How To Adjust Ride Height

Now that you have your new coilovers installed, now what? Where do you start with the ride height adjustment and how do you know where to set it?

If you’re like most of us, we set the ride height as low as it will go just for the shock factor of lowering it off of the lift to see just how low the the car can get or you may be part of the few that actually try to get it right the first time but rest assured, there will be some adjusting that you’ll need to do.

In this post, we’ll cover how to get your vehicle where you want it to sit and go over some tips that will help you get your car looking amazing.

First off, check out the video below to learn more about how to adjust the coilovers themselves.

Now that you know how to adjust the coilovers, let set your ride height.

Step 1 – Make sure that you are on level ground when adjusting the ride height. Any slope will throw the ride height off due to the weight distribution of the car in relation to the suspension.

Step 2 – With the car on the ground, take your initial measurements from the center of the wheel to the fender. You can make note using a post-it note and stick it on the fender for quick reference.

Step 3 – Calculate the difference to where to want the ride height to be.

Step 4 – Raise the car and remove the wheel and take the difference from step 3 and measure out the difference on the coilover. You’ll then adjust the collars according to the difference.

Note: With kits that use progressive springs, smaller adjustments to the springs will result in larger changes. For example, with our MK5 VW Golf kit, if we’re looking to lower the ride height another 2 inches, we will adjust the spring just one inch and make fine adjustments to dial it in.

Step 5 – Reinstall the wheel and measure to confirm your ideal ride height.

Step 6 – Repeat the same steps for all four corners. We recommend that you roughly set the ride height at first and drive the vehicle. The springs will settle with some time on the road and will require final adjustments to even everything out.

Tip: Your car’s ride height is much like a camera tripod. If you raise one corner, it will affect the opposite corner so as you make your final adjustments, keep in mind that you may need to make small adjustments on all corners to get all corners to match.

Step 7 – Once all of your ride height adjustments are finalized, have your car realigned. Whenever you adjust the ride height of your car, it will change the geometry of your suspension which will throw the alignment off.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call or e-mail us! Phone: 801-365-1440 | Email: [email protected]

4 thoughts on “How To Adjust Ride Height

    • Cody Graham says:

      Once you install them, we’ll set the car down, and measure from the center of the wheel to the top of the fender. You’ll then take the difference of that measurement and where you want the ride, and adjust the coilover accordingly. So, if you want to go down another inch, you’ll adjust the coilover an inch, then measure again. Let us know if you have any other questions!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *