Torque Settings on the shocks.

[timmyhol 0]

Hi, Im new to this site having just bought a VR6 and I’m very very happy with it. This may be a stupid question but........I need to replace the shocks on the front and rear and I cant find the torque settings, I've searched on this site and on the net, but can't find 'em can anyone help please?

I got the Corrado on Saturday having found it on the cars for sale section here. Its green with beige leather and 68K, I paid £6000. Was a bargain compared to what I found on auto trader. There are a couple of problems; I've got to replace the sump gasket along with the shocks this weekend as I’m losing oil fast! and there is the problem with stalling occasionally that a lot of people seem to have, I’m guessing the ISV needs cleaning. Also a knocking on the steering before the car warms up, I’m hoping it’s not going to be too big a problem.

What a car though, amazing drive!!!!!! I've had a 205 XS since I started driving nearly 6yrs ago so it’s a bit of a change!! Can you get Haynes manuals for the corrado? Can’t seem to find that either. Anyway sorry for all the writing, this site has been a great reasourse when I was looking at buying the car so thanks.

Tim

[Guest]

Well, to change the the front struts or shocks you will need to have a front end alignment and you will need spring compressors. The front coil spring is under a lot of pressure and if you just whip the retaining bolt off that spring is going to fly. You need to use spring compressors to hold the spring down and then it is safe to take apart. You also have to physically take the front struts out of the car to replace the shock which means you will have to have an alignment done. The two nuts on the top are set at 44 lb / ft and the two lower ones are 70 lb / ft. I would also grab some upper strut mount bearings and maybe even the mounts depending on how old the car is. When the car is in the air make sure the steering rack boots, inner & outer tie rods, ball joints, front brake and cv boots are in good shape.

 

The rears do not need a spring compressor, you can just loosen the bolt and all of the compression will be off the spring before the nut is off, you may have to put a wee bit of force on it. Make sure to transfer the little c-clip on the shock shaft if the new shock doesn't have one. This little c-clip holds all of the weight of the car so you really need to make sure it is there right. On eeach shock there is 3 nuts on the top and one bolt on the bottom. The bottom is tightened to 52 lb / ft and the top ones are as follows: very top nut - 11 lb / ft, next nut down - 18 lb / ft, and the one retaining the coil spring is 11 lb / ft.

 

That's the basics of what needs to be done, there are a lot of steps missing so you may want to check and see if this is a job you want to do. I've done this many times and it isn't too bad but there are little things that may get you. No offence intended, I know Haynes manuals are British but I compare them to childrens books. They are very general and have poor wiring diagrams to boot. I personally think the factory manual made by Bentley is the absolute best for the Corrado. I've seen this manual floating around in the news groups on the Internet so it is around but they cost an arm and a leg to buy new but I think it is worth it.

 

Cheers, Dennis

[timmyhol 0]

Hi Dennis, thats great, thanks for the info. I think I'll leave the fronts to the garage to do as the car has to go in to have the steering checked anyway + I think that would be the safer option. Cheers for you help.

Tim

[davidwort 0]

Hi Dennis, thats great, thanks for the info. I think I'll leave the fronts to the garage to do as the car has to go in to have the steering checked anyway + I think that would be the safer option. Cheers for you help.

Tim

 

If you've got the time, then I'd say buy a set of cheap spring clamps from Halfords and do the fronts yourself, you're looking at a good couple of hours labour for a garage to change the fronts and they're pretty simple to do, a Passat or golf 3 Haynes manual has most of the info you'll need as the suspension is pretty much identical. Just make sure the top nut on the strut is free before jacking up the car and unbolting everything.

It's the first sort of DIY job I did on my first cars, after fitting a new stereo!

If you do it carefully and make sure the springs are properly seated in the leg and top cap then at least you'll know it has been done properly!, a lot of garages will throw it all back together and I bet they won't take their torque wrench out of it's box!

Once it's all back together, then get your alignment checked by a garage.

 

David.

[timmyhol 0]

Job done! thanks for all the info. I put the car in the garage in the end to do the fronts. After fitting the rears there was a loud banging sound coming from the back left shock. I thought the top mount had gone so I ordered new ones, they arrived and didnt fit (I think they must be for the front as they were too big?) took the shock of anyway to see if I could find out the problem as it was close to putting a hole in the rear speaker. It turns out that I hadnt set the bolt above the spacer low enough!! sorted that out and its all fine now. The car rides loads better not suprisingly the old shocks really were in a sorry state and I thought the handeling was pretty good with them!. Got quite a shock (scuse the pun) with the VW prices, got door seals from a dealer and it cost £130! Still have a couple of other problems but I think they're for another post. Thanks again for all the advice.

Tim