How to set up your GR Lite Suspension

The day has come to lift your car!

The first thing you need to do is set your baseline height. Before you do anything get your car on level ground and measure your current ride height. This can be done in several ways; 1) measure from the floor to the center of the wheel arch, 2) measure from the center cap of your wheel to the center of the wheel arch, 3) measure from the floor to the pinch weld. You will want to do this front and rear.

Next, prep your coilovers for install. When we ship, some of the assemblies are too long to fit in the box, so we have to adjust them and slightly compress them to fit. When you remove the yellow band, you'll find the spring is unloaded by several inches. You'll want to adjust the spring perch just so the spring is secured but with no tension (this is zero preload).

Next, remove the lower mount of the coilover and measure one inch from where the threads start at the bottom. Use a sharpie marker and draw a line here. This will be your safety zone. You can not position that lower mount any further from that line or it will not be threaded enough. If you expose that line during height adjustment, you've gone too far. It's highly unlikely that you will extend the assembly to that point, but safety first!

Now put the lower mounts back on and thread them on. They don't have to be exact to any measurement, but match up the left and right to help with final height adjustments. We typically recommend setting them so the assmembly length is 1" longer than the OEM assembly..

Ok, so you have your baseline ride height, you have your coilovers ready to go, now you need to get the old stuff off and the new stuff on. This is going to take a bit, so go to work, take your time. Make sure to check all the nuts and bolts are tight, put your wheels back on and get the car back on the ground.

You're all done, lets set ride height!

With the car on level ground, measure ride height again just like you did earlier and compare. Let's pretend that your OEM measurements were 26" F and 26" R and now you're sitting at 27" F and 28" R...but your ideal height is 2.5" over stock height. That means your car needs to be at 28.5" F and 28.5" R.

You need to add 1.5" up front, so get the car back up, loosen the lowest lock ring (it sits atop the hub mount), and grab the shock and rotate the whole assembly (the lower mount wont move) counter-clockwise. To put things in simpler terms: the lower mount is a nut, and the shock assembly is a bolt...you are either turning the bolt into the nut, or turning the bolt out the nut. This will increase assembly length, thus raise ride height, much like a strut top spacer adds height by making the assembly longer. As you rotate, use the lock ring's distance from the lower mount as your reference. Try not to move the ring as it will travel with the assembly. Once the bottom of the ring is 1.5" away from the lower mount, you have probably achieved the height you desire, with only minor adjustment needed.

One option you have here on setting ride height, if you need to adjust 1.5" from where the car is currently sitting, you can adjust assembly length (steps above) by .75" and then add .75" of preload to the spring. That will yield the same result and will also give you some extra bump travel.

You will need to do this on all four corners. If you are measuring as you go, this should be accomplished on the first try. You may have to fine tune 1/4" or so but it will be easily done. Just be sure that anything you do on one side, do on the other. If you are adjusting for 1.5" and you do .75" on the lower mount and .75" on preload, do the same. Don't add 1.5" preload on one side and 1.5" lower mount adjustment on the other. Height will be the same, but travel will not be synced. Use the same method left to right.

You may find that as you load gear, you'll find you want to make adjustments to counter with and without weight. You could measure your new baseline and measure with gear and see how much the car squats when loaded. Then adjust the rear height with half the difference (ie, if you are at 28" unloaded and 27.5" loaded, you can raise your ride height .25" permanently). Doing this will make the squat negligible,  and you wont have to adjust every time.

Now that it's done and you're at your desired height, you have three things left to do... 1) get an alignment, 2) write a review, 3) send us pictures!

Enjoy your lifted car!!