FK (or just coilover install) questions

[PranK]

Hi All,

I had my car at Ultratune today because I am getting a strange knocking in the front end under braking (its been happening since I bought the car) and they said the following;

- The car cant be raised at the front because the shocks will bottom out. As far as I was aware, the coilover will simply stiffen up when you raise the car so that it doesnt bottom out?
- They said the steering arm and control arm angles were really bad because they go up from the subframe and they should be horizontal at maximum. That would require raising the car an inch or so - is there an issue with continuing with the control/steering arms at that angle?
- They said the rear springs were really bad because the coils touched already - I thought thats kinda how they worked as they coil inside themselves due to the lack of room?





Any help is muchly appreciated.

Thanks.

[PranK]

I should probably add that I dont mind going up, in fact I want to raise it a little bit to make it a little more practical, but I want to make sure I get my head around what they said before I do anything.

[dylan8]

the angles at the front are just mk4s. control arms cant be fixed, but the steering you may be able to flip a few items, however im not sure if your low enough to warrant this.
If the noise has been there since the beginning it will be nothing too do with the coilovers, or angles of the suspension/steering caused by lowering.

yes they are correct that control arms should be level for maximum performance, but on a mk4 that is about a 40-50mm drop.

rear springs on the mk4 4mo setups are stupid, there isnt much room to move at the start. The springs binding up is common for most lower/budget coilovers, or even all coilovers?
I know my rears in my FWD bora are half compressed, its just part of the design.

Not sure what they mean about not being able to raise them? if you wind the adjuster up, the spring just moves up, nothing compresses.
Sometimes however you wind them up say 50mm, and you only get 30-40mm lift from them, this i dont understand, as the spring shouldnt be compressed against anything at the height you are at

[JimmyC379]

I would not listen to Ultra Tune about suspension much better to go to someone that knows suspension - they sound like they might not know what they are talking about. The whole idea of coilovers is to play around with the height over your car and they are a track orientated suspension setup. Your best bet would be to look at the specification of the shock to see what heights it is suited to. With coilovers you still need to match the correct spring with the height - so I would say if you go higher you may need to change the springs - you should be able to source these locally through a good spring shop.

However, from the picture of your car it looks like the suspension would be adjusted lower than probable the springs were designed for. I "think" if you go higher it MAY fix the problem with the noise. From the sound of it your springs have been over compressed and thus the noise. Pull you wheels off and uncompressed the spring with the tool that came with the coil overs - I think that will solve the problem of the noise and make the car behave a bit better.

If you go that low you really need to do more than just springs and shocks like has been said you need to fix all the other things that are related with everything being on the wrong angle to [adjustable strut towers and to correct to much positive camber is one thing most people do]. If you go that low you really need 300 lb or more springs that won't move much to otherwise things will rub when you go over bumps + maybe cut the bump stops down.

[PranK]

Thanks guys.

The original noise has been happening since I bought the car, it was simply the reason it was at Ultra Tune to start with, just to make sure my car wasn't about to explode. The rest is just observations that Ultra Tune made while it was there.

As stated, I wont be leaving the car that low, I have the kids in it a lot and it needs to be practical, I just love how it looks at the moment and dont want to raise it. BUT, I am still concerned that I will damage the control/steering arms even if I come up .5" or so because there will still be an angle.

I'm also worried about the rear springs as adjusting the perch wont relieve the springs at all.

[JimmyC379]

Rise it up and see how you go. You won't damage it for at least a few 1000 kays. The bump stops are there to stop over compression + as you go higher the shocks won't travel down as far down as long as the springs are a half good tension.

[PranK]

Rise it up and see how you go. You won't damage it for at least a few 1000 kays. The bump stops are there to stop over compression + as you go higher the shocks won't travel down as far down as long as the springs are a half good tension.

Yeah, thats the plan for the weekend, see how we go.

Thanks!

[brad]

If they raise it (screw the collar up & add more preload to the springs), it will reduce the chance of the shocks bottoming out. If they can't get their head around that then what hope do they have of fixing anything?

Take it to a suspension specialist or a VW specialist. There's a few up your way. EuropeanAutotech at Monavale is one but there are others (sorry, I'm from the South side). Ultratune will cost you more in the long run.