wtf JIC Coilovers

[86.5ny]

So this morning, I begin my routine seasonal undercarriage and suspension cleaning as well as doing my breaks and replacing some bushings while I'm there and I find something horrific. 2 of 4 (both rear coilovers) of my coilovers upper spring seats are completely annihilated from when I last checked them before winter. I was kind of expecting something bad, as sometimes on sharp 90 degree turns I would get noises from my front suspension as if it was a spring coming out of compression and twisting, but I was not expecting what I found. I maybe put 400 miles on them since I checked them last and they have about 7k on them total. The third coilover, passenger front, is showing severe stress fractures. I want to know what alloy they are using to make these things that allow stress fractures to occur instead of using a more ductile material.

It just pisses me off, :: angry ::, I have no backup suspension and will be forced to remove all upper spring seats until JIC gets back to me on my issue. I'm sure they wont give a fuck since my warranty is long expired, but this is the first time I've seen something like this happen. Even my friends with the worst K-Sports or ebay coilovers you can buy don't shatter their upper spring seat. Ontop of that I know a Mk4 Supra w/ over 60k miles on the same coilovers as mine without a gas recharge or any type of refurbishing. They want something like $41 per upper spring seat, which I find ridiculous :aigo:. Sure the material has a relatively low specific weight to strength ratio, but it fails in the toughness area. I attached a bunch of pictures, mind the dried mud and road grime, I ran out of cleaner after cleaning the only coilover that survived. :3d_frown:

 

[NashMan]

i have set of thous mine art broken

 

[86.5ny]

i have set of thous mine art broken

you have a set of upper spring seats, or just a set of the JIC's? How many miles are on yours?

 

[supradjza80]

If I were a betting man I would say those are fatigue failures. Also if I were a betting man I would guess that your spring is not tight in the coil seat at full droop (you should use a helper spring if this is the case or just raise your car up some) which when the suspension droops can cause the spring to move on the seat or sit on it incorrectly likely causing your failure. Without knowing more about your car and set up this would be my guess. Spring seats are a pretty simple piece with very simple loading, as long as the spring has preload to keep itself located correctly on the seat. Failures of these components, when used correctly, will therefore be very rare.

 

[86.5ny]

If I were a betting man I would say those are fatigue failures. Also if I were a betting man I would guess that your spring is not tight in the coil seat at full droop (you should use a helper spring if this is the case or just raise your car up some) which when the suspension droops can cause the spring to move on the seat or sit on it incorrectly likely causing your failure. Without knowing more about your car and set up this would be my guess. Spring seats are a pretty simple piece with very simple loading, as long as the spring has preload to keep itself located correctly on the seat. Failures of these components, when used correctly, will therefore be very rare.

My car is only at a 3cm drop in front and 2cm in rear. I did notice when adjusting them today that some of the locking seats were very loose as were the springs. Every few months, I check them to make sure they are tight, not too tight to put compression in them but tight enough to keep them from moving. I was looking at the spring seats (assuming you're talking about helper springs) on JIC's website, they are like $154 for a set of two plus two spring adapters. All considering a 4 set of upper spring seats versus a 4 set of the helper springs would be double the money, but in return I would get the helper springs, which could be useful. First things first, try to get a discount

 

[NashMan]

show me a pic of the set and see if there the same as mine i planing on selling mine maybe

 

[86.5ny]

show me a pic of the set and see if there the same as mine i planing on selling mine maybe

i don't have a pic of them off off the car, if you were to show me a pic of yours i could definitely match them. you can just look at mine and see that they would match or not, on top of the pillow ball mount is just a lug.

I'm also not interested in buying new coilovers, i'd rather spend a few hundred and have mine redone by JIC. i really just want the upper spring seats or the helper springs for between the spring and the pillow ball mount.

 

[maj75]

Something is wrong with that installation. I had a set of JICs on a Miata and they were fine. The upper end of the spring should be bearing on the upper mount, the plate with three bolts that attaches to the car. To say another way, the upper spring seat should be flush with the upper shock mount. There shouldn't be a gap like the one shown in your picture # 5. The upper mount should bear the weight of the car on the springs. Those broken pieces look like the adjusters that go on the bottom of the spring and attack to the shock body. They don't and could not bear the car's weight, only the weight of the suspension on extension. The JIC's that I had were the FLT-A2 mono tube coilovers and they did not have a separate upper spring seat. The spring rested directly on the upper shock mount.

 

[86.5ny]

Something is wrong with that installation. I had a set of JICs on a Miata and they were fine. The upper end of the spring should be bearing on the upper mount, the plate with three bolts that attaches to the car. To say another way, the upper spring seat should be flush with the upper shock mount. There shouldn't be a gap like the one shown in your picture # 5. The upper mount should bear the weight of the car on the springs. Those broken pieces look like the adjusters that go on the bottom of the spring and attack to the shock body. They don't and could not bear the car's weight, only the weight of the suspension on extension. The JIC's that I had were the FLT-A2 mono tube coilovers and they did not have a separate upper spring seat. The spring rested directly on the upper shock mount.

I see, that sorta makes sense but how would I get the upper spring seats to raise up to meet the top of the pillow ball mounts? In pretty much every picture on JIC's page is misleading because I never had a manual for my coilovers and it was my first non strut/shock combo buy for any car so all was new to me. i guess its a learning experience at the least!

 

[maj75]

Take the shock apart. Remove the upper red anodized aluminum part which is in between the pillow ball and the spring. Then re-assemble. The spring should now rest against the pillow ball (usually a thin rubber ring sits in between). There should be two adjuster rings below the spring, on the shock body. You adjust the upper ring to set the ride height and then jam it in place with the lower ring.

 

[empera]

lmk if u wanna sell the fronts