Suspension advice needed

Tealfox said

ESEN,

Had a look at this and mine currently measure 320mm front and 315mm back. Hope this helps.

Thanks for confirming. Might need to be coilovers to get the height I'm looking for then.. Best get saving!

The best compromise I found was stock springs with shortened dampers.  

I Had a look yesterday and I have sachs rear dampers so assume the front inserts are also sachs. No odea if they're any good? Springs are still unknown though.

Bumpstops look original so they might be too long as its lowered by around 25mm at the front based on my 320 measurement from centre of the wheel to arch. Would this cause the crashing and banging over every imperfection in the road?

Yes.  Well, maybe…

Are there any marks from the damper unit hitting the bump stop?  
If yes, then they're too long.


Best way to tell is to put the car on the ground and bounce it.
If there's no movement, or very little, then they are to long.
I'd seriously consider buying proflex or similar spec bump stops (and all bushes) over a bugpac kit, as the bushes are far too hard.

Other alternative is, the dampers are shot on one of their strokes or both, and it's slamming through all its travel in one go, leaving nothing left for the next bump.

Get a mate to film the wheels moving as you drive, if they're a blur, then knackered dampers.

The suspension seems to have travel when bouncing it but hard to tell what's a lot or not.

Can't see any obvious marks on the damper but the dust sheild is split which could be from being crushed?

The shocks and springs are only a couple of years old so shouldn't be shot.



Not got anyone to film me yet.



This is a picture from the restoration before I owned it which I assume are the same as what's still on it.

The struts on the car are different to what's in the bottom picture, if you look carefully the nut which holds the shock in the strut is different as the ones in the bottom picture are a sealed unit as you can't remove the shock insert from the strut like the ones fitted to your car.

You car has bottomed out and hit the bump stop and broken the dust cover, I've had this happen a couple of times before I fitted shorter bump stops and flexible dust covers.

Good spot on the different dampers.

What type/make of shorter bump stops do I need and how short? It's lowered around 25mm I think (based in a measurement of 320mm from centre of wheel to underside of the arch above)

Do you have a link to the ones you have?

Worth trying that before splashing on changing the whole set up I guess.

Cheers

Link to shorter bump stops and flexible dust covers.

https://www.classic-vw.co.uk/front-suspension-bump-stop--dust-shield-set--357498131s-mk1--2-golf-jetta-scirocco-caddy-21160-p.asp

That's great, thanks! I'll get them ordered. Fingers crossed it Improves the ride a bit.

I'll report back once fitted.

If not, next step is new suspension. Its just too crashy as it is.

Cheers

Looking at your pictures, the lower/ underside half of the springs are rusty, showing they are hitting each other, this combined with the too long dust shields may be why you're getting a crashy ride.

With the aid of a bit of swearing, you should be able to remove them with side cutters, rather than take it all apart.  If the bump stops are like new, it's getting coil bound.  You'll need stiffer springs.  Make sure they've not been cut down.

Unrelated, those arches look minty fresh. 👌

Ok interesting. Of all the theories ive come up with for the crashy ride, the springs being too soft wasnt one of them! I see what you're saying though.

I've ordered the shorter bump stops so will check the condition again when I remove them and see how it drives then.

Might dab some paint on the springs to see if they do bang into themselves while I'm there too.

Cheers

kraM said

Looking at your pictures, the lower/ underside half of the springs are rusty, showing they are hitting each other, this combined with the too long dust shields may be why you're getting a crashy ride.

With the aid of a bit of swearing, you should be able to remove them with side cutters, rather than take it all apart.  If the bump stops are like new, it's getting coil bound.  You'll need stiffer springs.  Make sure they've not been cut down.

Unrelated, those arches look minty fresh. 👌

Do you mean it's possible to swap the bumpstops over without removing the suspension?

If not, how much of the suspension needs to be removed to swap the new bumpstops in?

Cheers