BC BR coilovers

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5. The top nut on the front shocks was a bit of a pain. With the nut recessed into the rubber surround, you can't get a wrench on it and even with full corner weight on the ball joint, the strut shaft would rotate if you didn't hold it. So we ended up trying to hold the shaft with a 5mm allen and tightening the 24mm socket with vise grips - ug!
6. The rear shock rod top mount is a bit of pain as well. We decided to completely remove the fender liners to ease access to the two bolts that hold the mount and those are at least a dozen fasteners each.

5. Tell me about it. My finally solution was to cut the box end off a wrench and weld it to the wall of a 1/2" drive 24mm socket. That way I could hold an Allen through the top while turning the socket with the wrench handle. Major PITA.

6. The wells can stay in place. If you remove the single plastic 10 mm nut you can bend the well back enough to get to the shock mount bolts with a 15mm on a 3" ext

I have the Pedders BTW.

 

[Thaifight-R]

You guys weren't annoyed by the removal/replacement of the front endlinks?

Had to use two wrenches to keep the darn bolt from spinning...

Sorta agree with ya on the wipers. haha
they're stuck on there pretty good... lol

(For those who haven't tried, there is a cap that covers the bolt/screw for each wiper; just pop that off with a tweezer/plier thingy, and unbolt.)
I have no idea how one would take the cowl off without removing the wipers... (referring to Danny5's diy on springs. haha)

 

[JDRSMF]

You guys weren't annoyed by the removal/replacement of the front endlinks?

Had to use two wrenches to keep the darn bolt from spinning...

Well, at least you can get a wrench on it, and it is a reasonable size - if you have one of these or something similar, it isn't too bad.

 

[ZachTullier]

JDRSMF

The car looks so good man! I love the blue and black combo.

 

[iraqivet]

the wipers are eazy. your just doing it wrong. take the bolt off. and push with one hand in the middle of the arm and with the other hand pull where the nut is comes right off the first time every time.

 

[theenico]

So where are people ordering their BC coilovers from?

 

[2FR35H]

Well, we spent a fair amount of time on the Sonic over the weekend, but it was definitely worth it.

You need.... A build thread, To enter the contest, and A diy thread for the coilovers.

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

You need.... A build thread, To enter the contest, and A diy thread for the coilovers.

You need to cut pics out of a quote that long...

 

[Thaifight-R]

You need.... A diy thread for the coilovers.

Working on that diy thread at the moment.

 

[JDRSMF]

the wipers are eazy. your just doing it wrong. take the bolt off. and push with one hand in the middle of the arm and with the other hand pull where the nut is comes right off the first time every time.

Well, we tried with the arms in various positions, but I don't think we tried pressing on them. I'm sure we'll be making damper adjustments and will have to try this next time.

So where are people ordering their BC coilovers from?

Ordered directly from BC Racing NA at the number in post #1. Note the 'default' rate for the rear springs is only 3k - no upcharge for switching to 4k.

You need.... A build thread, To enter the contest, and A diy thread for the coilovers.

Working on that diy thread at the moment.

Appreciate all the positive feedback in general.

Probably won't do a build thread - the car is probably pretty much 'done' pending a tune. It might get a rear swaybar after some autocross evaluation in the spring - assuming one that can be fit is available by then.

We didn't take enough installation pics for a good DIY, but it looks like Thaifight-R has that covered. It really isn't that much more involved than a spring swap, which has a good diy stickied.

 

[gdideric]

It might get a rear swaybar after some autocross evaluation in the spring - assuming one that can be fit is available by then.

start reading at post 265

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/t3550-27/

 

[JDRSMF]

start reading at post 265

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/t3550-27/

Yep, good stuff there. Also in JusticePete's posts in the pedders thread.(link)

I realized when I ordered that I was making the roll stiffness balance 'worse' by going 6k/4k, but BC NA couldn't provide good jounce travel info and based on my measurements/calcs of the stock springs they seemed like a good balance between ride comfort and staying off the bump stops. Also, the stock roll is really bad. I was thinking that better roll control (and therefore better dynamic camber control) along with some front static negative camber (the rear camber doesn't change with lowering) would add grip at the front and offset the imbalanced spring change. Based on very preliminary testing, the steady state balance with this setup doesn't feel any worse than stock and might be just a little better.

Due to ride comfort concerns, I'd rather fix any remaining balance issues with a bar or bars and having easier adjustability than a spring swap is good. So, we'll see what develops over the winter. Not to disagree with theenico too much since I haven't done any calcs or modeling on it, but depending on the design of the rear bar, it could add a lot of stiffness - especially if the centroid of the added bar is not put in line with the centroid of the stock twist beam.

 

[2FR35H]

You need to cut pics out of a quote that long...

