Hellaflush Yo!

I mentioned that my BC Racing ER coilover dampers were probably too short in a previous post. The response I got from BC Racing was " the height isn't dependent on the spring, as I am sure you are aware of. The Swift spring we utilized, was the proper spring required for a standard ER Sentra requirement". Checking BC Racing Taiwan's website revealed they now have a listing for the Sentra. Front spring length is stated as 160mm and rear 180mm. Joe from 2J Racing emailed me "This is the correct size for the ERs".

So I ate humble pie and installed the ER front coilover with the height adjusted at tallest setting. Can't go any higher as the remote reservoir tube was at the end of it's travel on the lower body.

Pictures below of the Shark with the ERs installed in front only. Installed both sides and took Sharkie for a short drive to be sure.

Only one Andrew Saw finger could go in the gap between the top of the tyre and the bottom of the wheel arch. Sure does look good and fierce though. Now compare this with my BC Racing BRs fitted.

Close to three of Andrew Saw's fingers can fit in the gap. So who's correct in his original assumption now? With the measuring tape I had the following:

• My front BC Racing BRs are currently set at 645mm (measured from the bottom of the wheel arch to ground) which is bout 19mm or 0.8" lower than stock (664mm per Nissan Sentra B15 USDM Technical Manual)
• The front ERs at the tallest height adjustment is only 628mm which is 36mm or 1.4" lower than stock
• And I haven't even fitted the rear ERs yet. Lost my motivation at this point to continue with the install. 

Comparing my front BR with the ER shows that the ER is shorter by quite a bit. Going to taller springs ain't gonna help if the damper body/piston is too short. 

Had to pay close to two hundred ringgit on install labour and alignment job just to prove my assumption is correct. To make matters worse such a low ride height is impractical for daily driving. I doubt I can clear multi-story car parks or even the large speed bumps where I work with more one or more passenger on board (not sure if it'll even clear with only me on board). I haven't even talked about the possible impact to the suspension geometry and handling with regards to roll centre and bumpsteer. You can read up more on why lowering your Slowtra more than 25mm (1") makes it a Super Slowertra @ MotoIQ's excellent article.

The 36mm lower ride height was measured after taking the car for a short drive (a couple km). I would expect a tiny bit of spring sag even with Swift springs which means I might even end up a couple mm lower than 36mm after a couple thousand km. 

I have now paid a lot and more of my hard earned money on shocks I can't daily drive that will worsen the handling unless I spend even more money by buying parts to correct the screwed suspension geometry. On top of this Bro Wallance whom has reserved and paid a deposit for my BR shocks can't collect them as I'm still on the BRs. Really really sorry Bro. Emailing BC NA with the problem resulted in the following response after a week and more than one reminder email "They just told me that they make the ERs lower than the BRs generally and that is due to the design of the reservoir". Mind you none of this was mentioned to me when I ordered my ERs from Joe/2J Racing. I even mentioned the ride height I wanted more than once. I am now hoping and waiting for BC NA, Taiwan, Joe? for a solution soon failing which I will demand a full refund as the mistake is not from my end.