they pillow ball or plastic? strut might be loose? jack te rear u and see if the strut shaft falls out might not have done the nut up properly.

[Dan Newlands]

Due to my past experience I thought putting a set of king springs in a v7 would be pretty straight forward? the noise wasnt there before the work was done. it just had the normal mild noisy shocks that are common in these models.the noise is alarming and is definitely coming from the struts.

[megamac]

Jesus I wouldn't think you'd need to cut the shock at all to run superlows? I never have, not sure if v7 have extra long shocks or something? Hope the metal on metal sound you're hearing isn't a bad weld crashing into the top of the shock tower

[hunter951]

iv heard of cutting the bump stop...

[Disruptz]

 hunter951 said:

iv heard of cutting the bump stop...

Wouldn't that fail a wof?

[Zenki]

Bump stops must be unmodified (no trimming - aftermarket replacements are OK), AFAIK.

[Dan Newlands]

In theory the king springs should just go straight in shouldnt they.? Ive never heard of someone having to cut shocks in a wrx to get them to fit. He told me he had to shorten them becuase they were not captive/trapped. And even after all that we have a car with ultra lows in the front and super lows in the back. It looks stupid! Could it be a problem with his installation method rather than a problem with the shock being too long?

[Zenki]

Are you sure that the springs are actually for a V7?

Best to physically take that one to a trustworthy mechanic as others have mentioned.

[boon]

Sounds like the guy is a bit incompetent and has probably rooted your rear shocks as a bonus.

[Kiwi_Fozze]

Yeah... superlows go straight in, if hes cut the strut hes a ****ing muppet

[hunter951]

 Disruptz said:

Wouldn't that fail a wof?

but they are inside the strut??? cant tell unless you pull them to bits? I didnt cut them when i put springs in but have seen some manufactures recommend it, or like stated supply new ones. but i dont think this is the case here, so my input in invalid.

[Timmah]

 hunter951 said:

but they are inside the strut??? cant tell unless you pull them to bits? I didnt cut them when i put springs in but have seen some manufactures recommend it, or like stated supply new ones. but i dont think this is the case here, so my input in invalid.

The non-inverted struts have the bumpstops at the top of the shaft (that's what she said) But yeah for this case, WoF guy wouldn't know.

[Dan Newlands]

We have asked the mechanic who done the work to replace the shocks with something very simiar. They have tracked down some orange genome shocks made for the 2002 sti. Ps ours is 2001. They are apparently shorter and stiffer than the originals that were in there. They are going to put these in the back which are the ones that were screwed up and put the original springs back in. Then im taking it elsewhere to get lowered on king ultralow hopefully. Any concerns with genome shocks in the back and standard shocks in the from?? Due to the stiffer ,shorter nature of the genomes in the back

[Dan Newlands]

Is it going to effect the ride or height etc. So

Front will be standard sti shocks with untralow king springs and rear will be genome shocks with king ultra low springs. Sound right?

[Timmah]

If the Genome's are a shorter strut, the super lows may sit too low in the rear = WoF fail.

Plus you'll probably end up with a saggy butt.