Bent OEM front coil?

[JPuehl]

So this past Saturday I tried to replace the OEM struct tops with adjustables from Ground Control to get some camber and was not able to reassemble the passenger side, which was the only side I took off and apart, and it appeals the spring is bent. Also the shock would not extend fully, which contributed to me not being able to attach the GC or OEM struct top. I ended up taking it to the dealer and supposedly it took 3 techs almost an hour to reassemble. The service writer that helped me on Saturday called this morning and said their "master mechanic" said a spring couldn't get bent and that the spring is supposed to be like that.

Does anyone know if the OEM springs are supposed to be/appear bent? Eventually I'm going to replace them with Swift springs but was curious.

Thanks, Jim

[ShocknAwe]

My thought is that the perch is bent rather than the spring. Or the top bolt is bent preventing you from putting the top mount on straight. Or the entire damper itself. Highly doubt anything is wrong with the spring, you'd know.

[JPuehl]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

My thought is that the perch is bent rather than the spring. Or the top bolt is bent preventing you from putting the top mount on straight. Or the entire damper itself. Highly doubt anything is wrong with the spring, you'd know.

Thanks. The spring appears bent when it was removed from the shock. The thing that was preventing the top from getting put back on was the shock not extending all the way out. I couldn't compress the spring enough to get the top back on. Many people the looked at it says it's definitely bent.

[fe1rx]

If you have a look at this thread you will see why the OE strut is such a pain to install a spring on, unless you have the foresight to clamp the rod before removing the spring. It also provides a work-around if you are really stuck.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...=939230&page=2

Incidentally, OE Mac strut springs are often made "bent" so that the spring compression axis passes through the lower ball joint not along the axis of the strut tube. This reduces bending loads in the strut. So, yes, your spring is supposed to be bent.

[JPuehl]

Originally Posted by fe1rx

If you have a look at this thread you will see why the OE strut is such a pain to install a spring on, unless you have the foresight to clamp the rod before removing the spring. It also provides a work-around if you are really stuck.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...=939230&page=2

Incidentally, OE Mac strut springs are often made "bent" so that the spring compression axis passes through the lower ball joint not along the axis of the strut tube. This reduces bending loads in the strut. So, yes, your spring is supposed to be bent.

Thanks for the link! The shock shaft retracting was my problem. I figured something was damaged but apparently not. I'm still replacing everything anyway.

Thanks again,

Jim

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by JPuehl

Thanks for the link! The shock shaft retracting was my problem. I figured something was damaged but apparently not. I'm still replacing everything anyway.

Thanks again,

Jim

If you're going to swap dampers, get some Koni Yellow or Bilstein HDs! It would be a shame to put stock dampers back in after swapping them out.

[JPuehl]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

If you're going to swap dampers, get some Koni Yellow or Bilstein HDs! It would be a shame to put stock dampers back in after swapping them out.

Koni's are the plan. I just put everything back to OEM so I could drive the car until I get the new parts.