Shocks/springs/ride height

[Todd Phenneger]

I seriously doubt that its to long a shock.  If that were so
then in driving you would get no compression at all.  Ever
driven a car with a Siezed shock, its bad.   Shocks can affect
ride height, just not that much.  Its common for Bilsteins to
raise a car a touch.  While they wont support the car, they do
exert force outwards.  To keep a shock compressed takes force
(maybe 100lbs)  A stiffer shock can raise the car because it
takes more weight to compress the spring and shock package.  But
usually we are talking more like 1/4" not 1".   
  I wonder if possibly he used the wrong upper strut mount.  Its
Fairly common knowledge that the blue ur-q mounts will make a
car sit 1/2"+ lower than the 4kq front mounts.  If he put in
4kq/90q front mounts and had rear or ur-q mounts in before (or
worn 4kq units) then that could accont for the raise.
  l8r
     Todd

--- John Larson <j.d.larson at verizon.net> wrote:
> Let's think about the ride height question.  You can compress
> KYBs, and even
> Bilsteins, by hand.  Let's say the car weighs 3600 pounds,
> that's 900 pounds
> per corner.  That's gonna compress them right to the limit. 
> You have
> springs, held in check only by the shock absorber (or insert).
>  See where
> I'm going?  The spring holds the car up, and it's length is
> controlled by
> the presence nut on the end of the shock.  Take the nut off,
> releasing the
> end of the shock, and the car could theoretically rise until
> the spring
> reached it's unrestrained length.  The sheer weight of the car
> prevents
> this, however.  What you have is a problem with the length of
> the piston,
> not the pressure of the gas inside the insert (shock).  You
> need a shorter
> shock.  HTH, John
> 


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