Is the e-brake on when you have the car jacked up? If it is, you should lower the car and release the e-brake. This will settle the car a bit, and you should see a difference. Maybe depress the clutch and take it out of first gear.

As for the washer, once the spring and is removed, push the bumpstop down the shock shaft toward the base. Then use a wrench and tap the washer towards the top of the shock. that should loosen it up.

hope this helps.

 

so are you saying its a wast of money to get shocks that are designed to handle a lowered ride? you can't tell me that stock shocks handle just as well as Konis, or a full coilover setup. stock shocks will never out handle a good suspension setup. I've driven in cars with stock shocks with a drop and the handling sucks as compared to a car with a full suspension setup. I can accept the fact that you car doesn't bounce, but chances are you car isn't slammed and you proably don't travel on any rough roads. you can get away with a 1.5 drop for a year or so, but you will decrease the life of your stock shocks with a drop. I don't understand why you insist on being cheap when it comes to suspension. the things you should never cheap out on are suspension, and brakes.

 

Im not being cheap, but if the shit aint broke, why fix it? And yes, my car is slammed (2 in drop like it says in the sig). Oh, and stop with your theories about terrain and rough roads blah blah- have 113k miles on my car, you think that was from driving to college and back? Im not sure how long stock shocks last on a dropped ride or any ride for that matter. But i do know that you saying that it would last a few months on a dropped one is bullshit. And im not saying that its a waste of money either, all im trying to do is stop people from regurgitating the same bullshit that they hear from someone else somewhere on the internet (like 99% of the people on forums do)

 

I'll give my personal experience here as a neutral observer.

I rode on H&R sports with stock shocks for 2+ years and I never had any problems. The dampening of the shocks never was noticeably compromised over that time.

Then I installed Koni adjustable shocks and have been on them for coming up on 2 years. The ride is a lot better dampended, and the shocks react quicker. It's definetely more performance oriented. And I would recommend them to anyone.

There is going to be variation, based on how low you are dropped, the roads you travel, and your driving style. You can't say that x spring will blow your stock shocks in y days, but in general the stock shocks aren't going to last as long or perform as well as a performance shocks, that's pretty obvious.

I don't regret dropping my car on stock shocks cause I was dirt poor and wanted a drop asap haha. But yes, it would be ideal to upgrade to performance shocks at the same time you install shorter springs for two reasons: 1. Increased performance and longer life, and 2. It's the same amount of work whether you change the shocks or not.

Bottom line: it's better to get performance shocks at the same time you lower, but using stock shocks doesn't always mean they will blow soon.

 

Amen jscmhid.

And to note, I had a buddy dropped 2" in his Vigor on stock shocks and the shocks lasted 4 years on these ravenged POS roads.

 

i went from blown stock shocks to tein ss.
i driven my friends accord with stock shocks and some aftermark springs and the car is drop nicely. to be honest i have no idea how people drive a car like that, well at least here n nyc the roads are bad and driving a car with stock shocks and the car drop, is like driving with no shocks at all it is just horrible not confortable at all but if u dont care then thats ur problem. the stock shocks will last some yrs even if the car is drop the problem is it feels like shit so i rather feel very confortable like a town car and still be able to have a nice suspension that i can drop as much i feel like and still keep the ride very confortable. if u have tein ss or better u know how good it feels to drop the car to the floor and still be confortable like the car is not even drop and ofcourse have more control of the car at faster speed. n the city mysetup is soft and n the highway hard stiff. snow is coming soon that means i will raise my car back up soon if there is any real winter this yr.