purpose of shorter shocks

[Beej '86 325es]

Whoa...

Ground Control shortens the front strut bodies by ONE inch, not four. Mine are being done right now. I will post pictures of the modified ones vs. stock when I get them back.

Like people have said above, the purpose of the shorter struts is not to lower the car, but to get more shock travel. Using the shorter shocks that G-C has in combination with camber plates gives an additional 1" of shock travel over stock and requires a 7" spring fromw what I understand. They also decrease the droop, not sure by how much though. Right now, G-C is out of stock on their preferred shortened struts, but they just had some alternates come in that are basically the same but with 1" longer droop than the pereffered...no biggie though.

Hope this clears things up a little.

[JRKOUPE]

short shocks

..... my .02



I set my 90 325i up for DE work just last yr......spoke to both TCK and GC. TCK does seem to cater more toward the street kinda guy but they race ALOT. GC, (when you get them on the phone) especially Dale and Jay are great. These two companies were the only ones selling top adj rears. But Skafrog is right....GC knows our cars (and the M's too). I have been using the SA's w/ HR race and they are wonderful. Play w/ them for track work...soften them up on ride home. The IE springs are close enough to HR race , I would say go w/ the Koni's. Billie's get mixed reviews by many. My frt struts are shorter and came w/a spacer........they work great, I dont care what car they may have been produced for......I trust GC.

[gstuning]

Still not true.

GC does not actually modify the shocks. Instead, they provide you w/ Koni shocks for VW Corrado VR6's --- nose-heavy FWD 6-cylinder. The Koni's for these cars are 4" shorter than the E30 Koni's, and have stiffer valving.

Call TC Kline and speak to Alex. He's your man.

well it´s about the same, but revalved or stock other car konis is what they do

[JRKOUPE]

Whoa...

Ground Control shortens the front strut bodies by ONE inch, not four. Mine are being done right now. I will post pictures of the modified ones vs. stock when I get them back.

Like people have said above, the purpose of the shorter struts is not to lower the car, but to get more shock travel. Using the shorter shocks that G-C has in combination with camber plates gives an additional 1" of shock travel over stock and requires a 7" spring fromw what I understand. They also decrease the droop, not sure by how much though. Right now, G-C is out of stock on their preferred shortened struts, but they just had some alternates come in that are basically the same but with 1" longer droop than the pereffered...no biggie though.

Hope this clears things up a little.

are we confused here?........are you talking about shortening your frt strut tube housings...for c/o's? I thought the topic here is reasons for shorter shocks for use w/ co's and /or oe style springs..... the amt of shortening GC likes for the strut tube when using co's differs from the amt. a GC Koni strut is shortened.....unless Im confused.

[JRKOUPE]

shocks

anyway Beej.....I agree w/ you.

I just didnt want some newbie to get confused bet. cutting your frt strut housings and the idea of purchasing a shorter shock. In addition one can use a GC short frt strut insert w/o even cutting the strut housing. In conclusion.....a shorter shock allows one to maintain close to full suspension travel w/ a lowered car( as stated earlier).

[mspiegle]

Just for some clarification on my end...

How does shortening the shock provide MORE travel? That doesn't seem logical to me. I have some crazy idea in my head about how it would work, but I may be confusing myself.

Also, are there any downsides to having the shorter units? It seems like the M3 version of the Konis in the GC groupbuy are 1" shorter and more aggressive.

[Beej '86 325es]

Shortening the strut body give you more suspension travel. Picture the car body being at the same height, with or without shortened struts. With shorter struts, the strut SHAFT has to extend further to make up the difference. This is done with longer springs. Therefore...more travel. :)

[mspiegle]

Shortening the strut body give you more suspension travel. Picture the car body being at the same height, with or without shortened struts. With shorter struts, the strut SHAFT has to extend further to make up the difference. This is done with longer springs. Therefore...more travel. :)

After taking a peek at a pair of struts I have out, I think that makes sense. For some reason. I was thinking that the strut shaft is as long as the entire strut body itself... but it isn't.

I just got off a 2-hour phone call with Pete at TC Kline. Just forked over about $2k for suspension and pads =)

[Nick325is]

Whoa...

Ground Control shortens the front strut bodies by ONE inch, not four. Mine are being done right now. I will post pictures of the modified ones vs. stock when I get them back.

Like people have said above, the purpose of the shorter struts is not to lower the car, but to get more shock travel. Using the shorter shocks that G-C has in combination with camber plates gives an additional 1" of shock travel over stock and requires a 7" spring fromw what I understand. They also decrease the droop, not sure by how much though. Right now, G-C is out of stock on their preferred shortened struts, but they just had some alternates come in that are basically the same but with 1" longer droop than the pereffered...no biggie though.

Hope this clears things up a little.

I am looking at getting a set of the GC camber plates. I currently have the shortened front struts, but I have not gotten around to shortening the strut tube yet. Can you confirm that I will need 7 inch springs with the camber plates?


Thanks,
Nick

[Beej '86 325es]

That's what G-C told me. But when you call to order, I'd verify, just to be safe.

[1991 318is]

What's going on here?

GC's shocks are chosen to be compatible with the rest of the components in their setup. The shock has shorter travel within a completely different set of parameters than OEM - most notable is a 7" spring. From that it is not sound to draw conclusions that apply to shock travel in general. As someone noted above, a shorter shock cannot have a greater range of travel than a longer one. Now if you were a real madman you would relocate the upper mount in the fender apron.

[Beej '86 325es]

We're not comparing to OEM though, we're comparing to the standard konis that you can buy from Ground Control, not the shortened, modified ones...

For reference...
stock strut housing is 17"

shortened strut housing is 16"