Sirocco20348 OEM++ Build Thread

[dylan8]

Yes these arms would need to be tapped in order to use the stock MK4 sway. But the whole tapping situation seems... Sketchy

1. It's cast iron metal, not sure if it weakens that area of the arm after being tapped.
2. The depth of the bolt of the stamped metal arms cannot be achieved on the cast variant.
3. The bolt has to be trimmed by the looks of things to make it work.

I'm unsure how much force is applied to the end of a sway bar but the last thing I want to happen is it to crack from hard cornering at the limit.

I have the entire front suspension from an audi tt so I will be using the thinner sway bar and utilising the drop link attachment points on a new set of struts. No need for tapping and no need to worry.

Some of the TT arms came with it, pretty sure my set did.

[dylan8]

Using the TT setup shouldn't raise the car
It should just lower the control arm angle.

If the car became higher it's most likely the old springs were sagged or the new springs were firmer/fresher.
Or for some reason the new struts had a longer body.
Or the old bushes were so shagged the car had dropped.
Or some of the camber tops lift the car compared to bushes.
Or a combo of some of the above.

When I out the TT hubs in my car actually got Lower because it stopped the the control arms binding on the subframe

[LeStig]

Yes it evens the control arm angle out !
I’ve never thought about it but I can promise it raised the car 1.5 inches over the original Bora hubs with the exact same setup struts.

[dylan8]

Odd. Even if the hubs were taller than standard ones it wouldn't lift the car it would just change the angle of the control arms. Something else must be at play

[Sirocco20348]

Odd. Even if the hubs were taller than standard ones it wouldn't lift the car it would just change the angle of the struts. Something else must be at play

I wonder if the kmac camber plates affected anything...

Here is a comparison of hubs.

I think I'll have to do some measurements.

[LeStig]

The only thing I changed were the control arms and hubs.
Everything else was the same as before - kmac tops, kw struts , eibach springs all of which I didn’t touch other than clean and check.
The wheel alignment was way way out which I thought strange .... but it all aligned properly on the machine with camber added with the lower ball joint and then adjusted out to neg 1.5 at the top. Can’t remember castor settings.
I thought I’d have to raise it but it was the opposite !!
Ill think about it .....

[LeStig]

Done some drawings ....
The TT hubs move the control arm mounts downwards which levels the arms out.
That moves the centre point up and in my case lifted the car by exactly the difference in the ball joint location - about 80mm
Again for me easy fix as I’m running R32 Kw coil overs

[sambb]

Its strange. Control arm angles shouldnt affect ride height. I'd say the strut base receiver stopped the strut base sooner or is positioned a bit higher than the stock one relative the wheel spindle?
Question - do the Mk4 calipers bolt direct to the TT uprights or do you need to carry over the TT calipers. And same with driveshafts - the Mk4 splines match the TT hub?

Hey Sirocco you couldn't by any chance get the I.Dmm of the TT uprights strut receiver could you. I guess with it tightened up a bit to simulate a strut being in there.

[LeStig]

Just looking at the two here you can see that the TT hub is longer .... that’s why it lifts the car up.
Bilstein list different struts for R32 and Bora - same specs other than the spring platform is lower for the R32 ...
Brakes bolt up .... splines are identical as are wheel bearings, abs rings and sensors ...
Lower ball joint is bigger overall and the tie rod is just rotated 180 deg
The reason my alignment was so far out initially was the dramatic change in the height of the steering arms ....
I reckon the steering is lighter since the conversion ... although the castor setting is different as well.

[sambb]

Sorry for the thread highjack Sirocco..

Thanks LeStig. Being a lower ball joint position compared to the stock hub, it would make the King Pin inclination (KPI) slightly more upright which would move the scrub radius in the positive direction. May even still be negative scrub but I'd think it'd move the scrub more inboard across the tyre which would affect steering feel. Did you have more/less/same tyre clearance against the strut tube afterwards?
I'm looking to put these into a 9N3 Polo Gti. I've already moified my lower control arms to carry TT ball joints (which fit the Polo hub) so I know they'll fit into TT hubs. Even if I have to change tie rod ends that wont be a big deal. For me it'll be a question of if the splines/ABS ring/sensor carry over and if the Polo's strut tube base is the correct diameter. I have MCA's so if the base diameter isn't correct I should be able to get a different mk 4 golf base to thread onto the tube anyway, but if they'd fit as is that'd be lovely. Height adjustment wont be an issue being coilovers, just if the struts will fit.
very glad someones doing/done this. I'll be watching!