I have the Ground Control adjustable springs installed on my xB and was wondering if there was some adjustment that I could make to the rear control arm. When the car is jacked up to the point that the wheels are off the ground the shorter springs fall out of place in the rear. Its not that big of a deal, but can be a pain in the ___ when I go in for an alignment and have to try and explain to the guys that my rear springs are gonna fall out and then expect that they will put them back in place correctly. Is this a function of my stock shocks or the control arm? Are there adjustments I can make to either? New Shocks? Just deal? Do others with other brands of lowering springs have the same thing happen to them? Below is a picture of the GC in the rear. When the car is jacked up the red spring is not held in place and falls out. Perhaps this is normal for lowering springs.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jefffeldman/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/rear.jpg

:shock:

thats sounds dangerous!

my goldline is in there. It is compressed enough between the lower control arm and the upper body mount and it was held up with the stock shocks

this is why every other spring out there is progressive rate, so they will stay in at full droop.

its the shock that limits the droop of the suspension. you can probably use some washers or something at the top of the strut to pull it out some.

now i'm not sure about getting coil over...is that true for every set or is it just a fluk with his box...??

maybe getting aftermarket shocks (usually they are shorter than stock) might help.... :?:

Looks like you have the back slammed pretty low by the look of the perch. I saw that this coul dbe a problem when i installed the TRD springs but they are long enough to not pose an issue.

One thing you may want to try is to give GC a call and ask them about helper springs. You may be able to put a smaller tender spring on top of the rear spring in order to hold it in place. That should do the trick ;)

:shock:

thats sounds dangerous!

my goldline is in there. It is compressed enough between the lower control arm and the upper body mount and it was held up with the stock shocks

No, it was the same on my Eclipse.

Everytime you go up a wierd incline or jack the car up they come out of place, then you have to jack it up and let it down while risking crushing your fingers to align them.

Definitely a pain in the ___ when you get an alignment, tire rototation, or anything that requires the car to be lifted.

I'll never buy cheap ___ coilovers like these again, besides the inconvenience, they are dangerous even with helper springs (which screw up the spring rate you picked and make noise).

I'f I want coilovers I'll get something like tien basic's or something. $895. If I don't have a grand, then I'd just stick too drop springs.

Shorter shocks will keep them in place (if someone makes shorter shocks)

Blitz coil-overs do not fall out.

http://www.rockymountainsusp.com/W_misc.htm

Hopfully there are some shorter shocks out there. I'm a little ____ed because I called Ground Control before I got these and specifically asked them if I would be able to roll on the stock shocks. They said that they were designed to work with them and that there would be no problems. The GC cost $420 and new shocks will be at least $300. For another $100 I could have gotten coilovers. Anyways, they ride nice.

answer this is you guys can. is there a big problem with just sliding the springs back in when they fall out? i know it can be bothersome if there is no lift involved but most of the time the box isn't gonna be jacked up anyway, so they fit properly.

answer this is you guys can. is there a big problem with just sliding the springs back in when they fall out? i know it can be bothersome if there is no lift involved but most of the time the box isn't gonna be jacked up anyway, so they fit properly.


youre not seing the problem

its like sitting on a chair then one leg falls out
thats not a pretty sight :shock:

i dont know how the xB would react but i sure wouldnt want to find out :oops:

Having spent a bunch of time under the car with the Ground Control, I don't think that this is really a safety issue. You would literally need to catch major air for the springs to pop out. Were talking the valet joy ride in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" kind of air. There is no incline, hill or uneven surface that would do this unless you are running from Roscoe P Code 3 in the General Lee xB. The issue is more about getting the car serviced and every time I want to screw around with my car and put it up on jack stands I end up having to hold the rear springs in place. I am pretty sure that once a "shorter" rear suspension comes to market that I will be all excited about my GC adjustable springs again. For all I know the TRD are just that. I will through this question out there again to any who are rolling on them now or to any sponsors that are looking to sell me a pair. What's up with the TRD baby?

I got this picture of the Tien coilover from the tech section of Scion Life. It looks like if the adjustment dial was put down another 1/4" that the spring would pop off at full drop like the GC. Is my problem that I'm down too far? That would suck ____. I don't want to raise the car at all. Anyway, I called GC and they were like "oh yea. I guess that would happen on the xB. No there is nothing you can do about it". The tech started telling me how I could wrap wire around the spring and control arm "maybe". He also said that shorter springs wouldn't have anything to do with solving the problem, but he also didn't seem to know that much about the xB. I'm certainly no expert about this stuff, but it would seem that a shorter spring wouldn't let the control arm down as much. What do people think?

http://www.scionlife.com/tech/suspension_coiloverinstall/032.jpg

you can zip tie the spring to the base, and it wont pop out (ghetto fix) or the best way is to get the shorter shocks if you plan on having it that low. :wink:

Thanks. I'm going to try out that zip tie idea in the am. I guess I can always spin the dial all the way up to the top before I bring it in for service. That way the springs would stay in. A bit of a pain in the ___, but it only takes like 15 minutes tops to adjust both rear springs. I'm assuming that I don't need a rear alignment every time I do this. Right?

He also said that shorter springs wouldn't have anything to do with solving the problem, but he also didn't seem to know that much about the xB. I'm certainly no expert about this stuff, but it would seem that a shorter spring wouldn't let the control arm down as much. What do people think?


I meant to say shocks.

I called TRD and unfortunately the length of their rear shock is the same as stock. The dampening has been adjusted, but they are not short stroke.

there was somone from the echo site that posted here last night about these.. he lost the spring at 80mph. I could even see the lowering springs popping out on 0 load.. but these look like they'd worry me under normal big jars. I hit a bridge seem the other day that all but lifted the rental car I was in off the ground and threw it to the side. Something like that and I'm betting you just lost your rear end with these springs.

I don't have a suggestion though, other than returning them with a fist up someones face and get some modest springs.