Still shouldn't be able to happen I know plenty of cars that are extremely modded rock solid suspension skimming the floor that don't have this problem. What about cars that do high-performance racing and suspensions under all that type of stress and it doesn't happen, it could've been a bump or a series of bumps over time but even then it still should not happen I have not hit a bump that hard that will cause the damage

 

Driver side no damage

 

Your issue reminds me of the strut tower mushrooming that some Bimmer E46/E90/E92/E93's had, except way more severe! Most of them reporting the mushroomed towers had modified suspensions...

 

Yes, I know full well the difference between linear springs and progressive springs, and i'm saying the progressive springs wouldn't do as much damage to shock towers since the impact is softened before they go full hard. With linear springs (like on the coilovers OP is running) the pressure is constant in regards to the spring, shocks non withstanding. I'm sure there's little or no bumpstop in those Coilovers either, so if the a linear spring fully compresses that's going to be a shitton of force hitting the tower. Shit like this is why I always say if you're going to run a linear rate spring dumped on the ground you better run high rates, when the shocks and springs bottom out it's going to be all bad.

To the OP, if and when you get that repaired, i'd have them do some reinforcement of the whole tower while they're in there messing around. On both towers.

If this can happen on a daily driver i'm afraid to see what'd happen on a track car with high spring rates in an off-road excursion on a racetrack. So if I bounce over the rumble strips going 60mph in a turn can I look forward to my shock tower cracking? Outstanding.

 

I have had linear springs on my car for about 20,000 miles.... Even with the stock shocks and air shocks on the back that went bad and were not damping at all I don't recall ever bottoming out the springs... I do understand what you are saying and it does make sense when you are talking about very short springs that have limited travel and weak dampers..

 

^Yes the short springs combined with him having the shocks at the lowest setting raises a flag to me that it is entirely possible that the suspension bottomed out and caused that damage.

I also rode on linear springs for many years and never bottomed the suspension out, but I also had stiffish springs and shocks set high to make sure it didn't happen.

I could be completely wrong about all of this, just my theory

 

Wow. The mental gymnastics involved to keep blaming the chassis for the damage caused by your suspension modifications are impressive to say the least.

Remember to stretch before and after.

Suspension tuning is extremely complex, why does this outcome seem so unlikely? Simply "because his car is slammed and his car is not broken yet?" That is retarded, to say the least.

Take some responsibility here. Its not the chassis fault.

 

I will have progressive springs on the front of my car hopefully this weekend.. They are with the Buddy Club coil overs I picked up on a group buy and after reading up more on suspensions on the VW Vortex site I have a better idea as to why they use linear springs in the rear and progressives in the front... Unlike most people I am changing over to coil overs as a means of lifting the front end of my car a bit higher because the Swift springs that I really have enjoyed has one issue I can't do anything about... It could be that because I am old and I'd like to think have better sense than I did as recently as 10 years ago but I just hate having to always be driving like an idiot to avoid having the front bumper torn loose from the fenders... Yes, believe it or not the coil overs are the way I decided to lift the front end higher and still have good traction without as much under steer or snap over steer when I lift off of the throttle when under steer occurs... It's difficult to modulate the throttle while in curves with close to twice the power these cars came with...

 

It's pretty simple...

Mild mods result in a mildly custom car with mild chances of problems
Moderate mods result in a moderately custom car with moderate chances of problems
Extreme mods result in an extremely custom car with extreme chances of problems

Slamming a car and greatly changing the suspension geometery with drastically different width/offset wheels is an extreme change to the chassis. In this case there was a problem associated with the extreme change. That being said, I'm sure you could drive around with that set up for ever and never have a problem if you never hit a pothole or a bump.

As for the race car scenario...race cars don't have to worry about potholes. When those heavily modded cars do have an incident and go "off course" they often have chassis damage as a result.

I am, however, dissappointed to see that the Fit was not capable of handling the changes that you made. I do agree that you could do this same thing to many other cars and never see a problem. I've told my wife from day one that her Fit should be driven as though it's delicate. Guess I was right.

 

I guess the one thing that hasn't been asked is...what type of coilovers do you have and what are the spring rates? I'm just curious.

 

Buddy club n+ and when lowering the car It's separate from the spring so the preload stays the same no matter how low the the car is

 

Just how much travel does the Buddyclub give you? I'm thinking it's not as much as most of us on Swifts, let alone stock. Which means the springs have to be much stiffer to prevent it from bottoming out on itself.

Another thing... I don't know about your area... but I find that on roads that are curved (high middle, low sides for rain to run off)... there appears to be a higher occurrence of potholes and cracks on the right side of the right lane.

Then there's this... when you see some sort of speed bump or carved out chunk of road that wasn't completely refilled (almost level with the road)... about the width of the car... do you sometimes swerve left or right? Most people I see, swerve left... allowing the driver's side to stay relatively smooth, while the passenger side is rocked going over whatever it is.

