Coilovers & spacers ?

Hello,

So as I understand it the higher you go on your Coilover setting the harsher or stiffer the ride. A spacer gives me the lift but without any improved suspension.

With that said could I keep the Coilover at the lowest setting to a better ride and use a 3" spacer on top of the Coilover to achieve the lift thus giving me the best of both worlds?

I don't know much about the subject so I thought I would ask. Thank you in advance for the information.

 

Always a coilover spacers will be even harsher on your suspension

 

Are you talking about spacers on top of the stock coilover? That is how a spacer kit is installed. You never want to stack spacers on top of an aftermarket coilover.

 

Short answer: No. No you can not.

Adding preload on the coilover to add the desired lift height will not make a noticeably harsher or stiffer ride than without preload. The spring still requires the same amount of force to compress.
The ride will feel worse if you have stock upper controls arms and coilovers raised to the max height resulting in minimal available down travel.

* edit * this is in regards to aftermarket adjustable coilovers which I’m guessing is your question.

 

I am looking at a set of 6112's on the lowest setting (virtually no lift) and a set of 3" billet aluminum lift spacer on top of the 6112's. my thought was the leveling kit focus on the lift of the truck while the 6112's on the lowest setting would maximize the suspension. Why is it a bad thing to stack a spacer on aftermarket Coilovers? I am not trying to double stack the lift that's what your thinking. I would use the lowest setting on the coil overs to only using the lift blocks for a total of 3" lift.

If I am mistaken in my understanding please explain. Thank you.

 

What are you trying to accomplish? Better Ride or Jacked up truck.

Pick one or the other: Coilovers or Spacer, not both. Multiple people have already told you the same.

Yes, you are mistaken. @eccracer104 already explained why.

 

I'm just gonna throw a monkey wrench into the mix. Here is a 1 inch spacer on top of a 6 inch coilover. Just look at it as a learning experience. Lol

 

While your thought process is good. That’s logical. The issue comes into play in regards to how the 6112s work (along with other lifting coilovers).

With the spacers, since they’re an immovable object, they don’t play well with the geometry of our suspension. By adding the spacer the focus of your suspension load will move from the bottom of the coilover to about 2” in to the skinny lower leg of the coilover. This will produce a common spacer failure where the lower leg snaps in half (or well, folds over).

Much like this example:

 

ok, I understand that it puts extra stress on the bottom of the shock causing a potential failure. Thank you for the information as I could not find any justification to not run this setup, all I could find was people chose either or but not both. now I know why. Thank you everyone for your input.

 

Thank you for asking before jumping in and making an unknowing mistake

 

Big fan of the toytec 2.0 or 2.5 aluma series coilovers lift kit with a better UCA setup...DONE....Better ride, better alignment and you pay once, cry once. then tires wheels combo is much more desired. Good luck.

 

Is this in regard to a 1.5” spacer that would lift the OE 4600s to 3”, or adding a small spacer (.25”) to an adjustable CO?

Big considerations and implications there.

Preload does affect the function of a coil over. If it’s too much it can move the piston to the point it reaches the end of stroke and clunks which will impair ride quality. Check out the recent posts in the dobinsons threads. It also builds tensile force that applies to the down stroke increasing the momentum downward possibly making it again, harsh. Coach builder has also discussed this in regard to adding small shims to adjustable coil overs.

You won’t see a failure on the mounting arm of a coil over with a shim. At least not one that wouldn’t destroy the shock otherwise. With the 1-2” spacers you will see exactly what was posted above. So knowing specifically what you mean by spacer is imperative.