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Difficulty: 1/5
Time to install: 45 mins per coilover - may require multiple tries until you get the height you want.
Tools Required: Spanner wrenches (usually supplied with kit), wrenches, small brush, Jackstands, masking tape to help mark threads
Adjusting coilovers allows you to adjust the ride height. More finely tuned, it also allows you to try and even out the weight on all four wheels if you have access to automotive scales. That said, making all of the coilovers the exact same ride height may not necessarily mean it is the perfect setup.
Basic adjustable coilovers typically allow you to lower ride height by compressing the spring. Depending on spring design, this might impact how the spring operates. It will, however, decrease the amount of travel that the spring used to have. Slightly more expensive coilovers will also allow you to adjust the shock body. This allows you to keep the spring at the originally intended length for best travel and performance
A reminder, that adjusting the ride height will alter your suspension and increases the need for a new alignment. Also, because a car is not exactly the same weight at all four corners, making all height adjustments exactly the same on each coilover may not be optimal. Advanced enthusiasts typically will use automotive scales to measure and compare corner weights for each wheel, and fine tune the coilover for best weight distribution.
Put the car up on jacks and remove the wheels to expose the suspension. Make sure you correctly place jack the car in the correct areas or you'll bend the frame rails. At the top of the coilovers, loosen the nut at the top. This will allow the shock to rotate as needed to adjust the height. If you notice the shock is rotating while trying to remove the nut, look closely at the threaded area. An area is cut out so you can grab it with another wrench if needed to keep it in place.
There are three collars on this coilover. The top collar allows you to adjust spring height. The middle collar locks the top collar in place. The lower collar locks against the green shaft of the shock body below. This keeps the shock body from rotating so that shock length doesn't change. Shocks that don't allow the body length to change will not have this collar.
I've added a piece of masking tape to help establish where I think I'd like the new ride height should be on both sides. I've counted the number of threads on both sides to hopefully start out at the same settings, from the top collar to my desired thread location. Then I can adjust as necessary. I intend for the bottom, anodized green collar to reach the bottom of the blue masking tape. The top collars holding the spring should already be set to the Tein recommended lengths and should not need to be adjusted. Doing so may may greatly alter the way the ride was intended to handle.
The threads tend to pick up a lot of road grime and dirt. Take the time to brush the threads off. Doing so will make adjusting the ride height much easier, allowing the shock to rotate with less problems.
Since I am adjusting the coilover by the shock body, I loosen the lower collar, and raise it to my masking tape marker. I can then grasp the shock (anywhere above the green cylinder is fine) and twist to the desired ride height. Once complete, retighten the lower collar, and nut at the top of the shock.
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