Eibach springs sagging??

[painterdave72]

I have the eibach setup on my car. i just recently had my front suspension all apart to repowdercoat my lower control arms and do new balljoints and the stabilizer brackets etc.. the front of my car sits very low now.. like the top of the tire is up in the wheel well a little bit.. it never used to sit that low. i have had the eibach springs for about 10 yrs now.. anyone have any issues with these sagging or anything like that????

[Bitsyncmaster]

Did you tighten the LCAs with them not extended? With stock bushings you need to tighten them at normal extension.

[painterdave72]

I have all poly bushings.. and tightend everything back up with weight on it.. i might try to jack up a side and take a wheel off and loosen everything and tighten it with it hanging see if it makes a difference because this sits very low in the front and i dont want it to rub the fenders... other than that i have no idea....

[DMCMW Dave]

Ask your powdercoater how hot he runs his oven (if you had the springs coated).

[Helirich]

I have all poly bushings.. and tightend everything back up with weight on it.. i might try to jack up a side and take a wheel off and loosen everything and tighten it with it hanging see if it makes a difference because this sits very low in the front and i dont want it to rub the fenders... other than that i have no idea....

I would not do this. I don't think it would work. The bushings are not designed to hold any weight. It would probably be bad for the bushings.


Ask your powdercoater how hot he runs his oven (if you had the springs coated).

If the problem is only since you had the springs powder coated, this is probably the problem. I believe 450 degrees is trouble for springs. I don't think a powder oven is that hot, but I'm no expert.

Edit, if this is the problem, I bet you have to get new or reharden the springs. If they got annealed, they will keep getting lower.

[painterdave72]

I do all my own powdercoating.. but did not do the springs as they did not need it and still have the original powder on them.. so that cant be the problem,,,,

[Rich]

I have the eibach setup on my car. ..... i have had the eibach springs for about 10 yrs now.. anyone have any issues with these sagging or anything like that????

No.

I had the Eibach springs installed on ours in Spring 2011, about the same time you did yours.

I took detailed photos and ride height readings from both crossmembers and the 4 body tub jack points after installation.

No change in ride height in front or rear since then. No detectable sagging.

And there's been no suspension work since then, either.

[painterdave72]

its just the front.. the rears are exactly the same as they have always been......

[painterdave72]

I used to be able to put 2 fingers in between the top of tire and wheel well.. now i can barely get one in......

[Michael]

I think you should focus on what you changed (if anything) or the reassembly of the suspension. I don't know if springs actually wear out or not but I certainly wouldn't expect them to do so in the span of a few weeks unless something changed or was damaged. If you are certain nothing was left out that would alter the ride height(like a rubber isolator), and you are certain it was reassembled correctly, would the orientation of the springs come into play? Being they are always compressed more on one side, would putting them back rotated differently cause issues? What strikes me as odd is BOTH sides are lower and the same amount.

I don't know myself, just pointing out that if the springs
were fine before the work and now all of a sudden the ride height is an inch lower, the springs themselves would be at the bottom of my usual suspects list.

[painterdave72]

i spoke to mike at midwest.. he said orientation of the springs shouldnt make a difference but maybe since they have been in there for years... i am going to take a wheel off this eve or tomorow and see if i can see anything.. and try the loosening and retightening thing.. i am 100 percent sure i have it all back together right...i know i glued small pieces of rubber to the inner cups on the bottom...to keep the springs from squeaking but dont think that would make much diference as these were just thin flat pieces from an old strut assembly...

[Josh]

Don't the Eibachs have a history of sagging?

Also, 400F to bake the powdercoat will not affect the springs. It is not hot enough to change the composition of anything. Especially when they are uninstalled. Most springs come powdercoated anyway.

[painterdave72]

i couldnt find any info on them sagging...but i would think the backs where all the weight of the car is would do it if that was the case???

[Rich]

i couldnt find any info on them sagging...

I did find some info about sagging. From Eibach.

In short, look for other causes of the ride height change.

Taken from the Eibach Suspension Glossary (https://eibach.com/us/ft-3-eibach-suspension-glossary.html):


Q: Spring Sag (aka: sagging)
The loss of spring load and length caused by a poor design, insufficient material or excessive loading beyond its physical limits. Over time, this can cause the spring to collapse or even break. There is a stress limit even for the best materials, but the max allowed stress levels are then superior. But even those high stress levels can be expanded by special production technologies - see Pre-Setting (aka: Blocking). All Eibach Performance and Motorsport Springs are preset to avoid any sagging.

Q: Pre-Setting (aka Blocking)
A complex production technology. All Eibach suspension springs go through the Pre-Setting process. Designed to expand the stress levels to higher limits each spring is compressed to full block, meaning all coils make contact under pressure. This allows new engineering limits to design superior products and to make springs permanently block-resistant - no more sagging! All product design characteristics will now be maintained for the life of the spring, unless damaged; physically or by corrosion.


For the record the Eibachs DMCH sold me were in an Eibach Performance Springs box so they must have been "preset". To avoid any sagging...

[Helirich]

Eibach can say anything they want. But all steel springs can sag. It's just that they aren't going to sag over a couple weeks without some reason. I would be looking at the assembly.

How were they removed? If you used a spring compressor, is it possible you damaged the spring somehow in that process?

[DMCMW Dave]

Properly made steel springs won't sag, they will break when they wear out. Anyone can have a bad batch, but being OK for 10 years and suddenly sagging can't really be a manufacturing defect. The reason I asked about powder coating (not pertinent here since he didn't coat them) is that some operators have been known to run the oven hot to speed up the process. This can anneal springs, warp sheet metal etc.

My feeling is that some of the "cases" of setting or sagging is people who preload the bushings by tightening with the suspension at full drop, and then the bushings settling or sagging over time. Also not necessarily the issue here.

[painterdave72]

I tightened the bushings with a jack under the lower balljoint to push up a bit then i tightened them... i took a wheel off and looked at one side and it all seems fine.. i am going to loosen the lower control arm bolts and retighten them with it hanging a little bit to see what that does... other than that do you have any other ideas??? i only just rebuilt all this about a month and a half ago and have only used the car a few times since......also you dont think the small rubber i put under the bottom of the spring would affect anything do you??

[Helirich]

I tightened the bushings with a jack under the lower balljoint to push up a bit then i tightened them... i took a wheel off and looked at one side and it all seems fine.. i am going to loosen the lower control arm bolts and retighten them with it hanging a little bit to see what that does... other than that do you have any other ideas??? i only just rebuilt all this about a month and a half ago and have only used the car a few times since......also you dont think the small rubber i put under the bottom of the spring would affect anything do you??

If you let them hang and tighten them up, could it hold it up for ten minutes? Maybe. Could it hold it up untill the first time you drive? Maybe. But it's not going to hold weight driving. Those bushing should be tight where the "at rest" position is.

The small rubber you installed was under the spring, correct? It's height would be negligible and it would be raising the car. It could have pounded out in the time you have drivin, but I still don't see how it would lower your car.

Could you not install some spacers at the top to get the height you want? It would bug me not to know what happend, but if you get it where you want, I guess that's the goal.

[painterdave72]

maybe i had it jacked up too high when i tightened everything up and it put a little more stress on it all?? thats why i was going to loosen and tighten everything back that way...???

[white out]

Did you put the spring isolators back in?

[painterdave72]

yes of course...lol.. i would imagine it would be quite clunky sounding without them...lol