Hi there,
I installed Koni yellows about 5 months ago. They ride great, car handles better and i love them. However, when i installed them, i noticed teh rear seemed a little low and the front seemed a little high on my car. I thought nothing of it since the shocks seem to be working great. Yesterday, at an autocross i was looking at a stock rx-8. It sat perfectly level. wheel gaps were equal front and back. My back is much lower and my front is much higher. Maybe about an inch or so off on front and back. Maybe more.

Any idea what could be causing this? The only way i could imgaine this would be possible is if koni mounted the spring pocket too low or too high on teh shocks. Any other ideas??

Any help is greatly appreciated.

-Jordan

 

I don't have much experience with shocks yet but is it possible you put them on backwards?

 

i don't think it's really even possible. I know the fronts are ont eh front and teh backs on teh back, and i realigned teh spring in teh same position as stock.

 

Even though you're on stock springs, you may want to try "pre-loading" the suspension. You usually see this with aftermarket springs, but it wouldn't surprise me if the stock springs could cause this too. This happened to me just recently: My dealership pulled my Tokicos out and swapped my stock shocks in to troubleshoot a knocking noise (then put my Tokicos back in after realizing it wasn't the suspension at all, but a motor mount). Anyway, they didn't load the suspension before tightening the bolts so my front was riding high. Here's how to fix it and it only takes 5 minutes.

With the car on the ground, loosen the 4 17mm bolts (2 on each side) that connect the upper A-arms to the car (you'll have to turn the wheel back and forth to get at these). Some people say drive around the block with these bolts loose, I didn't, I just popped the hood and pushed down on the front end a couple of times. Tighten those bolts back up and your done.

Also, with the stock springs you will see a little more wheel gap in the front than the rear. That's why some aftermarket springs lower the front more (my Teins lower the front 1.4" and the rear .7")

 

Do a search in the suspension section "koni". This problem is known. It will tell you all about it and what to do.

 

+1

First time I dod my suspension I did not replace them the easy way (taking the upper control arm off) so I did not experiance this. The second time I did it the right way but I did not pre-load the suspension. Figured it out though.

 

I found one thread about this that was unresolved. Could you possibly post a link?

 

I have the same lowered rear look. I'm not worried about it, we did everything correct when installing the shocks. I have compared my car to my buddy who has the exact b-stock setup and he doesn't look as low in the rear??? So I wouldn't worry about it. I found a thread about guys complaining about the rear of our cars being lower than the front on 100% stock suspension.

 

When you say you did everything 'correct' when installing the shocks did you preload them?

Front is elevated over rear for the stock setup. Provides negative rake which gives a smoother ride for a mass production car. That's why many of the aftermarket spring setups lower the fronts more than the rears. If your rear is lower than a stock setup then you did not install your struts correctly. Or someone has stashed a 500lb dead body in your trunk.

 

I did preload the front, can't remember if we preloaded the rear. I think we set the rear on the ground and then tightend everything? But not positive on that. My buddy helped me and he was moving so fast I don't remember every detail of the install, I trust him cause he's a master tech at a dodge dealership and generally a really smart guy. I was more in the way during install.

 

can't preload the rear, only the front needs it.
Isn't it fun to have fast working / knowledgable friends??

 

just read the 1st post; YES, it is possible to put the springs on the wrong end of the car. I've seen it done and if you put the fronts in the back, it would be blatantly obvious because the car would almost look raised. Ask me how I know...

You said a stock 8 sat perfectly level? Not usually. As RK pointed out, the front on our car typically has a larger gap then the rear.
I think preloading the front is what you need to try...

 

Pretty sure both need preloading but it can be dependent on how you do the install (ie. MM DIY or normal ).

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...highlight=koni

There's a case where it needed to be loaded (tho the bump stops could have caused some issue no one thinks that was it). Although that might have been the front that wasn't preloaded causing it to rise (rather than the rear dropping).

He said another 8 was sitting level at an autox but didn't say what the other 8 had installed. Maybe he knows what class it was running in? Anything other than BS and the guy probably had springs.

 

The and teh? Really...

Preload +1

 

I've read many times on the forum that the Konis will cause the car to sit a little lower no matter what spring is used. Low pressure gas charge or something. The point is, there is probably nothing wrong with the rear, it's probably sitting a little lower than stock as it should with the Konis. The front probably needs to be preloaded. The pic above shows the two bolts to loosen. Takes 10 minutes tops. Try it.

 

This is my theory too at this point. Ill try and post a pic of the height when i get to work. Unfortunately the cfar is goign in for warranty work today (LSD won't unlock) so i won't be able to try preloading teh front until i get it back.

Thanks for the all the help. I'll let you know how it works out.

-Jordan

 

also, do you really think teh bushings would still be holding the car up after 4 months? I find it hard to believe, i mean i'll give it a shot, but if thats it i'll be really suprised.

 

Why can't you preload the rear? In theory it seems like it would be just as necessary as the fronts....just a lot more difficult cause you'd have to loosen all 5 of the control links/bars ???

 

My car is only about a 1/4" lower in the rear- I actually measured my hide height (ground to fender) I'm about 26 1/2" in the rear and 26 3/4" in the front.