Ive RUINED my steering/car. with coilover fitting.

i put coilovers on and now i think it "tramlines" the steering is REALLY light and will glide off everywhere, the tyre has rubbed off the paint on the springs! made 3 grooves in the tyre and smelt burning rubber, i cant even drive it to a garage to get it done.
im quite stuck, didnt know it was going to be this hard!

dont even know if i should ask for help

Sounds like the camber and the tracking needs setting up
Bert

yeh it does, im hoping it can get done soon. will this sort every problem im describing out?
is it safe to drive to a garage like that?
i dont think either of the tyres are touching the suspension anymore but do rub badly on arches even when raised, oh its not all fun and games lol  
gota wait til wednesday to get it done too

Should sort most if not all the probs out
Bert

MK1's are rubbish when the camber and tracking are out - get it set up correctly and you won't beleive the difference.

If you want to run it low, you may need a small spacer to space the wheels out on the fron a bit.

The problem is the offset of the Pirelli P's that you have.
With my wheels, even an offset of ET32 is tight with tyre and spring clearance. I believe the P's are ET38, meaning you might need a 5mm spacer minimum.

You can get over it by having neutral or slightly positive camber to be able to drive it to a garage if you have to. This may be a problem though as you say the tyres are already hitting the arches!?!?  :?
Your tramlining and light steering are due to your tracking being out.
Droping the car on coilovers tends to change the angle on the steering arms quite dramatically. This causes them to pull the rear edge of the wheels in, meaning that the wheels are "toeing out". You need to lengthen the arms if you haven't already done so. Try and get your wheels pointing straight ahead. Looking by eye from behind the car, comparing to the rear wheels helps. This is how I have set mine up - never been near a tracking guage!  8O

de3660 said

i put coilovers on and now i think it "tramlines" the steering is REALLY light and will glide off everywhere

This sounds like the castor has gone from positive to negative. Try driving it backwards and see if the steering self-centres - this will prove that the castor is negative. I assume you have lowered the front and back an equal amount?

It depends how far the garage is, as to whether to drive it there or not. If its more than a mile or so, then I'd get it lifted and towed. You could make basic adjustments to stop it rubbing and put in positive castor, then take it easy on the drive to the garage.

You might need to purchase new tyres - expensive way of finding out! Were the tyres standard or wider?

lol yeah.
standard tyres, and size.
well since that post ive raised the car up equally (was lowered equally all round, and inch from the bottom of the coilover)
the tyres no longer rub on the springs, so will attempt to drive to a garage 2moro, yeh it will be alot more than a mile, cant really afford to tow it.
no way from me looking at it will i be able to adjust it even close to correct, so i did wot i can so its not touching the springs.

also every garage/performance garage has told me never use spacers, they say will tramline again etc.

I'd be interested to know how low you can get the car, once you have the rubbing and wheel alignment issues sorted out. It might be that the theoretical drop you can achieve on coilovers, can't be done in practice.

And of course, if you want to adjust the ride height at any time in the future, you'll have to go through this procedure of getting the wheel alignment done again…..so I hope you set it at a height you can live with!!! Got any speed bumps or kerbs in your local area??

haha! i live in plymouth, full of ricers/ racers etc, its a town, so all we have is them.
ill raise it enuff and hope they can do a good job, are spacers something to stay away from then? or something ill need.
when/if i get new rims/tyres ill have to do it again wont i, like 13s or 14with lower profile. what about wider tyres, im hoping they start from there and go out not, go back in a bit and will cause rubbing again.
well im going to try and get it done 2moro will let u know how it goes, and how much it cost!

The ET of the wheel gives the inset from its centreline to your hub. If you went up a width in tyre sizes, on the same rim, (say from 175/70x13 to 185/65x13) then your tyres would stick out an extra 5mm either side. Adding a 5mm spacer would mean the effective ET is 5mm less, so your tyre would stick out the same on the inside but 10mm on the outside.

If you think they are going to rub on the inside, before the outside, you'll need spacers as you go wider.

Maybe there is scope for everyone to pool thier resources together and someone could start a list of achievable wheel size, tyre size, offset (ie spacers) and amount lowered?

paul_c said

Maybe there is scope for everyone to pool thier resources together and someone could start a list of achievable wheel size, tyre size, offset (ie spacers) and amount lowered?

I don't think this would work mate as the different manufacturers of Coilover kits may have different measurements and dimensions etc. Also, depends on wheels tyres, camber, even if it is a poorly fitted wing (could give more or less clearance on the outside of the tyre)

de3660 said

when/if i get new rims/tyres ill have to do it again wont i, like 13s or 14with lower profile. what about wider tyres, im hoping they start from there and go out not, go back in a bit and will cause rubbing again.
well im going to try and get it done 2moro will let u know how it goes, and how much it cost!

That is what "Offset" is mate.

If you don't understand what it means, do a bit of research (Google it) to find out as this is THE most important thing to consider when buying after market wheels.

paul_c said

This sounds like the castor has gone from positive to negative…
…make basic adjustments to stop it rubbing and put in positive castor,

You mean Camber I think.
Castor is fixed on a Mk1 unless you use racing strut tops…

AL_Mk1 said

paul_c said

This sounds like the castor has gone from positive to negative…
…make basic adjustments to stop it rubbing and put in positive castor,

You mean Camber I think.
Castor is fixed on a Mk1 unless you use racing strut tops…

Nope, I meant castor. Of course, camber and castor are interrelated……

My Lupo was similar when it was very low and not setup properly.

Aquaplanned and nearly crashed it after 1 hr of driving it!

Raised it by 1" and got it set up properly (except camber was limited to -3degrees due to lack of adjustment on the shock body which is fine) and now she is v good!

S

well glad thats done, i had to drive to Gupa-P and got lost, when found it they replaced 2 front tyres (bald) and did all the stuff they had to do, cost ?117 in total which is ok i suppose.
Handles FAR better than it ever did b4, so im guessing the person b4 me hadnt had it set up right, (why they were badling on one side and steering was heavy)
so now with loads of tred and (what feels like power steering) am having a good time.
felt like driving on ice all the way there, dont really wana go through that again.
cheers for all the help again as usual.
report again later with pics or something.

Gald you got it sorted mate - was obviously out to begin with too!

Welcome to bone shaking ride quality!  :mrgreen:

yeah i love it. its worth it.
dont like the speed bumps tho, doing less than 10mph (the gauge doesnt go lower than 10 does it) lol so its prob bout 2mph or i hit the bottom.
had to put standard seats back in because of it was too hard with buckets, (WHICH ARE NOW FOR SALE, with or withought mk1 golf subframes)

lol interesting thread, just fitted coilovers on the front and steering was heavy, steering wheel not in center passenger front wheel was touching the spring….

put another set of wheels with a lower offset and it clears it so i can get it aligned 2moro morning

haha