I just bought some used JIC magic coilovers off of this forum. Installed them myself and everything went great until I drove it. I noticed that every time I hit something in the road the front left coilover bottomed out. I took it to the mazda dealer to see if anything just wasn't tightened correctly and they checked it and said it looked great. He recommended I send them back to get looked at as it may be a problem. He also said that I needed to loosen my A arms. He said that my A arms are torqued to the stock ride height and need to be loosened at the height the car is at now so they don't mess up. I have NEVER heard this before, and was very confused because I thought the A arms moved freely. So that is my first question, the A arms. Secondly, I called the JIC Magic tech support and he said it may be a bad bearing on the top of the coilover but if it's not I need to ship them back in. How do I check to see if the bearing is bad?
ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED!
Thanks guys,
Max

 

What the Mazda dealer is referring to is that there may be a "pre-load" on the a-arms. This puts alot of unneeded stress on the bushings of the control arms. Usually this isn't a problem with coilovers because they have their own preload adjustment perch. But when you do need to undo preload you would leave the 2 17mm upper control arm bolts loose and settle the car on the ground, then tighten them up.

 

i've always wondered. how do you get in there when the car is on the ground? assume you're lowlowlow.

 

you can take the wheel off and jack the suspension up, same thing

 

if you dont have access to a lift you would put a jack under teh knuckle of the wheel hub and jack up to reduce preload.

edit: oops, was typing when the above was posted

 

ahhh clever!

 

it's probably the coilover lock rings that vibrate loose. my JIC coilovers did that once in awhile. i just cleaned up the treads with a wire brush then applied a bit of teflon tape to make it a little tighter.

 

Turn the wheel full lock (both side) and you can easily get to the bolts that hold the upper control arm to tighten them with the wheel still on and the car on the ground. Doesn't matter how low you are!

Danomite also brings up a good point, in fact I helped a local troubleshoot a clunk and it turned out to be exactly that, the locking ring was loose.

 

I purchased them as well and needed a few parts for them. So far they are very bad at returning calls, in fact they never have returned a call and IF I get them I am lucky... I am still looking for the inner sleeve for the rear black bushings that go on top (Which they charge $18 bucks each for) and the nut for the top. They requested I send them back as well but I really just wanted the parts rather than paying the labor to have them look at them.

Stephen

PS: They also claim to race and/or drift an RX8. I asked them how they change the settings on the rear once installed and they never do. they just set it and forget it until they rebuild them. I am guessing they are not true tuners since zero adjustment actually can happen at the track and these are 15way adjustable...

 

My JIC's came with extension cables for the rear shocks so they could be adjusted in the car. Here is a pic I borrowed from the internet (courtesy of SipZ rx8):

 

yeah, I gotta get a set of those. /\

 

Chad, did you ever get your JIC's revalved?

 

yeah, they are currently balancing them.
I have dealt with Brian Rogers. Things are going well.
Should get them all back next week.
(I broke one being an idiot, so I want all of my older ones to match the new one)

 

Nice. I am very curious to hear how that turns out.

 

Just got a call from them (Brian @ JIC) 5 mins ago. They are going to ship them out today.
:woot:
I have the racing beat sways to install also. ****'s gonna be tight.

 

Brian does great. Im almost positive he's the only tech there though Haha. But in case anyone can't reach him he told me to call the sales desk, he's up there alot.

 

I called "JIC" which is not actually the same JIC out of Japan. They are actually called JIC US which is a reseller of the JIC Japan stuff. JIC actually went out of business which is why the adjuster cables are no longer available. If anyone knows of any let me know soon before I try and make something up! They did mention that the current JIC US company is going to be coming out with all new shocks/coilover stuff soon. All the old stuff is no longer being made but can still be rebuilt.

PS: very personable and nice on the phone this time around...

 

I've always dealt with them through email. I have a set of those adjustment cables, but I'm 99% sure putting them on after I move to my new house and get a garage. I got super lucky and found a guy that had bought 2 sets and was parting out his car.

edit: I'm not super gungho about adjusting the stiffness of my car on a whim so make me an offer I can't refuse and you never know what might happen.

 

i also have an un-used set of adjustment cables.

 

dudes, I need adjusters!!
I think I accidently tossed my jic magic stuff in the garbage. (wrenches, adjusters, cables...all the accessories)
....actually, I'm sure they are gone.

hit me up yo.

 

I was told they cost around $50 new but after doing research I have found several people say that they came with them new... not sure if that is true or not. I also found them on other forums listed as $70new. But those are all old posts from 2008 or so and no longer available.

With that being said would either of you take the $50 shipped? (03275)

Stephen

 

I paid considerably more than that FYI. Probably makes me a retard because I bet adjuster cables from some different set of coilovers would work.

 

/\ yup.
Mine came with the coilovers. But I had some real bad luck with them the past 8 months so i'm really looking forward to rocking them soon.
I should'a taken a picture of what the fronts looked like, one oily and blown and the other crushed by an engine that fell off the stand. Honnestly, I was disgusted, riding stock, and the oems are starting to rattle now. Looks like I'll be rocking them for the winter.

 

Chad,
Quick questing. How much preload do you put on your rear springs? I know they say your fronts need to just be secure and not tight nor loose, but what about the rears. I know you have to preload them when you put them on, so once they're on do you release them? Thanks.

 

real late on this but I just put a mark on the red nut thing, turn it 5 times, front and rear shocks.
I kinda just go and bounce my car around and that seemed to work. I ride with my car soft in the rear and med up front for daily driving.