How to easily adjust ride height with BC Racing Coilovers

[Boosted Motorsports]

It's ridiculously easy. In my last regular maintenance video I show how to easily adjust the ride height on the BC racing coilovers. Fast forward to 5m17s to see the adjustment process. :D


https://youtu.be/55qark7csiA?t=5m17s

[98RedGTS]

Perfect timing! Ordered a set on Friday. Curious to know, how much camber is effected by the lowering of the car. I know some cars it's more pronounced than others. You may have addressed this on the video which I'll watch when I get home tonight.

P.S. - I finally pulled the trigger and bought a caster/camber gauge and some toe plates. Started doing my own alignment at home. Cost about $250 for all of it and took me 2.5 hours to do it the first time (on my cobra which is also IRS). Worked out great and after having the alignment checked once I was done I was right on target where I wanted it to be in all specs. Pretty cool to DIY.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Perfect timing! Ordered a set on Friday. Curious to know, how much camber is effected by the lowering of the car. I know some cars it's more pronounced than others. You may have addressed this on the video which I'll watch when I get home tonight.

P.S. - I finally pulled the trigger and bought a caster/camber gauge and some toe plates. Started doing my own alignment at home. Cost about $250 for all of it and took me 2.5 hours to do it the first time (on my cobra which is also IRS). Worked out great and after having the alignment checked once I was done I was right on target where I wanted it to be in all specs. Pretty cool to DIY.

Awesome! If you have camber/caster gauges then you will be able to better tell how much those settings change with a ride height change. Where did you get your alignment kit? I was about to head over to A&C Performance for mine but maybe I'll check out the kit.

[98RedGTS]

I got this https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sps-91010 and https://www.summitracing.com/parts/lng-79501

In order to check the caster you need to turn the wheels 15 degrees each way and be consistent with it. You can buy turn plates for this or make your own. I made my own out of plexiglass and grease. A bit of a learning curve and trial and error but after about 2.5 hours working on my cobra I've got the best feeling alignment I've ever had. My caster showed less than what the computer showed (they turned the wheels 20 degrees I believe) but they were both on target. Camber was right on and my toe in was just a tad less than 1 degree. Roads where I'm at are pretty flat so I set my left and right caster to the same value but if you drive on crowned roads a lot you can make the passenger caster a little more than the driver which will compensate without negative wearing on the tires.

You may be able to get things more perfect with the computer and a properly trained tech but the people where I live can't seem to get anything right. They just want it to be within spec while I wanted specific settings. Super happy I never have to spend money at an alignment shop again to.

[Boosted Motorsports]

I got this https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sps-91010 and https://www.summitracing.com/parts/lng-79501

In order to check the caster you need to turn the wheels 15 degrees each way and be consistent with it. You can buy turn plates for this or make your own. I made my own out of plexiglass and grease. A bit of a learning curve and trial and error but after about 2.5 hours working on my cobra I've got the best feeling alignment I've ever had. My caster showed less than what the computer showed (they turned the wheels 20 degrees I believe) but they were both on target. Camber was right on and my toe in was just a tad less than 1 degree. Roads where I'm at are pretty flat so I set my left and right caster to the same value but if you drive on crowned roads a lot you can make the passenger caster a little more than the driver which will compensate without negative wearing on the tires.

You may be able to get things more perfect with the computer and a properly trained tech but the people where I live can't seem to get anything right. They just want it to be within spec while I wanted specific settings. Super happy I never have to spend money at an alignment shop again to.

Alright you inspired me to at least attempt my own alignment! I ordered some tools but the ones I found don't require turn plates to measure the 15* or 20* required for the front caster and have some other method of determining the 15* or 20* for caster so we'll see how that goes. Only thing I am still investigating is how to accurately measure rear caster which is apparently even difficult for quite a few alignment shops.

