Wonky springs on new coilovers?!

[Serial 0]

Hi all,

 

Had some new Koni coilovers fitted a couple of weeks ago, much improved over the previous knackered FK Highsports, however there's now a really funny noise from the front drivers side of the car, kind of like a see-sawing noise when I go over speed bumps at low speed (as I always do...)

 

So... I jacked the car up at the front, took the wheels off and had a gander at the suspension, and to me, it looks like the driver's side spring is slightly wonky, i.e. the shocker doesn't sit exactly central in the coil of the spring. I took some photos to show what I mean...

 

passat climatronic wiring diags.pdfImage047.jpg[/attachment:162qex7x]

climatronic wiring-Golf from May 01.pdfImage048.jpg[/attachment:162qex7x]

2.8l 24v Climatronic system.pdfImage050.jpg[/attachment:162qex7x]

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Just wondering if this could be causing the noise, the spring certainly seems very close to the shocker body on one side...

 

Cheers

 

T

[blue95 0]

MMmmm doesn't look right, seems to be some marks on the inside of the spring and on the coilover as well.

 

Does the shocker clear the wheel when fully lowered? or is the scrub on the tyres?

[Serial 0]

Yeah I think the spring is definitely contacting the threads on the shocker body when the car's sitting on the wheels. The pics were taken with the car jacked up and the wheel off, for info. As far as I can tell the wheel clears everything fine, it's not lowered a lot from standard.

[nemesis360 0]

You might find that the spring isnt seated in the top plate properley, which will make the spring kink to one side.

[Serial 0]

Hmm, that sounds quite possible... I'm wondering if it could be fixed by screwing the height adjustment rings right down so the spring is loose enough to rotate by hand? Just a guess, I'm not an expert on suspension...

[nemesis360 0]

That depends if the plates drop low enough for the spring to be loose, but theres no harm trying it.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

If the spring is loose when jacked up, that's an MOT fail, so abandon that plan :wink:

 

I've seen this on several coilover kits, the highly regarded KW V3s included.

 

As Nemesis suggested, if the spring isn't located centrally, it can kink it over a bit.

 

I've also seen that happen when a top mount seizes solid and the spring twists rather than turning, but that's unlikely if you fitted new TMs at the same time.

 

With the car on the ground and weight on the spring, it won't be as bad as it looks in the picture, but it's still worth stripping it down and making sure it's all assembled correctly.

[Serial 0]

I was thinking it may be possible to unscrew the height adjustment rings so the spring is loose, then wiggle the spring about and see if it seats better in the top plate before winding the rings back up again to their original position?

 

Car's now booked into Stealth on Saturday for a check-up, so hopefully they will sort it out for me... :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Did Stealth find the cause as my KWs are like that aswell?

 

Cheers

[Serial 0]

Not as such, although they are on to Koni to get a replacement shock & spring for me. Vince reckoned it was one of a dodgy batch of springs...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Great.....suspected as much :? I'll be following the same path probably!

[Serial 0]

Quick update about this, Koni finally sent a new pair of front suspension units down to Stealth, however one of the new springs was still wrong. The good one was swapped for the dodgy one in the pictures above and the horrible noise has now stopped. Car seems to handle a little better now but I think that's probably just me... :D

 

Thanks to vince & Stealth for sorting this out for me :)

 

T