suspension help !

[joby 0]

Bought Mark16Vs old bilstein kit of him at the AGM on sunday, and was thinking of fitting it myself, originally i was just going to take it somewhere to get it done but after getting prices i decided i`d have a go i need top mounts and was thinking of using eibach springs (any other ideas) Awesome quoted £240 plus vat, dubsport £325 :? Demon Tweeks £280 without top mounts all with a four wheel align. But with a new set of tyres needed shortly im trying to cut costs, I would consider myself a quite capable mechanic, but havent had much experiance with suspension work, I know i need spring compressors but can i get away with the tool for the top mounts, and how do the struts come down, are the rears pretty easy. Any Tips would be appreciated :) Thanks

[Banana Man 0]

Alright joby to do the rears you will need to get under the car and loosen off the 17mm bolt that goes through the rear axle but dont pull it out, then you'll need to take the parcel shelf and the p/s supports out which are held in with 7mm nuts if I remember correctly once all that is off you will be able to get to the top of the struts which you will need a 17mm spanner to undo the 3 nuts, the last nut will probably need to be undone with an offset ring spanner as it is quite hard to undo as it is inset into the cowling of the lower top mount! once they are all undone get back under the car and pull the bolt out of the axle ! heres the tricky part if you dont want to use spring compressors ( which I generally dont) jack the car up as hight as it will go get a mate to put some weight on the wheel so it drops down a bit this lets you have enough clearance so you can lift and pull out the the strut from the axle. Thats the rears done!!

 

Now for the fronts which are really easy you will need a 7mm allen key the bigger the better and a 22mm offset ring spanner to undo the top nut and a 19mm socket to undo the 2 bolts that go through the hub the best thing to do when you come to undo the 2 lower bolts is make a marking round the nuts and bolts before you undo them as this will affect the camber of the wheels if they are in a different position when you put them back on. Once they are undone the strut can be removed and and you can refit the new strut and spring. Thats about it I hope this all makes sense to you as it'ds hard to put it into words once it's all back together you will need to have the tracking done but dont get ripped off with 4 wheel alignment as only the 2 fronts wheels can be tracked up the rears are on a fixed axle so cant be tracked up!!! If you have any queeries just give me a shout and I'll see if I can give you anymore input!

[joby 0]

Thanks Banana man, Very informative just got to get my springs now and im all set :D

[dan 0]

Hi Joby,

 

There are many manufacturers of springs for the c like H&R, Apex, D&W etc but Eibach seem to be the best. They should lower the car about 25-30mm which is just about right imo.

 

I fitted my suspension a couple of months ago and found it easier than I had expected so, I'd say go fir it. You should get the wheels aligned imeditately after you fit the lowering kit.

 

Good luck