First, let me send a huge thanks to John, Adam and Ralph for installing my KW V1's this morning/early afternoon. Those guys know their shit, and it was all second nature to them. Believe it or not, I jumped in and got dirty as well, not as dirty as them, but I did try to help. We were missing a friggin' nut from MILAN's set, but Ralph had the right fix, in that he knows of a MEGA fastener store in San Diego, and problem was solved! Grant-it, they didn't accept credit cards for such small purchases, so Ralph came through AGAIN and fronted me the moola. Long story short (1 of 3 stories - be sure to read below) the install went very well (* see last line in this post) and here's the results: Back lowered ALL the way (still needs to settle a bit) and the front was lowered to about 11 threads. Now, I was happier than a pig in shit all freakin' day. Polished the chromed OEM wheels, wiped her down real nice, cleaned the windows, packed up the wife and kid and headed out for dinner... then EVERYTHING went down hill. Seriously. The bordering neighborhood JUST installed speed bumps. Fucking mountains, if you ask me. I scraped a bit before the KW's... but nothing serious... that time I was moving a little too fast and scrapped a little. So, I took that route on our way to dinner. BAD IDEA. I creep up to the first of 2 speed bumps, get at a 35-45 degree angle and proceed over. Got up fine. Then SCRAP!!!! The noise was HELLATIOUS! Then reality hit... when my exhaust got suddenly and noticeably LOUDER. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! I had no choice. I had to get the car home, so I had to crawl over the 2nd speed bump. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! All of a sudden, I had non-intentional e-cutouts. The exhaust was ROARING. Limp home, swearing to myself, getting pissed off and bordering on insanity. Look under the car and those fucking massive speed bumps managed to pull my hi-flow cats away from the cat-backs, AND managed to PUSH my Zoomers rearward about 2 inches. Later this evening, I jacked the car up in an attempt to fix my precious. I was able to hammer (not too hard) the pipes back into alignment, but the Zoomers need to come back forward 2 inches to fit the pipes together; and I wasn't about to crawl under the car with jack stands and a jack, by myself, and begin pulling my Zoomers back forward to proper alignment. So, the car will sit this weekend, because of fucking mountainous speed bumps and my stupidity for thinking I could make it over them. *this is quite typical of something that happens to me: I get something done that I am SO HAPPY about, then something occurs to fuck up everything I was happy about. At times, its work interference, this time it was my own stupidity and ridiculously sized speed bumps. My car isn't SLAMMED, so this shouldn't have happened. I'm considering vandalising those speed bumps with a pick-axe. Anyway, last but not least, Milan... oh Milan... you'll get yours! (somewhat of an insider joke).
Jason... looking good but sorry to hear about those speed bumps... I will remember not to go to your house since I am lower than that... well it seems that way from those pictures...
Jason, back away from the car about 5 to 7 paces and take a pic at door handle height so we can see how low it's actually sitting. To get your pipes back on I'd recommend loosening EVERYTHING back up and then basically re-installing them. Otherwise the chance of getting them just right is going to be much less. Check to see that none of the hangers got bent. and... next time you high center it don't keep going! Unload the family and friends, have the wife lift up on the front fender while you slowly BACK off of what you're hung up on. Hope it goes back together like new. Oh, hey, for the second bump that you didn't have a choice on, the trick is about a 20 degree angle (almost parallel with the bump) so that you have one wheel on top of the bump the whole time you're going over it.
sorry to hear about your hang-up (j/k). i guess that is why i bought bags, adjustabilty is a great thing.
That's a shame Jason. What luck, you have to wait to test the KW's. You will probably have to completely remove the exhaust sytem and remount. When you say the speed bump "pushed your high-flows cats", did you mean the speed bunp hit the high-flows and forced everything back? Does this mean the exhaust broke between the high flows and the headers?
Dang Brudda, that sucks. At least that's all that got messed up. Love those freakin' wheels! Guess you're going to have to pull a Ryan and avoid all the speed bumps! How's it handle compared to Ricks?
