Coilovers being weak.

[Borokazan]

Ok so I got my Progress Coilovers in and I installed everything pretty close the instructions. Somethings sucked because I had to drill out certain holes... I think they may have given me the 2001-2003 version. Everything seemed to be fine until I put them in. Whenever I turn my steering wheel it sounds like springs are popping in and out of things. I can hear them rubbing up and making some serious contact with something. I was concerned at the time of the install because it seemed as if the springs were just chilling there. I drive around and it drives ok, haven't really lowered it at all but my alignment is craptacular. I have to hold the steering wheel 90 degrees to the left in order to drive in a straight line. So today I called Progress for some possible direction in my problem and they told me that I needed to turn the hat 180 degrees, that that would eliminate the popping noises. I talked to someone else and told me that this is crap seeing as how there are 3 bolts. One of my friends thinks I didn't re-install the OEM bearing which I am going to look into in a couple of hours. If any of the more savy members of this forum have any words of advice or could possibly point me in a good direction, I would be very grateful. I'm going to be posting pictures of the coilovers and work I have done and possibly one of you guys can help me spot the error.

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[fventura03]

your tophat isn't aligned properly, thus making your springs pop when turning

[03EM2guy]

that noise is prob the spring jumping, at least that happened to me
just jack it up and (i dont know the correct term) the hat w/ the ball bearings ... make sure that sits right in the top of the fenderwell when you jack ur car back down so that when u turn ur wheels it will spin on the ball bearings instead of jumping


that is exactly what happened to me when i did my coilovers.....it was fine when i was driving around straight but when i went to turn and park it was just i big thud ..bouing

[Borokazan]

Originally Posted by fventura03

your tophat isn't aligned properly, thus making your springs pop when turning

You're actually the second person to tell me this. Dude I'm totally clueless and am doing the work on my own for the first time, so sorry if I come off like a retarded noob... but does this mean that I need to unscrew the three top bolts and like try to put them in another way? Or do you mean that I actually have to remove the coilovers and take the top of the mount part off and put it back on another way?

[fventura03]

easiest thing to do is remove the coilover, and somehow try to get the spring sitting on the top "hat" correctly, it's probably off by a centimeter. it happens to a lot of people.

[Boost_Junkie]

you have to redo it, you didnt index your coilovers correctly...

[fventura03]

that'll work too, not sure if its indexed wrong, or just not aligned correctly.

[Borokazan]

man... this project has been FTL

[Going Postal]

I've have bad experience with the progress coilovers too. Mines do not make any noises but they don't go NEARLY as low as they say (trying to resolve that with progress atm). Did you install the aluminium coil adaptor?

Originally Posted by fventura03

easiest thing to do is remove the coilover, and somehow try to get the spring sitting on the top "hat" correctly, it's probably off by a centimeter. it happens to a lot of people.

heh, that actully happend to me a while back... it so happends that my spring broke

[Borokazan]

Ahaha I got ****ing PWN3d Yesterday, tried taking the shit apart to see if I could possibly correct the problem, but it turns out that when I told my dad's friend to put the wheels back on while I took a piss, dude impacted them on. expletive, couldn't remove them.

I just feel shitty. I'm still 18 so I live with my parents, and everyday they give me shit about the coilovers. "You ruined your new car!"

FTL

[toyomatt84]

Originally Posted by Borokazan

Ahaha I got ****ing PWN3d Yesterday, tried taking the shit apart to see if I could possibly correct the problem, but it turns out that when I told my dad's friend to put the wheels back on while I took a piss, dude impacted them on. expletive, couldn't remove them.

I just feel shitty. I'm still 18 so I live with my parents, and everyday they give me shit about the coilovers. "You ruined your new car!"

FTL

Did you try using the Impact wrench to remove them? If you have, drive on them for a few miles, and the road vibration might free them up ever so slightly, which then you could try removing them.

[Borokazan]

ok... so I wen't to my friend's today and he was able to undo them... apparently the bearing wasn't on the piece anymore, someone took them off whilst installing... so he put the bearing on and re installed the piece and it seems to help a little but it still makes the popping noise.

Could it still be the top hats? I don't know anymore...

Would it matter if these coilovers were meant for the 01-03 models?? Because I'm starting to think these assholes sent me the wrong gear.

[03EM2guy]

yea make sure the top hats are aligned right, thats whats makin ur spring jump

[03civda]

I installed these on my old car. Heres the situation:

When I first put my Ground Controls on, I forgot the bearing just like you did and it made the popping sound. I replaced it and it was fine.

When I upgraded to the Progress Coilovers, they told me before hand that I needed the PLASTIC bearing instead of the steel one. I guess Honda didn't stay with the same bearing for all of the 7th gens. I'm not sure what years the plastic ones came on, but if you call progress they should know. If not, I can try to see if I have the box from the bearings so I can give you the part #.

When I installed them, the famous popping sound wasn't there. There was however, at first, a binding noise that sounded similar to the popping sound. That was because I had the car too low. There have been countless threads (on 7thgencivic) on people getting the popping sound from being very low on their coilovers. So, I raised mine up a little bit, and the binding sound was gone. So essentially, try and remember if you had the plastic bearing or the steel one. If you had the steel ones, order the plastic ones and you'll be fine (they are pretty inexpensive). If you do have the plastic ones, raise the car up and see if it works.

In the end, and not to discourage you, I ended up sending the coilovers back to progress because the rear shocks had problems. Progress was of no help and didn't want to give me a full refund. I ended up having to dispute the credit card charges to get my money back.

Good luck with getting everything straightened out!!!

[fventura03]

Originally Posted by Borokazan

I just feel shitty. I'm still 18 so I live with my parents, and everyday they give me shit about the coilovers. "You ruined your new car!"

they'll stop bitching after a little while