Caflashbob

i had thought about this exact scenario. The MeisterR’s should be the larger part of the fix. Shorter same rate spring is stiffer and the shock dampening fix is probably very good without the other stuff.

buddhi

I've had Meister Rs on my 2003 SC430 for a year. Good but not entirely satisfying.
Had a heck of a time adjusting ride height to be equal all around by trial and error;
took wheels off and on 20 times last year. Today took them off and on four times
making adjustments after noticing passenger rear was 1/4 inch too low compared to
driver rear. Apparently the guy that replaced the stock suspension with the Meisters
last year did not do it properly. Found the passenger rear shock with four inches of
thread showing compared to 3 inches on the driver rear shock. Yet only 1/4 inch
ride height difference. I wonder how many threads were holding that passenger
rear shock together? Not cool as I commonly hit 100 on the highway and take exit
ramps at 70.

So I first adjusted the preloads on each side close to zero, so I could still just turn
the bottom of the spring. Wondering how many threads is a good preload, if any.

Then I adjusted both shocks to show three inches of thread. Wheels back on and
car down. The passenger rear is now rubbing while the driver rear has about 3/4
inch of tire space.

What should I do? Will also need to check and adjust the fronts after I get the rears
in order.

Caflashbob

full alignment?

buddhi

Yes, should be all aligned. But can rear wheel alignment affect
ride height?

Is there a recommended preset? Could that affect ride height?

With more research have found that preset can affect height but
must be judiciously considered. A preset compression more than
the corner weight is bad.

I will set presets at 4 mm and use a digital caliper to measure
the number of threads showing and see if that works.

Got it figured out. Took out both rear presets and readjusted
back to 4 mm, the width of the shock adjustment wrench.

Dialed up 100 mm for threads showing, about four inches.
Was concerned that I'd not have enough thread inside the
tube to be safe but there's a peek hole you can stick a small
rod in. If there are threads through the hole you're okay. That
hole is about an inch down from the lower locking nut and top
of the lower shock body. 100 mm rears and still threads showing
in peek hole.

Got the wheels back on and lowered it down. One side was
an inch higher than the other, which did not make sense.
Did I get the presets that much off?

Found my front wheel was partly up on the brick used as a
wheel chock so moved that. Still half an inch too high.

Took The Beast out and floored it a bit to wind up the rear
axel and took some bumps and corners. Thing moves faster
than a Tesla if you floor it in 2nd gear, if slow enough will
downshift into 1st. Stirring the the gearbox is like slapping
on a supercharger.

Back in the garage all good, settling the shocks made both
rears the same height. Now have to adjust the fronts. Big
difference in the ride and handling with the rears; like a different
car. Now I can appreciate the MeisterRs. Went a year with
my suspension all off, wondering why my Prius Touring (Euro
suspension) seemed to handle better. What a dummy.

Rear tires are 255/35-19. Clearance with 100 mm of thread
and 4 mm preset is two tight finger widths to the fender.
Looks just right and gives a great ride.

buddhi

Finished adjusting the front to two loose finger widths under
the fender. This required the same 4 mm preset as the rear
and 90 mm of thread showing. I could just start to see the
bottom end of the threads through the peek hole so front and
rear Meisters have different shock tube lengths. You'd not want
to go higher than 90 mm up front. Measured all around and
there was still a height difference which should fix itself by
settling in. You need to drive the car between each shock
adjustment before measuring it.

If either of the two lock rings are too tight to loosen with
the adjustment wrench yanking by hand there is a half-inch
square hole in the handle for a breaker bar socket.

After settling in passenger front was 1/4 inch too high, not
sure why. Pulled it off and took some preset out, maybe 1/8
inch and adjusted the threads down 1/8 inch. Now it sits the
same as the driver front. But I don't like the idea that the two
are not exactly the same adjustment. Fronts are 245/35-19.
Previously had 255s and they rubbed. Rears are fine at 255.

I suppose there's about an inch of gap all around. Might want
1/4 inch less. Wish I knew the optimal gap for the SC for handling
and looks.

fishinmagi

Just installed these Meister-r coilovers a few weeks ago, It seems like a lot of people are having difficulty getting the height just right. If anyone is reading this thread in anticipation of installing their own, I can share what I did and it worked out pretty good.

For the love of God, do not install these things straight out of the box, it will make your car way too low. What I did first is take a baseline measurement of all 4 wheels with the stock shocks. It doesn't matter where you measure from- just be consistent.
When you remove your original shock assembly, set it side by side to your new coilover. If you want to keep close to stock height, adjust your coilover to be the same length as your old shock assembly. Be sure to check your new coilover, there is a peep hole to make sure there are enough threads visible. This is for safety, if you can't see the threads, you have adjusted the coilover height too high.

I wanted my ride height to be slightly lower, So I made my new coilovers about 2-3 inches shorter than the original shock assembly. The important thing to remember is the adjustment isn't 1:1, in other words a 2 inch adjustment on the coilover does not equal a 2 inch adjustment to your ride height. this gave me about 3/4 inch lower in ride height once everything was installed. After some trial and error I settled on a 1/2 inch drop.

Anyway, my takeaway message is that once the coilovers are installed it is harder to adjust them, as opposed to adjusting them before you install them. Once they are installed you can measure the distance between the adjustment collars to make your fine adjustments to all 4 coilovers.Overall it was not to bad of an installation. The hardest part was removing the old parts with 20 years of grime baked into them. The front shock assemblies were also tricky to fish out once everything was unbolted.

Feel free to reach out with any questions!

buddhi

New and important information from Jarrick.

"One question, when you are adjusting the ride height.
Do you undo the bolt to the control bush to ensure they are free.
Then re-torque them under load (wheels not he ground).

Twisted bushes is the most common cause of ride height inconsistency.
So if they are twisted, it may be giving you the result you are experiencing at the moment."

Here is the movie version.