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I ordered the Eibach pro-kit springs a few days ago and got them installed by Midas because I didn't have the right equipment or knowledge or time.. First off these are supposed to be 1" lowering springs but my car doesn't look any lower. He installed them on the stock shocks and struts which to my understanding is part 2 of the Eibach suspension kit, with step 3 being the anti-sway bars. I drive off and immediately notice the alignment is severly off so I instantly go back to Midas. They align the car after having to convince me to pay them $20. I drive off, everything seems good. Seems tighter. I park my car and go to a friends house for a little while and when I come back to my car I turn and notice a "popping" noise. I get out and put my hands on the springs and turn the steering wheel and sure enough the springs are making the noise. I get in and try to drive... My alignment is extremely off. It's too late to go back to Midas now so I will have to go tomorrow... No driving until then.

Does anyone know what the **** is going on? And do I need to get the shocks and struts to get the full lowering effect? And if so, where can I get them?

Sorry if these sound like noob questions but I'm just getting into modding my car and I'm not sure what else to do. Thanks for the help..

-Nicholas


Edit: Should I just get some Tokio HP shocks instead?

 
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first off, i've never really trusted chain shops. the more i've learned about cars, and the more stories i've heard about chain shops, the less i've trusted them. next time try to go to a reputable independent, or a dealer. they're more expensive, but you get less headaches from them. really anytime you do major work to the front suspension, you'll need an alignment, they should have told you that before even starting the work.

shock absorbers have nothing to do with ride height, unless you lower it so much you hit your bump stops. all they are there for is literally dampeners of the spring speed. hit up the car bibles for more info on shocks. edit: i was wrong on this, shock absorbers don't affect ride height but struts do, and our cars have struts on both ends.

the springs have to be aligned with the spring perches, if you don't do that they won't sit right, and can possibly be the reason it doesn't look lower. it could also be possible that the tech put them in upside down. what year is your car? there is a suspension FAQ stickied at the top of the this forum, post 8 seems to describe your problems exactly.

 
Rep Power: 812

yeah your biggest fail was going to midas. they totally installed your springs wrong, and its not even possible to align a lowered car properly unless you have aftermarket camber kit front and rear. to answer your question, aftermarket shocks like tokicos usually make the car sit higher than oem because they are stiffer and can better function with a lowered car. so if anything, the ride height will go up with new shocks. ofcourse this is only true if your oems were old or leaking to begin with. and i agree with the above comments, they either put the springs backwards, maybe switched rear and front, or did not align them properly. the pop noise means its not installed properly. and a 1 inch drop should be noticable. alot of times its even lower than an inch like 1.2 depending on the car. i would get this fixed immediately.

 
Rep Power: 812

yeah your biggest fail was going to midas. they totally installed your springs wrong, and its not even possible to align a lowered car properly unless you have aftermarket camber kit front and rear. to answer your question, aftermarket shocks like tokicos usually make the car sit higher than oem because they are stiffer and can better function with a lowered car. so if anything, the ride height will go up with new shocks. ofcourse this is only true if your oems were old or leaking to begin with. and i agree with the above comments, they either put the springs backwards, maybe switched rear and front, or did not align them properly with the indexing marks. the pop noise means its not installed properly. and a 1 inch drop should be noticable. alot of times its even lower than an inch like 1.2 depending on the car. i would get this fixed immediately.

 
Rep Power: 300

just my opinion but tokico blues suck ***....i have a set and they aren't noticeably stiffer than stock. they don't last longer either. from day 1, the nylon seals on the front struts were squeaky. every couple months i have to spray some lube at the seal to shut them up. i also had problems with the rear. one of them started leaking after 1 month. now that corner is sagging. their lifetime warranty is crap too. i tried to warranty my shocks but tokico said i have to do it through the vendor. no vendors want to do it for me so they tell me to go back to tokico.

as for shocks causing increase in height, i think it's due to the pressurized nitrogen gas that pushes upwards. the car will sag when the shocks leak because the nitrogen is gone.

 
Rep Power: 251

^^^no tokico blues doesnt suck.
OP...most likely the spring isnt seat properly in the perches. Also you fail because you could have looked at the diy on this site and gotten in done yourself over the weekend...good luck

 
Rep Power: 812

my tokico blues were ALOT stiffer than oem, my ride is so firm its crazy. and i drive over hellish roads where the car is non stop moving up and down. i even completely loaded up the car with hundreds of pounds to the point where the tires were tucked for 2000 miles as i drove home. after that and almost 3 yrs later, the shocks are still in perfect working condition and the ride height is even front to back same as when they were installed. i actually bought these used, so they have a total of about 3 yrs of hard abusive driving on rough road and sharp cornering. maybe you just got a bad set.

 
Rep Power: 300

mine are indexed correctly...it takes an idiot to install them wrong...
i know for sure mine have bad seals because the squeaks go away if i lubricate the shaft and nylon seal, but that's temporary fix that only lasts a few months.

also, even if the shocks were fine, tokico still sucks because their customer service is bullshiet.

 
Rep Power: 300

lol...a bad set?

so you say 3 of the 4 were bad out of the box? i can understand maybe one of them being bad but 3/4 = either poor quality control or a badly designed product. on top of that, tokico kept giving me the runaround on the lifetime warranty so their customer service sucks too.

actually, what's funny is that even my stock ones lasted longer that the tokicos. the only reason i swapped out my oem ones started leaking. surprisingly, my two front 2002 struts were still fine despite them being known to be crap.