I had the stage 3 suspension installed a week ago. It did not lower my car at all. In fact, the front may even be slightly higher than before (compared to before photos). My car has a lot more front fender gap (approx 2" from the edge of fender lip to the top of the tire) than the other board members who have posted photos of their stage 3 cars.
The height of my front fender edge to the ground was about 0.75" taller than Jacob Lee's car. To me, this is too much variation.
For everyone who has the stage 3 on their car, I have the following questions:
1. How much was the front lowered?
2. How much was the rear lowered?
3. Did the suspension settle lower after the installation?
It would be great to see before and after photos, so I can show my mechanic. Thanks in advance for all your help.
your car should be significantly lower than before... I think something is wrong... although the suspension should settle a little after driving for a few days, it still shouldn't sit the same height as a stock suspension... I think you should bring it in to have the technicians take a look at... they didn't put the springs in back to front did they? :p
__________________ US Spec 2001 E39 M5 - LHD AC Schnitzer
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Re: Dinan Stage 3 suspension: Lowered car how much?
Quote:
Originally posted by Cerberus Hi guys,
I had the stage 3 suspension installed a week ago. It did not lower my car at all. In fact, the front may even be slightly higher than before (compared to before photos). My car has a lot more front fender gap (approx 2" from the edge of fender lip to the top of the tire) than the other board members who have posted photos of their stage 3 cars.
The height of my front fender edge to the ground was about 0.75" taller than Jacob Lee's car. To me, this is too much variation.
For everyone who has the stage 3 on their car, I have the following questions:
1. How much was the front lowered?
2. How much was the rear lowered?
3. Did the suspension settle lower after the installation?
It would be great to see before and after photos, so I can show my mechanic. Thanks in advance for all your help.
Sandy
Sandy,
Your car should definitely be lower in the front..by about a half inch or so? rear on mine remained roughly the same.
How are your struts set? firm, soft ???
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'00 Honda Accord V6
Definitly get your car back over to the installers. Something was done wrong. My front dropped about 1/2 inch and the rear about 1/4 inch. Looks even more so with the Dinan Rims.
__________________ Mark 2003 X5 4.4 Sport 2002 Mini Cooper S
Ditto. According to Jeff Hecox at Dinan it should lower the car almost a full inch giving it a really mean, aggressive stance. Get it checked out! Two questions, though:
o Who did the installation? A dealership familiar with Dinan products?
o How does the car handle now? Worse? More floaty in the turns?
You shouldn't expect a Dinan suspension to lower a car much, his philosophy is (rightly) that lowering a Macpherson strut suspension very far ruins the geometry, you end up with below-ground-level roll centers and other weirdness.
I plan on taking my car in this week for them to check the ride height and installation.
My local dealership did the install. I believe they are fairly new as a Dinan dealer, but this install should have been fairly straight forward. Don't you guys agree? I am assuming the rear suspension has no room for error, since there is no adjustment for ride height. But, the front struts slide into a knuckle, which can vary ride height. I spoke with a rep at Dinan and he said that the strut needs to slide into a snap ring to be fully seated. Maybe my struts are not fully seated????
The car definitely handles better. It is quite a bit more firm with less roll and the front end bites much better. The tail does come around a lot easier now. My tech set the rear bar at the firmest setting. I love how the car handles now. However, it does need a little fine tuning. I can't wait to fully enjoy the upgrade when the install is finished correctly. Stage 3 rocks!!!
I have not tried changing the strut settings yet. I figured I would wait until the shop fixes the ride height problem. Jacob, did you say 2/3 of full is the factory setting? The literature I received from my tech did not explain shock settings.
Whoa!! he set the rear bar at the firmest setting too!?? Dinan recommends that it be set in te softest setting. Also, you may want to sheck with your dealer on which setting they put on the adjustable struts. From the sounds of it, the installer just set everything to the most aggressive setting.
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