You HAVE to understand HOW an oil ring works. The rails are the rails, no magic there, but to vary the oil ring tension, is ALL in the expander........ummm, that's why it is CALLED an expander. So the bigger the expander, the more oil ring tension and the more difficult it is to compress, especially with small rails and packages, like 3mm. And that's obviously why you NEVER shorten an expander, because it takes away the pressure the expander was SET to give. That aside, the OPs main problem sounds like too little bore chamfer. If the top of the bore is razor sharp, it is nearly impossible to get a ring stack in cleanly, even with the perfect sized compressor. A chamfer allows the rings a bit of a "running go" at the bore when it leaves the bottom of the compressor.

So there is nothing wrong with your rings. Its either the quality of the compressor, the chamfer, or simply your installation technique

As far as TECH at Total Seal......you probably talked with either Kevin Studeker or Matt Hartford........trust me, these guys KNOW what they are talking about

Monte