Adjusting dampening of HKS coilovers

[ENGINR]

I need to soften up the HKS Hyper D coilovers I have in the car. Anybody know how to do this?

I've had a quick look at them, but not having the car in my possession at the moment makes it hard to go out and fiddle with them. There seems to be a dampener adjustment knob at the bottom of the front struts, is this what I use? I don't think the springs are too heavy, but am wanting to rule the struts out first before looking at springs.

 

[DOUGMO]

from memory adjust at the bottom on the front and top on the rear

they will adjust bump and rebound together i believe

 

[vsthis]

I'll have a look at mine tomorrow morning shane and take some pics. Maybe call Steve at advanced jap. He has them on his evo 3.

 

[ENGINR]

Cheers for the info guys.

If you could take pics Damo, I'd appreciate that.

 

[vsthis]

No worries mate. I'll post them up tomorrow.

 

[Liberoz]

HKS springs are hard as nails unless you odered specific spring rates than what come with them off the shelf

 

[ENGINR]

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. If the springs are too hard then I'll have to look at getting a 'softer' set. The front of the car is rock-hard beyond ridiculous.

 

[JAP63]

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. If the springs are too hard then I'll have to look at getting a 'softer' set. The front of the car is rock-hard beyond ridiculous.

They are usually pretty hard on the Hyper HKS model...my mate had them in his S14...they were borderline unuseable for road.
Theyre also an inverted design, theyre good, though hard to rebuild

 

[vsthis]

Sorry about the wait. As George said, theres a knob on the bottom of the fronts and thats it for adjustment.

The backs just have adjustment at the top. They also have the valve at the bottom but i'm fairly sure thats just for rebuilding/regassing but it shouldn't effect the stiffness.

Hope this helps Shane

Looks like springs might be the only option.

BTW, Do you have the spring adjustment spanners?

 

[DOUGMO]

spot on mate, dont touch that valve on the bottom of the rears

 

[vsthis]

How can you tell if they need re-gassing? Should i get the pressures checked before i fit them up?

 

[JAP63]

How can you tell if they need re-gassing? Should i get the pressures checked before i fit them up?

Generally you will notice clunking because the piston will be plunging through the oil and creating pockets because of lost gas. This can be noticed more so when the shock extends.There should be around 10-14 Bar of gas inside, depending on make etc..

 

[ENGINR]

Thanks for posting those pics Damo, I thought those purple knobs on the bottom of the front struts were for dampener adjustment, I just wasn't 100% sure.

You raise a good point Jamie - I think I might have to get the gas pressures in my rear shocks checked, as one of the is clunking like a bastard.

Does anybody know any good suspension rebuilders they can recommend?

 

[vsthis]

I think george knew of someone in the northern suburbs who rebuilt some HKS coilovers not long ago. I remember reading it in a thread here somewhere, just cant remember where!

 

[ENGINR]

Sending out an SOS to George!!

 

[vsthis]

I'll see if i can find the thread.

 

[DOUGMO]

http://www.promecha.com.au/

 

[JAP63]

You raise a good point Jamie - I think I might have to get the gas pressures in my rear shocks checked, as one of the is clunking like a bastard.

If the rears shocks have spherical joint bearings at the tophats check them first, these are likely the most predominant cause of knocking noise, after that, look at gas pressures

 

[Tripmcneily]

http://www.promecha.com.au/

So these guys have/can rebuilt HKS car shocks??

I have a set of hyper-d's also that might need some attention

 

[DOUGMO]

yep, they did a set of hypermax (? i think they were) for a mates evo 6.