Hi, I’m going to replace my old Bilsteins with some MeisterR coilovers. Is this something my local garage can do easily enough, or am I better off going to an MX5 specialist?
I’m not much of a mechanic and have little space, so doing it myself isn’t really an option.
Its a straightforward job, so any competent mechanic can do this. Where they can fall down is if the rear lower wishbone seizes and breaks; a nonspecialist will sting you for a new lower wishbone.
I swapped out my springs last year on my drive and it only me about half an hour a corner that’s how easy it is as long as you have a lot of wd40
If you are getting adjustables I’d make sure you get the car properly set up after
The swapping is not hard - I have lost count of the number of times I have changed the coilovers on MX5s on my drive - but as has already been said, you need to get the geometry done afterwards. My experience with local garages is that they are fine doing ‘stock’ suspension geometry but I have had bad experiences with them trying to do non-standard kit (including a Mk1 that ended up dangerously undriveable). So given that you are likely to need to take the car to a specialist for the alignment you may as well get them to do the installation at the same time. That way you are only having to visit one garage.
If you use the long bolt method it won’t screw the geometry too much necessarily - unless there’s a significant difference in ride height. Probably worth getting the car re-aligned anyway, though. But the lon-bolt method should at least allow you to wait a while for the new springs and shocks to bed in.
As other have stated, it’s a fairly straight-forward job.
Where are you located? The amount a specialist will charge seems to vary considerably.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I know I’ve got to get it aligned, but I’d rather let the suspension bed in a little first if I can.
I’m guessing I could get the alignment done while I wait on a Saturday morning, but the same isn’t true for the coilovers — which means dropping off and collecting on a different day, perhaps having to book holiday off work, and arranging lifts.
If I can get the garage next door to my work to do it, and then later get it aligned on a weekend, life will be sooooo much simpler!
If I get the local garage to do it, what are the chances of it being so undriveable that I can’t drive it 30 miles to get the geometry done?
I’m in Wolverhampton. That’s part of the problem, I haven’t found anywhere good for alignment locally so I’d have to travel. Easy enough for alignment, but no so easy for the whole job.
Your local garage will be able to do a ‘general’ alignment on the car so it should be safe to drive as long as you are not planning to push it. What a specialist will do is tune the ride height to give you the proper balance and dial in the right setting based on whether you want ‘standard’ or ‘fast road’ handling.
Based on what you have said, it probably makes sense for you to get your local to fit the kit and then get it set up elsewhere.
If/when I fit new suspension to my NC I will do the swap myself on my drive then head down to Blink to get it properly set up.
Thanks Paggers, that answers my question perfectly!
How long do reckon it needs to bed in before doing the specialist alignment?
To be honest I’m not aware of any requirement to allow suspension to ‘bed in’. I have always fitted the suspension and torqued everything up under compression and then taken it for the geometry check within a few days. Of course it might be that I have been doing it wrong but from a physics perspective I don’t really see what can ‘bed in’ on suspension if it is properly fitted and torqued up.
Springs do tend to settle slightly; we changed the coil-overs on my son’s Mk2 a few months ago. We had to reset the ride height “up” after a while so he could get it back on my driveway the next time he visited!
Okay, well in my experience that usually happens because the suspension was not under full load when it was torqued up. But I don’t claim to be an expert in the field, just an enthusiastic meddler. The question the OP is asking is whether he should wait a period between fitting the suspension and getting the geometry done. If people are saying that settling is a thing then someone needs to indicate how long he should leave to allow this settling to take place. My view is still give it a few days, get a few miles on the car, and then get the geometry done.
“Okay, well in my experience that usually happens because the suspension was not under full load when it was torqued up.”
Definitely not so in our case; we did understand what we were doing in that respect. The car settled slightly over about a month, at least that’s how long it was before my son visited home the next time and found it scraped the “hump” at our drive entry (I got him to drive in backwards instead).
Somewhere there’s a thread where owners discussed replacing a broken coil spring. Most would only fit a pair across an axle for precisely this reason; the ride height often will change over time. From past experience, older cars with rear leaf springs such as MGBs sometimes needed their sagging springs re-tempering to get the ride height back where it was supposed to be (and there were professionals who would do it for a small fee).
Totally agree that it is the case with leaf springs, but of course they are an entirely different composition. Metal fatigue due to age is also a different topic.
I have now done some research on this topic on the web. Apparently the difference is that stiffer or more expensive coil springs are put through a larger number of heat cycles before shipping to properly harden them whereas cheaper or softer ones tend to skip some or all of the cycles. Those are apparently the ones that ‘settle’ a bit as there is more give in them because the metal is less hard.
You learn something new every day.
On a sort of related note, I am getting Eibach springs fitted on my NC next week, which will lower the car by around 30mm, with the wheel alignment and steering geometry being done the same day by the same specialist. My query is not about the springs settling but whether I will need to get the headlights adjusted. The car will be slightly lower so by definition so will the headlights. Do they need to be adjusted on the headlight units themselves or is it enough to use the dial inside the car? I suppose what I’m thinking of is will I get penalised when it goes for its MoT?
No as you are lowering the car all the way round your headlights won’t be affected
It’s probably worth getting the headlights checked, just to be on the safe side. While in principle the springs should lower the car by the exact same amount front and rear there may be a slight difference, which would throw out the headlight alignment. In case you can’t tell, I’m one of those people who finds badly adjusted headlights annoying!
Well after the nightmare i had just getting my geometry checked after fitting Eibach Pro kit springs I’d say go to a specialist. ATS completely messed up my geometry after i went in there for a 4 wheel alignment. Was told something was bent and should start replacing from the lower wishbone working upwards.
Decided to take it to Wheels in Motion first and told them what happened. They had a smile and after 30 mins i drove out with the geometry all sorted with nothing actually needing replacing.
If youre buying shocks as nice as those then its worth spending the extra to have them set up properly
As it happens I’m taking the car to Wheels in Motion to have the springs fitted and all the geometry done. Glad to hear you were pleased with what they did for you. They came highly recommended and their prices seem pretty reasonable. I’ve been finding the steering a little bit off of late. I had the 4 wheel alignment done by my local Merityre garage who are usually pretty good but I wasn’t convinced they did everything right so decided to go to a specialist like WiM.
I’ll report back when the work is done.