FK Coilover Woes [Archive]

Coops

11-06-2007, 22:23

put the car back on its wheels today and on passenger side the tyre is a nats bollock away from touchin the strut and on drivers side its resting on it fully! :?

when i took it apart was fine but i have had the hubs undone from the struts and popped new driveshafts on, i've tried adjusting it on the camber adjustment but the strut where it meets the hub right by the bolts fouls on the casting of the hub and wont let me adjust for less camber, currently looks like this / \ and wont go any less? how the heck am i sposed to use the full capabilities of the camber adjustment if the damn things foul on the hubs?

any help much appreciated!

cheers

Coops

MAXIBOY

11-06-2007, 23:04

pics please

Coops

11-06-2007, 23:13

i'll get on it tomos, but basically the bottom of the strut straddles the hub casting where it bolts on, at this point the hub casting is machined flat to the strut faces so when u do the bolts up it all clamps flush and snug. but in order to adjust the camber the strut must swivel a bit around this 'flat' area and in order to correct for the camber i have it wont do it as the strut bottom catches on the area of hub where the flat mating face ends

MattyH16valver

12-06-2007, 14:15

I had these coilovers on my hybrid, I had to grind away some of the hubss in the ends where the strut was catching....good fun! :roll: I also made the bolts thinner aswell so that the bottom of the strut could pivot easier. I'll try and find my thread about it.

northy

12-06-2007, 15:52

are these built into the coilovers or are they elongated bolts coops ?

matty

12-06-2007, 17:35

Never had a problem with my FK's fouling but did require camber correction boilts due to them running too much neg camber.

MattyH16valver

12-06-2007, 18:16

Never had a problem with my FK's fouling but did require camber correction boilts due to them running too much neg camber.

That may be the easiest option.....but I had waaay too much nagative camber and I don't think it would have made much difference tbh.....had to get the grinder out.

Coops

12-06-2007, 23:26

after closer inspection under good light it looks like its been rubbing since the year dot anyway so am suspecting wrong offset wheels aswell maybe? but lookin from front camber is still way off!

on this pic where the bottom of the strut by the lower retaining bolt mates to the hub the casting of the hub prevents the strut swiveling to adjust the camber, its fouling up against the hub casting. the camber is as far to negative as i can get it before it bangs here

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/coopahstar/P6120010.jpg

second pic shows how little that adjustment is, plents of space left on the cut outs for the bolts but wont physically go any further cuz of the casting fouling issue

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/coopahstar/P6120011.jpg

and finally u can see it rubbing on the strut here, notice the mashed up tyre wall full of little striations from the coilovers thread, the tyre was like this when i put it back on so it was fouling beforehand, i just never noticed

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a330/coopahstar/P6120012.jpg

any idea folks?

cheers

Coops

Coops

12-06-2007, 23:30

Coops

12-06-2007, 23:30

are these built into the coilovers or are they elongated bolts coops ?

built in mate, check pics above!

AndyFielder

12-06-2007, 23:57

that ricky dickulous. Thats what my bent strut looked like before i got new ones. You sure yours arnt bent.

I would suggest spacers or new rims. I cant see FK getting there kit that wrong. Whats it like wound up to "normal" height?

Andy

arj256

13-06-2007, 00:01

AndyFielder

13-06-2007, 00:11

makes you wonder doesnt it!

Coops

13-06-2007, 00:12

doubt its bent as otherside is pretty much the same and i have no handling issues

am suspecting wheel offset tbh

the camber adjstment bit is looking like poor design also, as no matter is strut is bent or not its still wont be adjustable to extent of the holes in the coilies! :roll:

spacers for now i think and grind some of the hub casting off to adjust camber then maybe widetrack next year! :P

northy

13-06-2007, 07:46

bloody hell thats close to the tire mate......too close !

have you had a word with FK ?

Can you take a front on view from the bumper to show me your camber please coops ?

AmDaMan

13-06-2007, 12:49

find the offset of the wheel, could well be in the rim mate.

Coops

13-06-2007, 18:31

bit snide on the weather front, will post up and revive this thread in few days when i've had a nosey etc. ordered 30mm spacer kit to solve offset issue which must be there and will have a word with FK bout the camber adjustment.

northy, i'll whip the bumper off again at some point n all and show u my camber :P

MattyH16valver

13-06-2007, 19:04

matty, so i can just grind a section of the hub away? if u can find that thread wud be great? u still runnin the FK's n alll as noticed on ur thread elsewhere bout drivers side wheel sitting too far forward, i think mines doing that n all! :roll:

I had exactly the same problem as u had and my wheels where rubbing on the struts. I did post up about this when I had the problem...but I think it was lost when we had the problem with the site some time ago. I sold the Hybrid to 1fast6 on here not too long ago....so u could get him to whip a wheel off and take a pic of where the strut meets the hubs and what I have cut away. Basically I just took shaved the bit marked of below roughly 1/2 cm and gradually brough it up to the smae level as the rest of hub...if that makes sense? :? Please bare in mind that the lower u go the harder it is to take the car to a garage up on the ramps and do the camber adjustment and wheel allignment etc. Some places may refuse to do it. I payed a fair bit of money to have it set up properly...only for the strut to move a week later cos they did not do a bolt up properly....and they said I must have hit a curb! :roll:

Heres the bit I shaved off

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c226/MattyH16v/P6120010.jpg

Heres the Inclinometer I used to use when I put a piece of wood across the rim of the wheel and use this to mesure the camber...eg -1 etc.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c226/MattyH16v/DSCF0611.jpg

Can be bought from here:
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Empire-Inclinometer-22388.htm

Hope that helps

matty

13-06-2007, 19:17

I had mine properly set up for free at Performance Driven in Taunton which is where I bought mine from. This was over 4 years ago.

Allegedly FK's cpme with a lifetime guarantee.

It was only when I came to replace my front tyres I found them totally bald on the inner edge and that I was running too much negative camber.

I went to Northampton Motorsport and they adjusted it the most they could but was forced to still run over 2.5 degrees neg camber. Wasn't happy so I went back to Performance Driven who fitted supertracker camber adjustment bolts and now running 1.5 degrees neg camber.

You need camber adjustment bolts, there is not the same adjustment on these coilovers for Mk1 clios as the Mk2.

Please also note that there is a different coilover for the Williams, so if you are using the Valver one a widetrack or vice versa that could also cause you problems.

MattyH16valver

13-06-2007, 19:33

As above....the Williams FK Coilovers fit the williams fine...it's on the version they do for the 16's that need to be messed about with. Depends whether ur happy with -1.5 as ur best result using correction bolts...the way I did it I could run 0 camber...but most of the time -1. I was lucky enough to have access to a grinder/transformer/leads etc through work....so it was'nt so bad. Was not 100% sure i'd fix the problem when i did it...but it came out ok.

Coops

13-06-2007, 22:29

cheers lads

bollox to paying to set it up, can get it good enuf by eye, at least to minimise the tyre wear, i'll get to work with the grinder after FCS, gonna run some spacers for now and leave it at height its at rather than lowering it a bit like i was going to before FCS!

its all std valver track stuff, no widetrack here unfortunatly, may even upgrade tbh to willy stuff depending on funds