Ground Clearance

[pepegas187]

The roads here in Rhode Island are pretty bad and I occasional ground out the my car. I installed Xidas with 550/350 spring rates. If I up that to 700/400 will I get an increased ground clearance?

[mr_hyde]

Xidas have adjustable ride height so you can set it regardless of the springs.  That said, some of the early Xidas (mine) were very hard to get as high as I wanted for street use.

[joeereid]

Xidas have adjustable ride height so you can set it regardless of the springs.  That said, some of the early Xidas (mine) were very hard to get as high as I wanted for street use.

I ended up ordering 1" taller springs for the rear to make my ride height work.

[pepegas187]

I've run out of threads on the shock bodies. So I have no additional adjustment left. I like the longer spring option.

[joeereid]

IIRC the problem with running out of threads at the rear was pretty common with the early Xidas. They were developed around a stripped out race car which was a fair bit lighter than a street car. There were a few other "growing pains" that have since been sorted, but I won't go into that. Do you still have threads available to go higher at the front?

[pepegas187]

I spoke with Emilio at 949 and he advised to spin the collar up three full turns. Of course, knowing better, I dialed in five full turns. Too much. Turned back two to Emilio's original suggestion, increased dampening one click and bingo. Lesson learned. Don't argue with the boss.

[joeereid]

So it's spun up past the point of threads visible above the perch?

[pepegas187]

It was difficult to see if there were more threads as the Torrington bearing and the fist coil of the helper spring obstructed my view.

[mr_hyde]

So it's spun up past the point of threads visible above the perch?

I did this with mine and they cross-threaded on the way down.  I think Joey was even over at my place to watch the surgery to 'repair' the aluminum threads.  It's a bummer because now if I want to upgrade, my existing Xidas have basically no resale value.  Both fronts made contact with the sway bar using the endlinks I was told would work so the left rear is the only Xida on my car that isn't marked.  The right rear perch is fixed in place so when I cornerweight, everything adjusts from there...   

[joeereid]

So it's spun up past the point of threads visible above the perch?

I did this with mine and they cross-threaded on the way down.  I think Joey was even over at my place to watch the surgery to 'repair' the aluminum threads.  It's a bummer because now if I want to upgrade, my existing Xidas have basically no resale value.  Both fronts made contact with the sway bar using the endlinks I was told would work so the left rear is the only Xida on my car that isn't marked.  The right rear perch is fixed in place so when I cornerweight, everything adjusts from there...   

That's exactly what I was alluding to, having seen mrHyde's issue. Spinning the perch up past full mutual contact put's  the load on fewer and fewer Aluminum threads. I did some measuring/observing with some dividers and decided the $150 for longer springs was cheaper than 2 new Xida  bodies.
Just another side note; when you set your perch heights, take note to align the allen bolt set screws outboard so you can get a drill in there to drill them out when they seize. I had an "issue" with one of them stripping out due to over-tightening. Had to pull the whole thing out and get a new perch(long story). I replaced the set screws with higher quality stainless and anti-seize. Every time I do the brakes I crack them loose and then re-tighten...but that's just how I roll, YMMV

[pepegas187]

The gen 2s have a rubber snub under the set screw so when you tighten them there is no metal to metal contact.

[SilverMiataRacer]

The gen 2s have a rubber snub under the set screw so when you tighten them there is no metal to metal contact.

Except for the metal contact of the screw in the thread itself which is a very likely spot for corrosion to cause it to jam.  Joe's method is going to stop that but just some anti-seize might work too.

[mr_hyde]

I ended up with anti-seize on the perch threads too.  Aluminum/Aluminum fasteners will always be prone to galling.  These were intended to be shocks on race cars and as such, expected to be removed and adjusted often.  When they sit for years in the same adjustment getting gunked with dirt and rain, the materials aren't optimal.

[pepegas187]

Good point. Anti seize it is then.

['95MSM]

Ace Hardware has nylon thumbscrews in SAE threads. They work perfectly on the Penske perches on the race car. Not sure if you could find them in metric, but it would definitely end the corrosion issue.