I also noticed that in the US, right turns are almost always sharper than left turns. What do I think that means? Well, you know about wheel hop, right? Well, in a turn the inside front wheel is experiencing it to some degree, only the spring is fighting to keep it in contact with the road. It's actions, of course, transfer forces onto the other end of the spring also.

To add to the curved roads... do you notice what happens when two curved roads intersect? The driver's side doesn't move much, but the passenger side usually moves quite a bit (creating additional forces during both compressions of the spring).

Hell, the "impacts" don't have to be noticeable potholes either... as mentioned before... they can be few big ones... or LOTs of little ones (expansion joints, rubber/tar covered cracks, etc).

Just some thoughts I figure I'd throw out there... whether or not they prove to be true in this case... I cannot say.

 

Description:

N+ SPEC DAMPER from Buddy Club is the choice complete suspension setup with resemblance of our RACING SPEC damper's excellent attributes. It is cost effective and is well rounded for the budget minded weekend club racer. With optional urethane isolated aluminum upper mount design, engineered spring rates, 15 level damper adjustability, and ride height adjustment capabilities, the N+ SPEC DAMPER can accommodate any driver's preferences. With over 15 years of competitive racing experience, you can trust that your car will perform the way you want it to with quality components from Buddy Club.

Specs and Features:
1. Ride-Height Adjustable
Vehicle ride height is adjusted independently of spring pre-load. With other alternatives available on the market today, vehicle ride height is adjusted by reducing or increasing the preload on the coil spring. This primitive methold leads to inconsistent spring rates that are dependent upon the vehicle ride height. With any of the Buddy Club suspension components, including the N+ SPEC, vehicle ride height is independent of spring pre-load. This method ensures that the spring rate is always consistent, no matter how high or low your car is. In addition, it ensures that the spring is always properly positioned onto the strut and effectively reduces miscellaneous and unnecessary noise.

2. 15 Level Adjustment
Suspension adjustability is a key element when selecting a top quality coil-over system. The N+ SPEC DAMPERS are designed to accommodate a wide range of driving conditions from regular roads to prepared racing surfaces. Dampening settings ranges from hard (+4kg/mm) to soft (-4kg/mm). These kits will also include urethane isolated upper pillow-ball mount. The urethane isolating ring keeps suspension noise to a minimal while maintaining the precision feel of a solid mounted strut.

3. Mono-Tube type shell case
The shock-body is constructed out of cadmium plated steel and is finished with beautifully anodized precision CNC machined aluminum ends. Urethane bushings are used when applicable to ensure a top quality product.

4. Exclusive Buddy Club Springs
In a complete suspension setup, the coil-spring is a very key element. The coil-springs used on all Buddy Club suspension setups are specially made to exacting specifications by Buddy Club engineers. Each coil spring is manufactured to exacting tolerances to ensure performance in every demanding situation.

5. Beautifully Finished
To ensure that the N+ SPEC Dampers stay looking superb through your years and years of ownership, each precision CNC machined aluminum component is beautifully burgundy anodized and each steel component is cadmium plated for corrosion resistance. Great attention to detail was taken to ensure that you will be completely satisfied with your ownership of Buddy Club components.

6. Prices starting at only $890/set!
You will be hard pressed to find a comparable suspension solution to suit your demanding needs. With Buddy Club, there is no trial and error. Complete coilover kit starts at our low price of $890; with pillow-ball upper mounts start at only $1180

7. Floating racing spring bearing seat
This bearing seat is developed based on data acquired from various competitions and racing experience. It is a brand new design in order to prevent the vibration noise of the spring on the Macpherson systems. It will increase the overall performance of the suspension by decreasing the twisting tension between the spring and the damper.

 

At lowest setting

 

Be a man - you don't see Lyon crying to Honda when he blew his blown engine. It does suck that it did happen though.

The negative camber is likely a big factor in the overall issue, you can be slammed low, but those wide wheels and doing that "look" you're after changes the angle of force being placed on the shock towers. I'd venture a guess that a strut tower brace to tie the two towers together would have prevented this from happening, since the load force would have been shared/distributed. Double wishbone suspension will also cope with this better.

 

A strut bar brace made of 1 1/2" Ishiwata MTB tubing with 1" tubes from it anchored to steel plate welded to the firewall, perhaps....

 

re: fitdeez

maybe it's my lack of sleep... but all that still doesn't answer the question of how much suspension travel you actually HAVE. How far can yours (at your setting) compress before you bottom out?

 

Idk I've never felt my car bottom out , and I don't have any negative camber , never did.

I'm just trying to see how this could possibly happen , I know it's impact related but I'm thinking, I don't drive my car off road or go crazy, and i always avoid any bumps or potholes that I can I even slow down to avoid them the best that I can

 

Perhaps this will help explain: http://www.promini.com:shock_tower_mount_failure.php

 

hum...

And you had DropZone springs prior to the BC N+... which had your car fairly low on stock dampers.