Suspension heights

[chuck 0]

Hello all.

I'm convinced somethings not right with my suspension. just fitted eibach 25-30mm springs. but the back looks really low. The top of the wheel is nearly level with the bottom of the wheel arch!!

Looks much more than 30mm - and looks a bit wierd with the front sitting higher.

Does anybody have a dimension of what the centre wheel to wheel arch distance is supposed to be for a standard car??

Its a '90 16V with standard wheels.

Would there be any other reason for the rears to sit low - I replaced each of the top dished mounts too - and all the other bits looked OK.

[Joe M 0]

I think this is just a common thing with eibach's, a lot of C owners use front lowering top mounts or something to make it look more even I think.

What dampers are you using?

[chuck 0]

Shocks are Boge Turbo Gas. (BTW, a wee bit bouncy on very uneven roads, but generally I'm quite happy with this setup as its nice and smooth on most roads)

Yea, I'm thinking of getting lowering top mounts. These are 10-15mm I believe. But I think the offset between front and back is more than that, so I'm thinking of making a half inch thick steel ring to put above the rear springs, just so's I can see a bit of air between the rear whells and wheel arch.

I prefer a rear up front down stance to the rear down front up stance it is now.

Looks like I've a boot full of bricks!!!

[2cc 0]

Hi chuck, my 16V height (centre of wheel [as near as I can tell] to wheel arch lip) on original wheels and standard oe suspension is:

front 365mm; rear 354mm.

[Banana Man 0]

Thats a puzzling one as the front usually sits lower than the back due to the weight of the engine! how long ago did you fit the springs as they normally take a couple of hundred miles to settle but it sounds a bit strange that the wheel is nearly in the arch coz I ve lowered mine 80mm all round sitting on 17's and it's still not quite in the arch probably about a fingers worth gap between tyre and arch!!

[chuck 0]

Yea real wierd. Though if you check out the pics in the gallery section, the back of mine always sat a bit low. I put this down to the car having a towbar which can stress those springs. (even Scirocco was arse down when I bought it - 40mm lowering springs actually raised the back....)

 

Just off the phone to Eibach. They tell me that as standard the C ('90 16V at least)should sit (measured from center wheel to wheel arch):

374mm front

378mm rear

With eibach springs it should read:

346mm front

345mm rear. (all +/- 5mm)

I couldn't believe it when I measured mine

346mm front

285mm rear!!!! (wots yours banana man!!!) You can understand my concern.

 

He's checking with the German engineers tomorrow. Don't know what'll come of it though. :?:

I have to say I don't recommend a 90odd mm drop on standard shocks :mad:

 

To be honest 2CC - I would expect your measurements to be OK considering that they are probably original springs etc...

 

I even got a printout from VW of the rear shock arrangement - and I definately put all those bits in. Took a wheel off at GSF and checked the shock against a brand new Boge gas shock for the C (same as golf 2 and 3 GTI apparently) and it is also correct.

 

Anything else I'm missing? On standard C can you all see the bottom of the spring though the wheel arch gap?

[chuck 0]

Just had another look at my pics. It didn't sit that low on its originl springs.

Might put old springs back on tonight as it is pretty much undriveable at the moment. (and I'm bored :) )

[chuck 0]

Rears now changed back to standard springs. And the problem is clear. The Eibach rear springs are duff. Just the rears, the fronts still look OK.

THe ride height with std springs is now exactly 345mm, a full 60mm more than the eibach 30mm ones!!!!! (well at least it now looks like it ought to)

Given that the std rear springs have 13 years use and a towbar over them, I would accept 30mm reduction in size (std rears new 378mm).

 

I'm very angry that Eibach sold me a set of potentially very dangerous springs :x, and I'm convinced they were slowly collapsing too. Hell i could push them much easier than the standard ones. Makes me wonder about the quality of the front ones now. Should have gone for H&R.

 

I'll definately be having a lot to say to Eibach tomorrow.