That's bizarre. The manual adjustment has nothing to do with the autoleveling feature. Autoleveling is related to the front and rear height sensors, and typically someone does shocks and reconnects the rear sensor incorrectly, or lowers the car and doesn't set the sensor back to midrange at the new ride height.

 

Another factor to consider is longevity & serviceability. The high-end options, like Penske (and Ohlins, I'm sure), can be serviced and/or rebuilt to maintain optimal performance. Probably not a big concern if they're primarily for street use. However, for track junkies, this is a big plus.

-Mike

 

I did raise the front about 10mm, felt it was way too low compared to the back and soon after I set the sensor back to were it was, I'm glad its working again.
Car seems to handle better at these heights plus it has more clearance over speed humps.

 

OK, that makes sense. You manually adjusted the sensor position. There is also a manual headlamp adjustment you can do to the headlight housings, and it sounded like you were making the adjustments there. If it's repositioning the sensors for mid-range at your new ride height, it makes total sense.

 

Initially I did adjust the sensor at the back plus the manual adjustments on the actual headlights as one light beam was up and the other down, to try stop blinding people.
Later on after raising front suspension height I adjusted the sensor back to where it was and soon after noticed the leveler started to work again.

 

Doesn't seem to have been covered here, but we recently introduced a new mid-range budget coilover option. These coilovers are based on Silvers monotube shocks. We buy Silvers shocks to our spec, then couple them with Hypercoil main springs and helper springs. Every coilover is assembled in house and ride height, and more importantly travel limit is set in order to minimize installation time. The number one reason for rubbing with coilovers, particularly those that have an adjustable shock length, is that lowering the car too much by reducing the shock length causes it to travel too far and crash into the fender. So we setup the shocks when we assemble them, and by using helper springs, all height adjustment after installation is done by adjusting the lower spring perch, NOT the shock length, so suspension travel is not affected. Using helper springs also allows us to use a greater range of spring rates, which of course are custom depending on customer preferences. So bottom line is that if the shock is setup correctly from the start, you avoid a lot of the rubbing issues that you get with many coilovers, as well as reduce the overall installation time.

 

Is this also a feature on your Penskes (adjusting height without reducing shock travel)?

 

He didn't say reduce shock travel. That's not possible without changing the shaft length. What he meant was suspension travel. The two are not synonymous because suspension travel can be limited by body panels and other parts of the car that will rub tires until either the tire fails or the body is permanently modified.

 

Penskes do not have a lower threaded shock mount, so you can change shock length. Typically cheaper shocks have a lower threaded adjustable mount which alllows use of the same shock on many different applications, whereas with Penskes we have to choose a specific length shock for each application. Using fixed length shocks is also better as the function length of the shock is longer and fluid capacity is significantly greater.

The Penskes will bottom always bottom out at the same point as the only way to adjust height is with the spring perch.

Rafi

 

Just placed an order for a these to replace my aged BC Coilovers from 2011.

 

How did your BC Coilovers treat you over the last 9 years?

 

Update on your HKS Coilovers? Your thoughts compared to the stock 2011 suspension?

 

See my post above, and I have also recently raised the front 10mm to bring it inline with similar OEM front to rear difference. Felt the front was too low, car seems better balanced now.

 

When I installed them back in the day there were not many options available for the car and with the BC's weighing less than the stock suspension I took the plunge as I was hitting the drag strip aiming for 11's. As for performance they were improved over stock for sure, but never experienced anything else to compare against. I've only got about 30k in the BC's as the car doesn't get driven too much. I have less than 3k on it over the past 2 years and just hit 60k a few weeks ago, but I do know the BC's are already aged and I look forward to trying something else even at the expense of some weight going back on the car as these Road and Track Coilovers weigh more than the BC's and are equivalent to the stock suspension. Not really planning to hit the strip or track anytime soon so these "budget friendly" coilovers look like a nice match for my needs even if I do end up jumping on the track once or twice in the next few years.

 

Sorry did't see the above quotes was skimming late last night and posts were blending into each other as my coffee started to wear off.......Good to hear that your happy with your HKS coils! Seems like people like them and haven't seen to many complaints for the $$