Indeed

 

[JDRSMF]

Well, had the alignment professionally checked/adjusted today after a couple hundred miles of break-in/settling. The ride heights are now down to 22.375"-22.50". We didn't have any professional measurements before the install, but it looks like we didn't pick up as much camber as we thought, though I don't mind it where it is for now. Also, it looks like we did pick up more toe out than we thought based on our diy garage measurements. Seeing this much toe change, I'd definitely recommend an alignment after a significant drop.

cheers

 

[JDRSMF]

update

Just wanted to update this thread with some additional info - especially with the activity on the generic coil over thread.

Over the holidays, we had multiple passengers in the back seat for the first time on the BC BR's and noticed some significant bottoming of the rear suspension over typical PA potholes. Recall I'm on 4 kg/mm springs (vs the 'standard' 3 kg/mm) and have them installed with no adjustment rings under the rear coils. It seems like 160 lbs in the back seat with this setup is ok, but 400+ lb bottoms.

Here's what the end of the spring mount looked like after just a short ride:


I was going to just trim the end up to get clean threads and install one ring to raise the ride height a bit - hence the short cut-off piece in the pic. However, after taking care of the rear I discovered the fronts would not cooperate. I got just a few turns of the strut body up out of the strut lower and it seized up - I could not turn it up or even back down without destroying the lock rings. So, I cut both rear perches to take off a total of about 3/4" each and it seems to have eliminated any problems - and let us stay at our desired ride height as well.

cheers!

 

[iraqivet]

Just wanted to update this thread with some additional info - especially with the activity on the generic coil over thread.

Over the holidays, we had multiple passengers in the back seat for the first time on the BC BR's and noticed some significant bottoming of the rear suspension over typical PA potholes. Recall I'm on 4 kg/mm springs (vs the 'standard' 3 kg/mm) and have them installed with no adjustment rings under the rear coils. It seems like 160 lbs in the back seat with this setup is ok, but 400+ lb bottoms.

Here's what the end of the spring mount looked like after just a short ride:


I was going to just trim the end up to get clean threads and install one ring to raise the ride height a bit - hence the short cut-off piece in the pic. However, after taking care of the rear I discovered the fronts would not cooperate. I got just a few turns of the strut body up out of the strut lower and it seized up - I could not turn it up or even back down without destroying the lock rings. So, I cut both rear perches to take off a total of about 3/4" each and it seems to have eliminated any problems - and let us stay at our desired ride height as well.

cheers!

why did you have that in the back anyways?
you said "have them installed with no adjustment rings under the rear coils"

so haveing that in is doing nothing but minimizing the travel that you have.
i dont know how low you are but i know one you never put 400lbs of people int the back of a car that is lowered. its asking for trouble.

if you have no adjusters on the back then just take it out. yourll be what 3/8 lower but you will have 2 inches more travel not haveing that in there.

and you have to remember that the coils have threads that dislike winter. you can run them but with the winters we have . (im from mass) you know with the road salt and sand that they use it just jams everything up. i have always just put my stock suspention in for the winter. it only takes a hour to swap it out and then your coils dont get hammered and you have the peace of mind that you wont mess up your 1k investment.

 

[JDRSMF]

why did you have that in the back anyways?
you said "have them installed with no adjustment rings under the rear coils"

borrowing a pic from Opticon:

from this thread

This shows his installation with one lock ring / adjustment ring. I have mine installed with none. Note how Opticon also trimmed his perches/mounts so that they would not contact the lower spring perch at full compression. The pic in my post is not a lock ring, it is the bottom piece of the upper spring perch/mount that I trimmed off.

... and you have to remember that the coils have threads that dislike winter. you can run them but with the winters we have . (im from mass) you know with the road salt and sand that they use it just jams everything up.

Well, I was hoping since I was adjusting up and since the lowers seem to be closed on the bottom end that it would work out - obviously I was too optimistic!

 

[iraqivet]

this is how i had mine. no perch at all. plenty of room and nothing hitting.


or just do what opticon did. or tell your friends to drive there selfs.

 

[Gsrdude]

and you have to remember that the coils have threads that dislike winter. you can run them but with the winters we have . (im from mass) you know with the road salt and sand that they use it just jams everything up. i have always just put my stock suspention in for the winter. it only takes a hour to swap it out and then your coils dont get hammered and you have the peace of mind that you wont mess up your 1k investment.

I'd agree here

I had BC BR's on the EVO for a couple years. Went through a set of shock cartridges, springs paint completely flaked off, pretty much every one rusted to a complete pile of crap. Thankfully they were cheap enough to rebuild 1k pic your color/flavor coils in EVOLand are a no no.

They were comfy on the street though

Yes I drove them in the winter. AWD FTW haha.

 

[Thaifight-R]

pretty much every one rusted to a complete pile of crap....

Yes I drove them in the winter.

Well, that explains everything. lol