Gaz Coilovers Fitting and Set Up

When Fitting Gaz Coilovers or Dampers

We would always recommend that any Gaz Coilovers or Gaz Replacement Dampers are fitted by a qualified mechanic / technician, however, we do recognise that many customers are able to and have the required tools to fit Gaz suspension to their cars themselves, but just be aware of the following.

You may find a number of the coils will touch when the vehicle is set at the desired ride height, especially if the ride height is very low.

In order to avoid potential premature failure of damper, do not use any tools or mechanical devices to grip the piston rod, as this could damage the piston rods highly polished surface.

To help you with fitting springs they are generally labelled front and rear and when you fit the springs you must fit them correct way up otherwise they may not function as they should.

Once you have fitted your Gaz coilover kit or OE type Gaz replacement dampers, ensure there is a gap between the bump stop and the top of the damper. If there is not you may need to buy shortened bump stops but never be tempted to remove the bump stops if they have been supplied.

If you are using a non-standard wheel and tyre combination and you intend to lower the ride of your car, you are responsible for making sure that there is sufficient clearance between the body work and the tyres.

Always fit the white plastic bump stop plate. This applies mostly to the top adjustable dampers found on the front on Gaz GHA kits and the range of Gaz inserts. This goes below the bump stop and the top of the dampers.

Setting Up Gaz Coilovers

When you lower or raise any vehicle away from its OE settings you may find tracking and camber settings have moved. We would always recommend having these settings checked and where possible, adjusting back to factory settings to ensure no increase in tyre wear or detrimental handling is experienced.

That being said, if you are looking to increase grip or change your cars handling characteristics, its worth reading our car set up guide! There is a lot to gain by playing around with tracking and camber! There is a link to this guide at the bottom of this page.

To set up the damping of Gaz coilovers we recommend adjusting the dampers to a mid-stiffness setting and then adjust the dampers to suit your needs (softer is generally anti-clockwise, stiffer is clock-wise). This is especially true of road driven cars but for focused track days cars and race cars again, it will be worth reading our suspension set up guide as damping settings are key to reducing unwanted oversteer or understeer for faster laps times! Some dampers are built with a click adjuster, some are not. All damper adjusters will have a definite end point to their travel. Do not over adjust or try to force the adjuster to work outside of its given range or you may cause damage to the adjuster mechanism.

Safety Considerations

The car will achieve maximum lowering once the bump stops are just off the top of the dampers. This is fine for static shows but never be tempted to drive the car on the bump stops as this will cause premature wear in the dampers and as damper movement is severely restricted the handing will be compromised.

Fitting uprated (stiffer) dampers and lowered (stiffer) springs is going to increase the load on other components within your cars suspension. It is your responsibly to check or have checked the condition of your cars overall suspension system prior to replacing with Gaz coilovers or dampers. Neither Gaz Shocks Ltd or Track Dynamics Ltd accept any liability for premature failure of any related components.