[j006]

Ok guys, so a while back Jssaab, Johnnydel, and myself were complaining about the ride height on our 9-5's, that even lowered the front sits too high. Johnnydel and I both have H&R's, while I'm not sure about Jssaab. ;oops: We were commenting in this thread on how nice the ride height was on this car, owned by 93t in Sweden: showthread.php?t=97760&highlight=bigger+brakes

showthread.php?t=97760&highlight=bigger+brakes

Now, we had some trouble getting the guy to ship us the springs(model #13156N - can be found here), even on a group buy, mainly because of cost ($$$), so the idea was sort of abandoned.

Here's the new twist: Some of my work colleagues go to Sweden quite often, so I had the guy in Sweden ship them to our office over there, where one of my buddies picked them up and brought them back on the flight. :cheesy: I installed them today, and so far I can't tell the difference b/t the new springs and the H&R's. The car sits the same in the front as far as I can tell. I thought it was going to be a dramatic drop so I didn't measure before, but from the bottom of my saab center cap to the bottom of the fender measures 14 3/4 inches. or just over 374mm. Maybe they will settle, but it looks like I wasted the effort honestly. I will keep you guys up to date if they drop but I highly doubt they will as it's been about 4 hours so far.

 

[Johnnydel]

Nice score,

did you take the car out and flog it for 10 or 20 miles or are you just waiting to see it settle in the driveway?

Try to take a picture of it at the same angle as one you have with the H&R's on, an d then we can compare visually.

 

[Kermit]

Give it a few weeks not a few hours for the springs to settle.

 

[Jssaab]

Ok guys, so a while back Jssaab, Johnnydel, and myself were complaining about the ride height on our 9-5's, that even lowered the front sits too high. Johnnydel and I both have H&R's, while I'm not sure about Jssaab. ;oops: We were commenting in this thread on how nice the ride height was on this car, owned by 93t in Sweden:


Now, we had some trouble getting the guy to ship us the springs(model #13156N - can be found here), even on a group buy, mainly because of cost ($$$), so the idea was sort of abandoned.

.

Brilliant ( as our UK friends would say) Yes I would wait and see what happens.

WEren't these springs offering "adjustable" rde height?

Keep me posted still interested to find just the "right" springs to swap on my aero suspension

 

[SteveY]

One thing you have to remember is that you I believe are still on stock wheels. Am I correct on this? If this is still the case, the visual effect between the stock wheels and 93t's 19 x 8 wheels will dramatically effect the visual effect of the ride height. His wheels because of their width and offset fill up the wheel well differently. I do hope though that the springs settle for you giving you what is desired.

 

[j006]

Nice score,

did you take the car out and flog it for 10 or 20 miles or are you just waiting to see it settle in the driveway?

Try to take a picture of it at the same angle as one you have with the H&R's on, an d then we can compare visually.

Been driving it for about a day-and-a-half now. It *seems* to have settled a bit...but not as low as I want it yet. I will post some pics mid-week or so for comparison and report back. The ride seems the same or maybe ever so slightly more comfortable. Weird but I think it's a bit better over the bumps; yes even with Koni's Chris 9-5. :cheesy:

Brilliant ( as our UK friends would say) Yes I would wait and see what happens.

WEren't these springs offering "adjustable" rde height?

Keep me posted still interested to find just the "right" springs to swap on my aero suspension

They weren't adjustable like coilovers-to my knowledge the only coilovers available are the H&R's and the fitment stops at the 2001 9-5; the Swedish site just sold a package of dampers and these springs together, not coilovers. The guy at the Swedish company said they've tried to run the Vogtland's, which they also carry, but they've had problems with them on the 9-5's. He said all of them run the G&M springs which I have with great results. We shall see....

Cheers gentlemen...and blixahaha...:cheesy:

 

[stipud]

Did you only change the front springs, or both front and rear?

 

[j006]

Did you only change the front springs, or both front and rear?

Front only. At first I thought twice about doing it that way, due to different spring rates from different manufacturers. Then I looked up the specs on H&R's springs and the front H&R springs were completely different rates than the rear H&R's, rightfully so I suppose. The ride comfort has actually improved and I haven't been able to detect any difference in handling at all...

