Bottoming out...

dont lower the car.

no seriously, you might have the wrong springs, if you realy want to drop a car, you should use progresive ride setup, that way you can adjust your drop, and in case's like this you can rase it up just a bit if it keeps bottoming out. check with where you got the springs, they might not be all that tested for your car. (matrix is not that common of a tuner car)

where do you live? i live in CT in the north east, and lowering cars sometimes is a bad idea.. (alot of rice boys lose oil pans out hear becuse of that)

i dont have this problem and i've got the same springs... did you do it yourself? double check that the springs were installed properly on that side(the spring lines up properly with the slit in the strut)... also check under the rubber at the top of each strut, see if one is screwed down more than the other... also check the bump stop, maybe they forgot to cut it.... check your ride height on both sides...

The ride height is a little lower on the drivers side, but that's where the tranny and I are. It only bottoms out on the drivers side. Oh, and when I took it the shop that installed them, they looked at it and told there were no bump stops. You don't have a picture of them, or know where I can find a pic do you? Maybe a, "How to," thread? Any way I know it's impossible that there aren't any, but at the same time I'm thinking...
Maybe it's because it's an auto and the tranny is a little heavier. That could be it right?

yea some springs come with new bumpstops but the tein's dont... you have to cut the stock ones. maybe they didnt know that and just took the stock ones out...

Can you by any chance get me a pic of the stock stops?

chinamanxr just posted a pic of the stock bump stops.

I just found the bump stops, they took them out. Is that bad? Should I cut them and put em back? or should I leave them.

cut them and put them back.. thats why you're hearing the strut bottom out...

Ya, I'm doing it right after work! These are my friends too, so I'm gonna get pissed at em.

CMZee13 said:

I just found the bump stops, they took them out. Is that bad? Should I cut them and put em back? or should I leave them.

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Cut them to the Tein STech specs whatever it is.

update us when you get it fixed

It'll definetely be this week, I'll do it at the same time I get my rims.

First of all you do not get extra bumpstops when buying Springs where the heck did someone get that info from?

Now With any Springs with 2" or more Drop you will have to cut the Stock Bumpstops to give the Struts more room to travel during dips or bumps otherwise you will bottom out everytime you hit a bump or dip or whatever.. Bumpstops should have about a quarter to an half inch taken off.

checked the ones on my ride when I read this tread as I too am in the market for Tien SS Coilovers, and I cann't see this as the cause as it's as soft as sponge and can be compressed so easily that i do not think this could bean issue. if he is complaining about 1 of the 4 why are the others that aint cut giving the same behavior??? hmmmm

hotchkis comes with new bumpstops

Pharcyder said:

First of all you do not get extra bumpstops when buying Springs where the heck did someone get that info from?

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I've got Hotchkis springs and they're the only ones who include new bumpstops to replace the stock ones.

http://www.hotchkistuning.com/cgi-bin/EDCstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=19402

Got it all done today! the bump stops were cut a little more than one and a quarter inch. The ride is perfect!!! Thanks people!
Oh ya, and is anyone going to the Sonics meet this Saturday in SoCal?