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Author Topic: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please  (Read 18823 times)

Offline NickGTi

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #45 on: September 20, 2017, 04:47:34 pm »
Going to be doing a refresh on my suspension set up this weekend too.

New OEM shocks
Eibach pro kit springs
Drop links
Bunpstops
Topmounts and bearings

Can't wait to see how it feels after!

Sounds good! How did it go?

It's been fitted, 4 wheel alignment is being done tonight.

I haven't seen the car since Friday as I've been away and it's been left in work so can't wait to see and drive it tomorrow!

Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #46 on: September 25, 2017, 03:41:17 pm »
Hmmm getting a few quotes back from garages and I'm a little chunk over budget, so looks like I'll have to sacrifice one or more parts. So in what order of importance to get done are: Superpro Ball Joints, Superpro ALK and Supropro Dogbone insert?

Offline colesey

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #47 on: September 25, 2017, 05:48:29 pm »
Quite honestly, they are all worthwhile and it would be advantageous to do the bushes / bjs at same time to minimise labour and alignment costs.

Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #48 on: September 25, 2017, 09:02:49 pm »
Quite honestly, they are all worthwhile and it would be advantageous to do the bushes / bjs at same time to minimise labour and alignment costs.

Yeah I know... I'm surprised how expensive a proper wheel alignment is tbh

Offline pudding

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #49 on: October 03, 2017, 10:57:22 am »
But it's critical for safe and predictable handling, not to mention tyre life.

It's quite the operation, and rigs like VAG's Biessbarth even factors in wheel run-out (few wheels are made dead true).  Well worth the 100 odd quid imo.

I'd drop the ball joints and dogbone from that list.  The SP ALK is worth the outlay all day long.


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Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #50 on: October 03, 2017, 03:05:16 pm »
Quite honestly, they are all worthwhile and it would be advantageous to do the bushes / bjs at same time to minimise labour and alignment costs.

Took your advice  :wink:

But it's critical for safe and predictable handling, not to mention tyre life.

It's quite the operation, and rigs like VAG's Biessbarth even factors in wheel run-out (few wheels are made dead true).  Well worth the 100 odd quid imo.

I'd drop the ball joints and dogbone from that list.  The SP ALK is worth the outlay all day long.

Cheers Pudding - Oh yeah I know the benefits  :smiley:

So in the end I dropped the GFB DV+ as I'm already running a Rev G DV and its running fine atm so that I can do later. All other bits have been bought, got the Vogtlands, Superpro ALK and Ball joints at home and popped to my local TPS at lunch today and picked up the Top Mounts, Bearings, Cam Follower and PCV and the rest I'll pick up later today so I'm all ready to go  :party: :party:

Also found a good local(ish) VAG specialist who have great reviews and have been very helpful, they prep and setup Race cars as well so have all the gear  :smiley: Only problem is they are busy till 23rd Oct so just 3 weeks to go!!  :surprised: :surprised: Can't wait to get it all fitted!!!  :drinking:

Was thinking of a 30mm drop on the coilovers, anyone got any pics to see how this looks or any thoughts on that?

Thanks as always!

Molesy  :happy2:

Offline pudding

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #51 on: October 03, 2017, 03:29:18 pm »
Good stuff, you're all set then  :happy2:

This is why I do 95% of the work myself.  I'm too impatient to wait weeks/months to fit new parts  :smiley:

This is -20mm with a full tank.   The rear end raises ~5mm when the tank is near empty.  IMO it looks spot on visually, nice uniform arch gaps.  It's also in the roll center safe zone.  Go too low and you run out of damper travel and introduce unpredictable cornering on the limit.




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Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #52 on: October 04, 2017, 07:04:05 pm »
Looks smart Pudding i may have to go 20mm as well  :smiley:

Molesy  :happy2:

Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #53 on: October 23, 2017, 01:24:25 pm »
Getting excited now, tomorrows the day :jumping: :laugh: :drool:

Molesy  :happy2:

Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #54 on: October 25, 2017, 11:09:00 am »
Well what a change!! The car feels completely different so much more focused and planted than before, the coilovers give a better overall ride unless you hit the rough stuff but even then it's not much worse. The jigglyness of the previous setup is gone and it goes round corners very very well  :jumping: I haven't managed to give it the proper beans yet due to the weather and traffic hopefully it'll dry up and I can see what she can really do.

Unfortunately there is 1 annoying point and that's the dog bone insert is giving me some vibration at idle, I knew it was possible but its not too bad and the garage said they have felt far worse on other cars and I really like the improvements this mod has given other than that - is there anyway to get rid of the this or reduce it?

Also managed to have a good look underneath the car and all looks good, all other bushes were in good condition as well so that's a bonus. One last thing is that I found a few bubbles of rust coming through the front drivers side wing  :surprised: she's out of warranty now but i'll get it sorted at some point as its only just started.

Big shout out to everyone who helped me on this thread to decide the setup especially @Pudding and @AJP - its a nice community here and like the forums of old  :smiley:

Also massive shout out to the guys in the Garage in particular Simon @ AD Autotechnik (just outside Crawley) they really made me feel very welcome and went above and beyond. Easily the best experience I've had with a garage, Simon stayed late to look under the car show me what was done, get everything just right and had a good chat about cars in general, its great to deal with someone who is clearly enthusiastic about what he does  :happy2:

I'll get some pictures up (when I work out how to) of the work and how she sits and also of Simon's rather special race car  :laugh:

Molesy  :happy2:

Offline AJP

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #55 on: October 25, 2017, 11:11:59 am »
Glad you're happy with the setup pal. Not a bad set of coilovers for the price are they!

Offline pudding

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #56 on: October 25, 2017, 02:42:24 pm »
Excellent news  :happy2:  These cars can do some impressive things with good suspension  :smiley:

Nothing you can do amount the engine vibration with aftermarket mounts unfortunately.  The only thing that varies with them is the severity of the NVH, depending on brand / material.  I really like the Vibratechnics mounts, but they're not for everybody due to the cost!

Welcome to the slippery slope of modifying!







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Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #57 on: October 25, 2017, 03:21:45 pm »
Glad you're happy with the setup pal. Not a bad set of coilovers for the price are they!

Excellent news  :happy2:  These cars can do some impressive things with good suspension  :smiley:

Nothing you can do amount the engine vibration with aftermarket mounts unfortunately.  The only thing that varies with them is the severity of the NVH, depending on brand / material.  I really like the Vibratechnics mounts, but they're not for everybody due to the cost!

Welcome to the slippery slope of modifying!

Cheers again chaps, yeah I figured as much about the mount, it isn't that bad tbh maybe it'll settle down in time. I've got a lot of maintenance items to do in Jan as well otherwise I would. Mods will have to take a back seat for a little bit! I'll post some pictures in the other thread in a mo   :smiley:

Molesy

Offline f00glee

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #58 on: November 28, 2017, 04:11:46 pm »
@Molesy how's the new suspension set up going? Any advice for someone considering similar work in the future?
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Offline Molesy

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Re: 118k Suspension refresh - Advice please
« Reply #59 on: November 29, 2017, 02:45:14 pm »
@Molesy how's the new suspension set up going? Any advice for someone considering similar work in the future?

@f00glee its going great, no issues to report so far and the vibration I had from the Dog Bone Insert has completely gone now so happy days. I only really noticed the suspension can be harsh on a recent trip into London so if you live somewhere with very poor road surface and millions of road humps I would give it some thought before going ahead, saying that I would still of done it either way  :smiley:

What are you looking to do yourself?

Molesy  :happy2: