Coilover issues need help

[Kappa]

So here is my issue...

I have blown a set of rear shocks got new ones and put them in. I am running DGR coilovers ---> http://www.dgrsuspension.com/Mazda3_COILOVER_SUSPENSION_p/ma-01.htm

As you can see the rear shocks have a threaded body that feed up and down into the lower holder... now the springs have adjustment as well which i have set to as low as they can go.

My issue is my shocks are (from what i can guess) bottoming out because i am getting knocking noises from the rear over bumps. Now i brought the car to a shop to have it looked at and some old dude (who probably knows more about cars than i do) informed me that if i want more travel i should make the shock longer by screwing it out more. so now im like wtf i dont understand how that works.. here i have a shock that his hitting bottom so lets make this shit longer so that it doesnt hit? (so to explain what i mean so the shock started out at 10" tall its now 15" tall.) how does that work... i would assume you would make the shock shorter so that it would have more room to move and not just sit fully bottomed out the whole time...

If anyone has any idea wtf i should do i would love to know because im sick of putting new shocks on my car...

[The Wolf]

If you want to eliminate bottoming out, you'll likely need stiffer springs, or need to raise the adjusters to give yourself more travel.

At least this is according to what I am seeing in my head from what you've described. You essentially have two ways of lowering the vehicle... the spring adjusters, and the shock body, right?

[Kappa]

you see this would be so much easier if we didnt have a weird setup for the rear. right now judging from what DGR said (which was is a different langue) you adjust your springs to the ride height you want and than match the shock to the ride height... but i dont know if i should have a longer shock or shorter shock

[The Wolf]

If you make the shock longer it'll be stiffer, and if it's shorter, it'll have more travel. Not sure which is gonna help :S sorry man

edit: Just a couple minutes thinking about it, and yeah you want to make the shock longer. It's gonna sit at the height you put the springs at regardless... So if you crank the shock body longer, it'll stay more compressed and stiffer. Should help

[Kappa]

yeah well i wouldnt think the stiffness should change with the height but i feel like if i made it shorter it would have more travel. but the dude told me i had it backwards...

[S.F.W.]

I think longer shock = more travel. Just thinking logically, longer shock more room to travel, shorter shock less room to travel.

[Kappa]

I think longer shock = more travel. Just thinking logically, longer shock more room to travel, shorter shock less room to travel.

yeah that what the guy said but lets look at it this way.. the bar that goes down into the shock does not change what so ever... so you have the same "travel" at any height. BUT! if when you put the car down off the jack it compresses the shock the whole way down then wtf is the point of even having a shock right?

[The Wolf]

I don't think you're going to get any more travel out of your setup regardless without raising the car.

The shock works progressively. The more compressed it is, the stiffer it becomes. So lengthening it will cause it to be more compressed where it sits, therefore stiffer.

[Kappa]

Okay i am going to post a picture in a second to show what i mean. But the travel we are talking about never changes regardless of how short or tall the shock is.

[Kappa]

http://img.tapatalk.com/4ac6a4c3-aeed-f92c.jpg

Okay see the bottom shock is the blown one. Now regard less to how far the shock is threaded down into the bottom holder it will have the same travel as the top one does.

[Kappa]

bump anyone?