He said it pushed his high flows away from the cat back. But since he was going forward what he meant was that it pushed the cat back away from the high flows (you got to read between the lines). Good thing they weren't welded. It could have been really bad.
No... see Dave's response below. Drew, the addition of the Vredestein's with their thicker sidewall gave a noticeable handling improvement. The KWs, for the 10 miles I used them, seemed to stiffen it up a bit more... while smoothing out road irregularities. No shit. I can't believe this. I fucking can't believe this shit. Honestly, there are times like this that I want to fucking destroy the car and start over. One thing goes great, something gets fucked up. I'm so damned depressed about this... especially because I will likely have to have the exhaust remounted?!?! Oh fuckin SOB! I don't have the money or time to deal with this shit. Seriously. The last 3 weeks have been a total cluster fuck in my life and this just fucking adds to it. I'm sick and tired of car problems, not having the time, money or ability to do what I want/need to do... if this fix is as involved as it may end up being, I'm gonna flip my fucking lid. The car is where I want it to be with looks and performance, and I can't even enjoy it... and this is the first weekend in awhile I haven't had to think about work THAT much... and I can't take time off this week to get shit fixed, so I'll have to waste whatever time NEXT weekend that I have to fucking do this, IF I have time to do anything. I've so had it. Seriously. If/when I get to a shop to fix this shit, I don't give a fuck if they half-ass it, so long as there's no exhaust leaks and it doesn't sound like a NASCAR, I could care less. Weld a fucking can between the pipes at this point so long as its cheap and quick. Yes, I'm fired up again. Damnit!!! 1 out of 100 people with this coilover system have major issues? If as bad as mine? Of course, it has to be fucking Momo! The one idiot who can't fix his own shit and is too busy regardless. Sorry for the rant, but if I don't get it out, I'll develop a bigger ulcer.
negative, you should have them welded. there is just no reason on gods green earth to not have everything welded. you need to check out if the speed bumps are of legal height. i think its something like 3.5 inches or thereabouts. your exhaust doesnt hang lower than that. if worse comes to worse and your neighborhood association wont fix the bumps, go out there with diesel oil and burn em down. it works, ive done it to my neighborhood bumps when i was living at my parents home in their ultra fancy neighborhood. every one of those retards drove an suv so they didnt give a shit about the people with sports cars. that being said, my car is about an inch lower than yours from the pics and i scrap on every speed bump, hill incline, etc. you just need to change your driving style and your route.
Raise It! Oh God!! I did the same thing with my 300. I just took it into a suspension shop (since the last shop muffed it up) and they raised it 1/2 and aligned it. I dont know what else they did but this thing rides much better and handles really positive. I guess you cant beat a "professional" install. Anyway, I wont have to worry about tearing out the under carriage pan again..lol
Momo, you should give it a shot first before going to a shop. You're probably going to be OK. 1) Get the car up, crawl under there and take your time looking the entire situation over. Start with the headers. Make sure they look normal and not bent from being pulled on (not likely). Then inspect the flange and joint where the high flows bolt to the headers. Try to wiggle the cats. They should still be bolted tightly to the headers. Loosen the clamps that used to hold the cats to the cat backs. Check to see that nothing got ripped or broken (clamp). Then work your way back. Check all the hangers to see if they got bent back or broken loose. Check the impact zone to see if it's more than scrapes and dents. You might as well loosen all clamps as you work your way back. I can't remember what the zoomers look like but you should have 2 or 3 sets of clamps as you go back. One where the cats clamp to the pipe coming out of the front of the muffler. One where the pipe coming out of the back of the muffler clamps to the tail pipe. And maybe one more for the tips? Zoomers got resonators right? Anyway, sounds like the bump caught the muffler. Or maybe the clamps. Best case: Muffler got pushed back. Pulled the pipe out of the joint with the cats and at the same time