Legalities of coil-over spring kits

[Thomas]

From the sounds of things, regardless of which kit I buy (cheapo or branded ones) I'd still need an engineers certificate - right?

I'm fine with the disclosure to the insurance company, but do I need to get the setup certified, and if so whats the deal? Do I need to weld the sleeve to the strut? I've read 45saken's guide and he simply welded another sleeve/collar to the bottom of the strut to support the threaded sleeve and that sounds good enough in principle to me - however the vicroad boffins may think otherwise.

Thoughts?

[mrshin]

when i sell things on ebay, i make sure the add is perfect.

Don't we all!

[clubagreenie]

What if you replace the strut rather than modigy the original.

It's essentially an off the shelf replacement item, strictly speaking they could ping your insurance for using monroe or other aftermarket shocks that your mechanic fitted just because thats what his parts supplier sold him.

On the Ebay subject, yes check their rep/feedback. I managed to sell over $500- in a night last night, all on buy it now with well written ads and good rep/feedback. But also check the feedback of those that give neg because some of those are just wingers and neg everyone (god sounds like here)

[Youngy]

Dont forget that the stainless sleeves are going to be a PITA to weld to your mild steel struts,

Actually Stainless and mild steel is quite easy to weld together.

[Arch]

Back to the original question, what is and isnt legal

Height adjustable coil overs are not legal, you can get done in SA and VIC for sure, not sure about QLD (they are so slack there )

To make a coil over legal, they must be adjusted to an engineered height (read: a height that has been tested and passed by an engineer) and then have a bead welded over the adjusting thread, so the height cant be changed.

Therefore making coilovers seem like a waste of time for someone who wants a legal car.

You could just swap them for normal struts in the case of an accident, an insurance inspector will only come around after the accident...

[LeeRoy]

But if you think about it why would it matter if you welded the height thing over anyways. In another scenario i could cut the springs in my car then drive around then when i get done just raise it up or get it engineered at a certain height then drop it a bit lower. Same goes for Coil overs yeh even if theyre welded i could always just put lower springs in? and plus i've read that it's illegal/unengineerable to have welded suspension components? wouldn't that void this?

- LeeRoy

[Youngy]

and plus i've read that it's illegal/unengineerable to have welded suspension components? would that void this?

- LeeRoy

That is not quite correct, it is dependent on the welds and where they are. Just like the very rough chassis weld guide in the RTA guides. If you look at factory suspension components you will notice that they are welded together in places.

[ViPeR_NiPPleX]

Back to the original question, what is and isnt legal

Height adjustable coil overs are not legal, you can get done in SA and VIC for sure, not sure about QLD (they are so slack there )

To make a coil over legal, they must be adjusted to an engineered height (read: a height that has been tested and passed by an engineer) and then have a bead welded over the adjusting thread, so the height cant be changed.

Therefore making coilovers seem like a waste of time for someone who wants a legal car.

You could just swap them for normal struts in the case of an accident, an insurance inspector will only come around after the accident...

Bah, guess im gonna have to swap the coilovers in after i get the car rego'd

[LeeRoy]

That is not quite correct, it is dependent on the welds and where they are. Just like the very rough chassis weld guide in the RTA guides. If you look at factory suspension components you will notice that they are welded together in places.

Yeh true your right. I guess what it says and what it means are two different things.

- LeeRoy

[clubagreenie]

Question is, how often are you planning onchanging the height?

Cheaper to buy two sets of springs and swap. Legal and cushy for the road, lower and stiffer for the track.

[Nim]

Question is, how often are you planning onchanging the height?

Cheaper to buy two sets of springs and swap. Legal and cushy for the road, lower and stiffer for the track.

And get dampers that wont get too uspet at the change in height.

[o_man_ra23]

It probably wouldnt be that hard to run 2 sets of struts, one with full adjustment, and the other with street gear. So have your adjustable camber tops, adjustable shocks, and adjustable coilovers with bigass brakes and race pads on one pair of struts (race pads chew discs so arent so great on the street), and the other with street legal springs, comfort based shocks, street brakes with street pads.

Personally I like the idea of having full adjustable all the time, and adjusting/swapping pads for the races, but thats the beauty of QLD

Cheers, Owen

[TooF]

problem with swapping parts all the time is you'll be forver having to get it all realigned...

as said before.. do you *need* coilovers or is it just for the bling factor.. for most applications a set of kings,whiteline,eibach,rsr etc etc springs and some decent shocks will work just fine

[o_man_ra23]

Aligning yourself isnt that hard, and its best to have full adjustable on the race track so you can tweak to optimum... just make records and notes of all your setups and thier performance for future reference.

Cheers, Owen

[TooF]

there is home job alignment (on par with a bob jane alignment) and there is get it done properly by your local suspension guru... a really good alignment makes a world of difference.