 

[j006]

ok finally clean up the car and got some pics of it with the G&M front springs installed. It's definitely lower in the front by a few MM. Looking at it again now I think the rear is too low. Here's a couple previews; there's a few more at the link.

http://saabpics.com:3000/gallery2/v/AeroJ/newFrontSprings/

Compare the H&R's:

With the G&M's:

 

[Chris 9-5]

Lookin good Its the right colour too

 

[j006]

ok just talked to the guy at Koni and he was very helpful, and not harsh at all Chris. :cheesy: To me the H&R's sit too high in the front, too low in the back. Well I've remedied the front issue with the new G&M springs, but now to the back! There's a rubber spring pad atop the rear coil spring. I had almost forgotten it was there! The guy at Koni suggested ordering a couple more of those and shaving them down to the right thickness to add in with the factory ones. I only need about 8mm-10mm to get it perfect, so I will now be entertaining this idea.

Oh yeah and I have another idea to add a front lip spoiler for us guys with the '04 Aero front lip. Stay tuned for a new thread soon! Cheers.

 

[NickTaliaferro]

Don't stack the spacers.. Figure out what height you need and email me. There is a much easier way to do it. Also check if your rear lower spring perches are in the upper or lower groove. (Can you see a groove under the spring mount?)

 

[j006]

Don't stack the spacers.. Figure out what height you need and email me. There is a much easier way to do it. Also check if your rear lower spring perches are in the upper or lower groove. (Can you see a groove under the spring mount?)

The perches are in the lower (stock) groove. I thought of moving it to the upper groove, but I measured the distance between the two grooves, and it looked to be right at a 19mm difference, which is too much. I only need about 10mm or so to get it right. I thought about cutting another groove in the shock, but if you screw that up then the damper is ruined. I'm gonna get under there with a jack and use it to move the car up a bit so that I can measure the proper height. Cheers.

 

[MacNoob]

You could always build and install some spacers beneath the rear springs like I (well, my retired machinist uncle actually) did. Make them any height you want.

Spring perches? I didn't notice anything like that and I've had the rear shocks off multiple times... a li'l photo of that would be neat.

http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/members/gallery.html?memberID=490&do=show&id=9580

 

[j006]

You could always build and install some spacers beneath the rear springs like I (well, my retired machinist uncle actually) did. Make them any height you want.

Spring perches? I didn't notice anything like that and I've had the rear shocks off multiple times... a li'l photo of that would be neat.

http://www.saabnet.com/tsn/members/gallery.html?memberID=490&do=show&id=9580

Manufacturing some spacers exactly like you have done is what I initially thought of doing! For some reason the guy at Koni recommended adding the height up top instead of down low. Go figure.

All we mean by perches is the circlip that sits in the groove on the damper. It stops the spacers that you have machined from continuing to slide down the damper and essentially supports the weight of the car of course. It's amazing how that little circlip can hold up that whole side of car! On the Koni's there is an upper and lower groove that the circlip can be installed in, and from the distributor it's installed in the lower groove.

 

[MacNoob]

Hmm - I thought the lower perches were welded to the shock tube (based on looking at a stock oem LPT shock, oem Aero shock, and replacement KYB shock.) I don't have any disassembled at the moment... does anyone have a stock shock they can take a look at? This would be interesting if this could be adjusted just by moving a circlip!

 

[j006]

Hmm - I thought the lower perches were welded to the shock tube (based on looking at a stock oem LPT shock, oem Aero shock, and replacement KYB shock.) I don't have any disassembled at the moment... does anyone have a stock shock they can take a look at? This would be interesting if this could be adjusted just by moving a circlip!

Sorry I tried to make it clear in my last post; you are correct the STOCK damper has the perch welded on. The aftermarket Koni damper however, has the circlip/groove setup that I mentioned before. Cheers.

 

[MacNoob]

That makes perfect sense, thanks.

 

[j006]

Just talked to Nick and he was already thinking of making some spacers up to go at the bottom of the rear coil spring. Just need to figure out how much to raise it now! They should look just like MacNoob's:

 

[StX221]

I know that i am not concerned with rear height anymore, after putting the aero body parts on the car. the rear "appears" higher than it used to, and i think it looks great.

BUT, for those concerned with it, maybe Nick could make a couple different sized spacers so that the people can play around with it a little bit. Cause it really cant cost all that much to buy a couple of machined out rings, right?