Corvette guys are using a digital level on the perpendicular plane to the ground on their hub/spindle assembly. Might see if I can do something similar since my alignment kit comes with a digital level as well.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c7-tech-performance/3844970-diy-low-cost-method-to-measure-rear-caster.html

[98RedGTS]

Hmmm. I don't think the caster can be adjusted on our cars or my Cobra. Camber, yes but not the caster. In order to adjust the caster their would have to be shims that would allow you basically move the angle for which the control arms face (front to back). I know the C4 Corvettes adjust front caster this way but rear isn't adjustable. On the Viper and my Cobra it just has a camber bolt that allows you to adjust the camber.

I'm not surprised a shop would have trouble with rear caster as I don't think their machines are even capable of measuring that. Just looking at my print outs from when I've had my alignments done in the past their isn't even a section for rear caster.

I'm tuning in as I may learn something new here too!

With your skills and being detail oriented I'm confident you'll get it done and will be very happy with the results.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Hmmm. I don't think the caster can be adjusted on our cars or my Cobra. Camber, yes but not the caster. In order to adjust the caster their would have to be shims that would allow you basically move the angle for which the control arms face (front to back). I know the C4 Corvettes adjust front caster this way but rear isn't adjustable. On the Viper and my Cobra it just has a camber bolt that allows you to adjust the camber.

I'm not surprised a shop would have trouble with rear caster as I don't think their machines are even capable of measuring that. Just looking at my print outs from when I've had my alignments done in the past their isn't even a section for rear caster.

I'm tuning in as I may learn something new here too!

With your skills and being detail oriented I'm confident you'll get it done and will be very happy with the results.

So to summarize; the caster can be altered and here is how.

The lower control arms in the rear have the centric bolts. If you adjust one centric in the complete opposite direction of the other, you will change caster by moving the lower control arm (and the wheel) further towards the back or front of the car. General consensus from Viper Gurus is if you do not have tools to measure caster in the rear, to make sure you match the caster bolt positions on the front and rear caster bolts for the lower control arm to ensure you don't send your caster out of wack.

[98RedGTS]

Makes sense, I just didn't realize their were two camber bolts in the rear. Assumed it was adjusted by one bolt at the top of the knuckle like it's done on the Cobra's. Coil overs came in today (that was fast) so hopefully I'll get a chance to install them this weekend.

[octopus]

Did you guys order the "Seriously Low" option for these? I'm wondering if it's worth it and how low they end up going. Oh and what spring rates are you guys going with? Thanks a bunch!

[octopus]

Thanks man!

[Boosted Motorsports]

I went with the standard coilover and spring rates for both of my GTS's and was happy with it. The standard coilovers will let you set the car on its frame, seriously low is not necessary.

Like whiteout said you definitely don't need "extreme" low as this kit can go plenty low already. I opted for 14k springs in the rear to mimic the ACR spring rates for my car and am very happy with the way it rides!

[SatinBlueG3]

Where do you guys buy your BC's from? What are people's thoughts about Swift springs?

[98RedGTS]

I bought my BC's directly through them. I want to say I got them in a week as well.

[Boosted Motorsports]

I bought my BC's directly through them. I want to say I got them in a week as well.

How are you liking them by the way?

[98RedGTS]

I'm liking them a lot. Love the ride height that I got at the factory settings. I can feel the road but it's not beating me to death either at the middle setting (15 clicks). I may actually dial it up a little more to when I get around to doing the bushings.

[Boosted Motorsports]

I'm liking them a lot. Love the ride height that I got at the factory settings. I can feel the road but it's not beating me to death either at the middle setting (15 clicks). I may actually dial it up a little more to when I get around to doing the bushings.

Awesome glad you like them! I confirmed they definitely are not the best for drag racing over the weekend given how firm they are. 1.8 60ft was the best I could seem to muster out of the gate...

[98RedGTS]

For drag racing wouldn't you want to lower the socks to the softest setting to allow for more weight transfer to the rear? Did you do something like that or run them at the same setting you do for street?