One day when he was at the end of a freeway junction, the exit between 92 Eastbound heading to 101 South to be exact,
Turtle heard something that he could only explain as an airplane touching down.
Surprised, he began to notice that his suspension was causing his wheels to hit the underside of the fender whenever he hit the right kind of bump above a certain speed. Sometimes it would screech, sometimes it would sound like a very large bird with a cold.
When Turtle bought the car, the seller was advertising INTRAX springs with Tokico Blue shocks. At that time this was a common "upgrade", so Turtle took this as something he wouldn't have to worry about down the line.
It turns out that the INTRAX springs are not adjustable, so Turtle was stuck with what he had. When the springs and the shocks compressed, the wheels would just always rub into the wheel well.
After driving around this car for a few more weeks with that annoying chirp, he began to re-think what he should do about his setup. If excessive, Turtle feared that he might tread a tire and lose control. An extreme, yes, but a danger nonetheless. The rears were not making this sound, so Turtle decided to keep them they way they were, also an INTRAX / Tokico setup. His focus would be to tune in the fronts to acceptable, firmer or taller levels.
During his search, a C4ag friend turned him to a friend of his named Miracle Max, who performs automotive miracles.
This friend also recommended Battle Version coilover sleeves, which were adjustable, and something called Battle Version camber plates, something Turtle only heard of on Gran Turismo. Since Miracle Max was local, he met up with him during an "M.T." corolla meet and Miracle Max showed Turtle his wares.
Miracle Max had Turtle at the magic he was demonstrating, so he bought the BV coilovers and camber plates on the spot. The aforementioned friend installed them in less than an hour after that.
So from then on the setup was different. Instead of a one-height spring, Turtle was now able to adjust the level of the coilover and the angle of the tire.
The chirp was completely gone and the front of the car felt a lot more firm over bumps. A win, for sure. Turtle was told that the springs would settle at some point which would make the front of the car lower, but such was not the case. Now Turtle was faced with a different challenge. The front of the car was now too tall.
Turtle did not want to adjust the coilovers so low that it would blow out the long stroke shocks,
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read about short stroke shock conversions here:
http://www.club4ag.com/faq_and...n.htm
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so he sought an alternative. He didn't have the money to have his struts shortened, so he found that T3 has an item that will allow the use of short stroke shocks which will shim the top of the shock itself inside of the stock strut casing. After buying stock short stroke shocks (say that 5 times fast) that were made for an SW20 MR2, he contacted Miracle Max again and not only did Miracle Max conjure up the T3 Advance Strut Tube Spacers, he also summoned forth a pair of T3 Roll Center Adjusters, or RCAs, which would correct the overall loss of length of the strut by using shorter shocks (others would say it corrects the geometry of the lower control arms, bump steer yadda yadda).
And now the setup would appear to be a little more complicated than the original spring-and-shock combination. Battle Version coilovers and camber plates operated the ride height and angle of the tires, short stroke shocks are a welcomed addition to any lowered car, and T3 advanced strut tube spacers and RCAs keep the original geometry of the suspension correct, allowing Lola to now be lowered in the front again. Take THAT, annoying wheel chirp!
R
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