shoved the pipe further into another joint which sort of grabbed and it stuck like that. The hangers are rubber and could just stretch. More likely: The rubber hangers just hook on pegs that are welded up under there. The pegs are metal rods a bit thicker than a pen. Those might have gotten bent back towards the rear. If that's the case then you'll want to take the rubber hangers off and try to bend the rods back. Without breaking them or tearing them off the car. You could get a length of pipe to fit over them and bend them back instead of beating on them with a hammer. Works a lot better. If the rods are torn off the car or ripped any sheet metal instead of breaking the welds then you'll have to get them welded back on. Worst case: Exhaust is bent/kinked. The way to put your exhaust back on is to start from the front and hang and slide joints together all the way back BEFORE tightening any clamps (don't forget to slide the clamps over the pipe before you shove the pipes together). A big ole rubber mallet is very useful when putting exhausts together (or use a block of wood to hammer on). Get everything positioned just right and THEN tighten clamps. Then loosen and make fine adjustments as necessary. One thing that's going to tell a lot. You said it was pulled about 2" back from the cats. Are your tips sticking out the back about 2" more than before? That would probably be a good thing. If they're not then that 2" went somewhere and it's probably not good.
I did the same thing J on my stock suspension and on a side road that had a neighborhood slow-down effort underway. This street had 4 foot long speed bumps. Yes, 4 feet long but a very slight incline and decline. Regardless of the gradual bump, going over it at 35 miles per hour during nightfall caused my front end to bottom out and scrape like a mofo. I see my peeps "took care of you" hehehehe. Now, you know the true meaning of the red-colored phrase at the bottom of my sig...after all it's been up since you're last thread on KW's...LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave, thanks. A night's sleep and a cup of AMERICAN coffee (actually Tim Hortons, brought to us by Mom from Buffalo) makes a man think more clearly. My cat backs are all welded. No clamps. The only clamp is from the hiflows to the catbacks. My tips are pushed back about 2 inches past where they once were... so I guess that's good. I'll take your advice and give it a shot. I'm just concerned with relying on the jack stands, being under that car and tugging/pulling. I also noticed that the clamps (hiflow to catback) have a square blade that points downwards, towards the ground... this is the place where the screw goes to tighten the clamp. That portion of the clamp hangs down an EXTRA inch from the pipe... why couldn't it have been sideways?!?! I'd have been ok then... THAT piece is what majorly caught and pulled on that speed bump (speed bumps had GOUGES in them... pipes would generally SLIDE over the bumps, so that portion of the clamp acted like a plow INTO the bumps). Milan, you will learn at somepoint that I always have the last laugh, sole exception being my wife, you SOB! LMAO! Thanks for the added stress! Jerk! LMAO!!!
In many cases, yes. But these boys basically are pros. Let alone Ralph is a master mechanic. The suspension was done right, no doubt. They've done their own work with the same product, plus a few other peoples' KWs. There were other factors: HIGH speed bump, me thinking I could make it over, AND... (see my reply above to Dave where I describe a square piece of the hiflow clamp that hangs down an inch lower than the pipes).
Hey Jason your welcome for the help. Sorry to hear about the exhaust! I really thought you were kidding when you called me last night bro. Ill see if I can find the exhaust shops number and pm you...
COPY THAT! It sounds like you went the right route........looks like the speed bump got the best of you!!
No, no, what Sarge meant is that professionals wouldn't have let you drop your car that much. A professional would have thought "this guy should be driving a Wagon Queen Family Truckster 2000" and would have said "sorry, as a professional, I can't lower your car that much for you".:sorry: Your mistake was going to friends who couldn't bring themselves to just say NO. Glad we're feeling better this morning :grin: and glad it's looking more like a best/minimal case scenario. Hurry up, run down to AutoZone, get a set of the grey Rhino ramps, get some 2x6 to drive up on to get onto the ramps and let us know what the hangers look like.
