How long does it take for front springs to settle??

[69*Goat]

I installed all new Global West Tubular Suspension and 1" lowering springs on my 69 GTO about two months ago. I dropped the engine in it a week ago, and I have only had it on the road for three days. I know that it takes some time for the springs to relax, after they have been loaded, the back dropped nicely, but the front is higher than it was when I removed the stock springs.......




Is it a case of "the more I drive it, the faster it will settle"


any ideas

[JRouche]

Yeah, you only have a week on the springs. Drive it through some turns and use the brakes to help plant them. Give it a month of regular driving and they should seat themselves after that. If its still too high, like the same distance then thats pretty much what you have. A month on the road should work the springs enough to relax them. They wont settle much after that. JR

[JEFFTATE]

My Camaro settled until I put about 700 miles on it.
And settled more ( It settled almost 1.5 inches total ) in the last 3 years.

[tripower]

I had the same situation with the GW springs on my 65 Goat...the rear sat nicely and the front looked like it sat up higher than the it did with the original springs. I called GW and they said that their springs won't settle...they are pre-stressed before shipping. I have maybe 1,000 mile on mine over a couple of years and they haven't dropped.

[CHILI442]

1 year

[DriverzInc]

Cut a 1/4 coil, it will sit down instantly... LOL.

Yeah, they take awhile...

[69*Goat]

Well, chalk this one up to being in a hurry and not using the proper tools for the job, or not using the tools to make things easier.

I dis-assembled the front end two days ago, because something was just not right.

I pulled both front springs, and I measured the spring against the stock spring....

Well Ok the GW spring is 2" shorter than the stock spring. This should drop the car anyway, ok I checked the frame to make sure that I did not need to index the spring into a pocket on the frame.... nope, the frame is flat, except for a centering ring that fits inside of the coil spring....ok I checked the lower control arm for a spring index.....and DOH!!!!! I had the springs indexed INCORRECTLY on the lower control arms. The passenger side was about 2" away from sitting in the correct spot, and the drivers side was 4" past the correct spot. I re-installed the springs last night, this time I used a spring compressor, which made things much easier. The springs are indexed correctly now, and the car should be lower.

Now, do I need to loosen the control arm bolts and set the car down to get the full drop?

[Apogee]

...Now, do I need to loosen the control arm bolts and set the car down to get the full drop?

Yes, especially if you're using rubber control arm bushings. If you're using solid or Delrin bushings, it shouldn't matter much since they don't bind when installed properly.

Tobin
KORE3

[69*Goat]

Yes, especially if you're using rubber control arm bushings. If you're using solid or Delrin bushings, it shouldn't matter much since they don't bind when installed properly.

Tobin
KORE3

I am using Del-A-Lum bushings.

[CHILI442]

You need to drive the car. I can set my car down off of jackstands and measure the height, then back out of the garage out into the street, then pull back in the garage (slight bump) and measure again. The car will settle an inch.

I've had Hotchkis springs, GW spring (S-48), and now QA1 coilovers. They all settled over the first year.

Anytime I adjust the coilovers I take the car around the block (at least) and then pull back in and take my measurements.

[slowcamaro]

Its usually a good idea to torque suspension pivots with the suspension loaded.

[69*Goat]

I re-indexed the front springs, and I got it to drop 1". This puts the bottom of my front cross member 6.5" above the pavement.....I think it is still too high. I am going to change the front and rear springs again and see if I can get it down to around 3"-3.5" above the pavement.

[dhutton]

Not to hijack the thread but do coilover springs settle, and if so how much and how quickly?

Thanks.

[CHILI442]

My coilovers did. I had to crank them up a few times over the first year or so, but with an A/C equipped, iron-headed big block Olds, I got a lot pushing them down.

[chicane67]

All springs will settle... including those from Global West. (Not to get a shot under Doug's ribs... but all springs will settle).

Although, the higher the quality of the spring (the spring steel itself and its process) the less it will settle... and that is what can be said to back up Global West's quality... and why they would tell anyone that "their" springs don't settle because of a 'pre-stressed' process. But the fact is... they will settle. Now, whether or not you can actually measure the difference is a whole 'nother question.

As for dhutton's question about 'coil over' springs... yes, they too will settle... and back to the quality of the spring steel and its processing... will lead you to the answer of how much.

For most applications it's really a question between the quality of the spring itself, how much you drive the car... and how hard you drive it. Meaning, if you just drove from home to work to home and some weekend driving... it could take months. If you were to beat on them a little, from some more 'spirited' driving and some weekend autoX events... it could take a couple of weeks. But in my years of doing this, I would expect the most noticeable difference (for a street driven chassis) to be around 90 days. After that... I don't believe that you will see much of a difference in height change.

[CarlC]

I had negligible settlement with the current Landrum springs.