16v Ride Heights (are my wheels ruining my handling?)

[deag 0]

Hi,

Having recently taken ownership of a much-fettled 16v C, I'm slowly putting it to right. One thing that became obvious over the weekend is that the susp is far from how it should be.

At about 65 and above, the car feels very nervous, and seems to want to change direction at any bump in the road. This seems bloody strange for a german car, especially an ueber coupé, as they usually runs shed-loads of castor.

When I loaded up with three mates and some luggage, the rear bottomed out, almost constantly. I knew the bumpstops looked dodgy, but now I reckon they're buggered.

But I'm also concerned my C has had a botched ride-height mod. Does anyone know how I can measure the ride-height, or what the original spec would be?

It's currently on some R17 205/45s, which I think will contribute to the crap handling, but anyone had similar experiences with either wheel changes or ride-height changes?

Any advice/debate would be welcomed!

 

Thanx,

 

deag.

[Henny 0]

ride height should be measured from the centre of the wheel to the lip of the wheel arch both front and back.

 

Your problems sound like your tracking/camber is badly out, or your bushes (including bump stops and top-mounts) are shagged and in need of replacement.... :|

 

Original ride height can be found by using the search HERE

[chrishill 0]

I'm currently running my C without any bumpstops and very shagged topmounts (rattle rattle) and the way yours drives sounds alot like mine before i got the tracking sorted out. Probably a good idea to get the bumpstops/top mounts sorted out before you get the tracking and camber done, otherwise you'll pay for it twice (like i'm going to have to - talk about doing things @rse about t!t!)

[deag 0]

thanks henry.

360mm front and rear?

 

thanks chris.

 

 

deag.

[don 0]

Just a thought. You say it wanders. All of the above is correct but suspension is really tricky - its not helped by big wheels (they look good though) - are the wheels the the correct offset for the car? Because it has been lowered the original camber would further increase thus making the wheels ride mostly on the inner side of the wheel. Check the tyre tread there and simplest way is to measure the wheels diameter on the inside and that on the outside to give you the right offset. Cross reference this........ getting tooooooooo technical. Try the above first and let me know :)

 

Post de-capped - please turn off your CAPS lock in future! -- jimsg60 :)

[deag 0]

I measured my ride heights, 340mm front and rear, so it's been lowered 20mm, or sagged some and lowered some.

The wheels are my primary suspect at this point, they're 205s and I don't think there's a spacer been used, so the tyre centre will be inboard of where it should be, by 10mm (assuming it's 185s it was designed for and the wheel offsets are similar).

Don, when you say "measure the wheels diameter", I presume you mean wheel and tyre!? I can imagine I'll be able to work out the camber angle from this, but what should it be at nominal? We've not got too technical just yet! :)

What would be REALLY useful to know at this stage is what should be done when lowering a C by 20mm to maintain ride and handling integrity? As I mentioned, I suspect the wheels, but is there anything else I can check/discount (apart from front geo's, which I hope to get done this weekend).

 

Thanks for the input so far....

8)

deag.

[don 0]

hello

if you measure the inner and the outer diammeter of the wheel you will find that the inner is a little size is a little smeller than the outside thus giving you the offset of....., if you are gonna have the car tested, assuming it is a 4 wheel SUN allignment mashine check the camber. With racing cars if the camber is too great by lowering the suspension, on the straight the car will tend to wonder as it is driving on the edges of the wheels, as you can picture it, same rules apply to road cars. So try to check the camber on the mashine first, this is due to the wishbones getting longer and pushing the wheels outwards on the bottom and in at the top (camber).

any other questions, dont hesitate. :D

[Henny 0]

I measured my ride heights, 340mm front and rear, so it's been lowered 20mm, or sagged some and lowered some.

 

I think that's your problem then... I don't know of ANY kit available which will drop a Corrado by only 20mm, they all start at around 30mm...

 

Odds are that you're running on the original suspension and bushes/top mounts/bumpstops and they're well past their sell by dates... :| That'd make her handle REALLY badly, feel loose, vague and just generally nasty rather than the nice tight communicative feel that a Corrado should have.... :?

 

Get the suspension checked out and I'll bet you find that it's worn out... :| (or had a coil chopped off the springs to lower the car 20mm... :| )

[Neil VR6 0]

You should also check your rear suspension bushes as they have an enormous influence on how the cars feels and changes direction

[deag 0]

Henry, Neil,

when you say "check" bushes, what will tell me if they're knackered or not? Plastic scoring? Oil on surface of rubber?

 

 

thanks,

 

deag.

[Henny 0]

*cough* it's HenNy :roll: *cough*

 

The bushes will have a cracked and worn appearance around the rubber outers if they're on their way out... an MOT tester should be able to identify dead ones as they are part of the MOT test... 8)

[deag 0]

cough* it's HenNy *cough*

Henry, Neil,

when you say "check" bushes....

 

same henry?

I did have a test recently, it was fine, needed a new balljoint on the bottom of the pass front upright. but I inspected things last night, it all looks ok. Rusty, but ok.

Did all this while changing the wheels back to standard. After crawling to the nearest garage for air, drove home and couldn't believe the difference! It's like a completely different car. I was so pleased, I took it out again, and did some more naughty driving :wink:

The high speed stability is there, the low and medium speed cornering is wonderful, basically, my car handles! Before it just crashed and banged it's way to understeer oblivion.

So I'm quite pleased.

But confused.

The wheels I took off were 195/45 R16s front and 205/45 R16 rear, standards are 195/50 R15. The old wheels shouldn't have been that major a factor, unless the offset from hub to wheel centre was wrong. The old wheels were ET41, anyone any idea what the standard wheels are, or what the suspension is set up for?

 

must say, I'm loving my C now!!! :lol: :lol:

 

deag.

[Henny 0]

your original wheels will have an offset of around 30 or 35... 41 is a little on the high side for a valver... :|

[deag 0]

that could explain it then. that and cheap rubber on the aftermarket wheels, probably.

what are the original wheels called? or even better, what's the VW part number?

 

deag.

[Henny 0]

depends on the design of 'em... post up a pic and someone'll tell you what they are... 8)

[G60Dan 0]

Surely different models (8v,16v,G60 & VR) were at different heights? I would have thought the G60 & Vr's to be slightly lower due to being the "higher performance models" so to speak.

[Henny 0]

nope, all were the same except for the VR6 which ran a bit higher as standard...

 

Visually, there was almost no differences between the 16V and the G60 except badges and wheels...