Springs loose on coilovers

I have K-Sport coilovers on my N16.

Dropped them an inch below the original setup my garage had done for me when refitting them by lowering the spring perch. Still not as big a drop as the first time they put them on. After doing so with the car jacked and the wheel off the spring was not touching it's seat at the top of the coilover unit while resting on the spring perch. Had to fiddle as I lowered it with the wheel on as there are a couple of thin metal or plastic rings that sit between the spring and upper seat that needed to be in place when the spring touched the top as I wound down the jack.

Once I put the wheel on and lower to the ground it's obviously all sitting in place and fine and the ride is great.

Is this normal? I only ask as I though the big problem with cut springs is that at full damper extention they can come loose - surely that's the same situation with my coilovers as they are now?

FYI it's the front coilovers, there is about an 30mm space from the bottom of the coilover to the bottom of the damper on the inside and (now) 100mm between the top of the bottom mount and the top of the bottom of the spring.
 
No it's not normal. You aren't supposed to mess with the lower spring perches, just keep the springs snug. You lower it by winding the lower mount onto the threaded damper.
 
Damn, that's what I thought but the instruction booklet says to adjust ride height by moving the spring perch and the only way to get it as low as it was previously by doing that meant the spring was loose at the top with the car jacked. I thought that the spring perch was purely for adjusting spring tension. Should listen to my instinct.
 
Fixed.

Thanks for the confirmation folks. Apparently on some models the only way to adjust ride height is with the spring perch but with most the spring perch is for pre-tensioning only and you thread the lower mount up the damper to lower.

The instructions are a classic of translation; "Be with careful to avoid the hurts".
 
Threads are fine, little bit of corrosion but I've been wire-brushing and covering them in silicone sealant every few weeks.
It attracts dirt like nothing on earth but keeps the corrosion at bay.

Springs are a different matter - the coating is peeling off all over the place and they are getting rusty where it is missing. If I get the time I'll whip them off and treat them (strip the plastic then kurust and hammerite??)
 
Good chance hammerite will probably just flake as it dries pretty hard and doesn't allow much movement. Then again, that's probably the case with all metal paints.
 
Yeah, hammerite is a dumb idea, obvious really.

My brain is not working properly after a night with about one hour sleep :)
 
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