Your ride height problem is probably not due to incorrect perch height; Jap shock makers know what they're doing.

Tokico struts are gas pressurized and will sometimes raise a car's ride height if you're replacing worn-out stock struts. They will sometimes settle down with age, but then again sometimes they won't. Shorter springs sounds good to me.

 

Agree with the Tokico statement. But my OE KYB's only have ~ 10k miles on them... not worn out by any means.

Remember, the MSP struts are designed for the sedan. The P5 & sedan have different p.n.'s for springs from Eibach.

I'm going to check perch height between the two this weekend sometime. We'll find out for sure what's up.

Thanks man

 

those springs take a few days to settle. so dont be alarmed right after you lift your car that it does not lower. drive around a bit and they will settle better.

not sure how much higher that new strut is, but macdaddy's car looks pretty good, imo. btw, how do those struts feel?

 

Springs have been on the car for over a month... it's the new struts causing a slight issue.

Thanks for the compliment! The ride is really, really, nice. I'm impressed.

Jim

 

Just an update.... no real news.

I did measure the perch height on the MSP rear struts while I was re-painting my brake calipers last night. From the bottom of the assembly to a specific point on the lip of the bottom spring perch (of which I'll do the same on the OE's tonight,) is 11 13/16". I'll measure the stockies tonight and post results.

As for the "stock ride height" issue. Actually, it looks like it's starting to settle in a bit. Much better than it was right after installation. Still has a front "rake," but wheel gap is more to my liking now. If the deal on the Eibach sedan springs comes thru, I'll probably still do those. If not, no big deal.

 

The car looks great to me.. Maybe you should take it out for a drive around some curves.. get the gasses flowing.. j/k

I would try and put the rims back on and see what things look like then.

I personally think these struts are just much stronger than your other struts and therefore are more stable(suportive).
But you never know ..
the rims look mean

 

I'm running a similar setup as you with the Pro-kit and thinking about gettting the same MSP struts as you. Please keep us update w/ pictures if possible about your findings.
Maybe if you put your rims back on it might look really nice.

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the compliment. I've been driving it for over a week now, and it seems much better. Still a bit higher in the rear that I want, but not bad. The ride quality, and handling make up for it. I may put the 17's back on sometime soon. I love the way the 16's ride... smooth.

 

I'll update as information, or the situation changes. No problem with pics, either. Like I stated above, I'm lazy these days so the 16's are staying on for awhile. If it looks good with them, it should look that much better with the 17's.

Thanks

 

mackdaddy- yah, when those prokits are decompressed from the car's weight, they will take a few miles and a few days to lower back to its original height.

i was like holly crap! when i intalled the 17's thinking the
wheel gap was HUGE! but then after driving her around a bit,
it settled to an acceptable height. wheew. hahaha.

but i still prefer 16's over 17.

 

mackdady- btw, are you running any AWR adjustable sways on the front/rear? if so, how did it fit the endlinks, etc on your new MSP struts?


what did you use for the rear and front? thanks.

 

Stock swaybars / endlinks. No fitment problems at all.

Jim

 

I wonder if the AWR 19mm rear sway bar will work with the MSP struts? any ideas?
I need struts pretty badly and need them soon.

 

Should work fine.

 

FYI - I know you aren't concerned about racing, but typically with a FWD car, having a rake like that is a proper suspension height setup. I've been autocrossing for 6 yrs and that is how I have always seen good FWD cars setup. I'm not a very technical person, but I think it puts more weight to the front wheels, to put the power down and improve steering response. I do know that it works as that was how I had my old CRX setup.

Having the rear of the car lower might cause the car to understeer or push under accelleration, and having it too low it would hit the bump stops, making handling less predictable.

I just got a set of coilovers on my Protege yesterday and made sure it had an adequate amount of rake .5"-.75" difference from front to back. We'll see how it handles this weekend - hopefully it won't rain