Adjusting Coilovers

Riggy · Post by **Riggy** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:20 pm

Basically im wanting to lower my car more and just want to know which way you wind the coilovers to lower it more? The coilovers stated they wud go down 80mm on the rear and 120mm on the front so im hoping it will go down further. If theres no thread left are there any other options, ive heard something about removing the helper springs? Could anyone shed some light on this as i dont have a clue wat this means lol? Ive photoshoped a pic from edition 38 to show how low id want it. Cheers.

Now

Soon to be..hopefully

bramley · Post by **bramley** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:17 pm

surely you will be rubbing if u go down any further?

Jeff GTi · Post by **Jeff GTi** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:55 pm

seconded, ride height looks spot on as it is

going too low will compromise the handling, and unless you have an uprated front arb, almost certainly knock

mines a tad higher than yours is, as this photo below shows, but handles as if its on rails and does not squeek or rattle at all

DanDiesel · Post by **DanDiesel** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:53 pm

hehe you've managed to lower the red golf anni aswell

to lower coilovers, you have to turn the adjuster clockwise i do believe and if there are helper springs, then i think you'd have to remove the whole coilover to remove the springs!

KennyPOLO_Gti · Post by **KennyPOLO_Gti** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:37 pm

DanDiesel wrote:hehe you've managed to lower the red golf anni aswell

Well spotted

looks good ha ha

Tim_GTi · Post by **Tim_GTi** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 3:22 pm

You wind them down to go lower. normally a clockwise motion (may differ on different kits though),

whitegtipolo · Post by **whitegtipolo** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:31 pm

to lower them twist the ring to the left as you look at it! Dont go lower i was so low b4 that there is no travel in the suspension and you jump all over the road its dangerous on back roads when your booting round a corner hit a dip and your car nearly jumps into the wall stay 5mm above the bottom thread and you will be fine!

Riggy · Post by **Riggy** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 7:55 pm

Today I took my wheels off and wound down the fronts all the way to the bottom of the the thread and havent seen any difference to be honest, all though they were practically to the bottom anyway. But what I dont understand is that when you wind them down the spring becomes less compressed which improves the ride comfort but when you wind it up the sping becomes more compressed therfore worsening ride comfort which I thought happens as a result of the car becoming lower. Please correct me if im wrong.

Tim_GTi · Post by **Tim_GTi** » Sat Sep 20, 2008 8:37 pm

Let the coils settle in, you probably won't see any difference for a day or two. take it for a good drive or get a full load in and drive it about for a bit. you'll start to notice the change then.

Riggy · Post by **Riggy** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:08 pm

Basilcally im now wanting to remove the helper springs and im wondering if this can only be done on the fronts and if so are there any options for bringing the rear down anymore?

whitegtipolo · Post by **whitegtipolo** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:41 pm

dont remove helper springs will fail mot and you may aswell have no suspension will be running on bump stops now its dangerous!

pidge87 · Post by **pidge87** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:41 am

whitegtipolo wrote:dont remove helper springs will fail mot and you may aswell have no suspension will be running on bump stops now its dangerous!

Im sorry but that is total cack!

Eibach/KW varient 1 coilovers for 9n/9n3's do not come with helper springs so how do you work that one out?

How would an MOT tester be able to tell if an aftermarket suspension setup is meant to have helper springs or not?!?!

Lowering the car to the bottom of the thread adjustment should in theory have no effect on the ride quality. Most good quality coilover kits will be deisgned to operate at any height whilst maintaining the same ride quality

Oh one last thing, if your running on your bumpstops perhaps consider trimming them down!

A mate of mine had an H&R cup kit for his mk3 polo and the bump stops provided with the kit required trimming, and that was for a fixed height kit!

whitegtipolo · Post by **whitegtipolo** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:29 pm

firstly pidge wind ya neck in and second, it will fail mot as the helper springs are there to stop the springs coming loose when the car is jacked up so removing them will stop them being "helpers" and the springs will when jacked up bee loose = mot failure! Some kits dont have them as they do not need em through there design! Bump stop point is valid but mine came with new bump stops for the front and the rears did need trimming as used originals!

pidge87 · Post by **pidge87** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:51 pm

Incorrect. My FK's (they still have the helpers in) are wound right down and when jacking the car up the springs drop about 10-15mm down and become loose as youve described.

Ive been through 2 MOT's at a very reputable garage (independant VW dealers actually) with them like this and this has never been so much as blinked at.

MOT Regulations wrote:Shortened or lowered coil springs

Take care when jacking vehicles with shortened or lowered springs fitted. Provided the spring ends locate correctly when the vehicle is lowered into the normal running position, without assistance this is not a reason for rejection.

So according to this the fact that the inner diameter at the seat of the spring is ~2mm larger than the suspension strut shaft it locates itself correctly when lowered to the ground = no fail

No need to get testy either! Was simply pointing out in a jovial manner that what you had posted was infact incorrect

Much love

whitegtipolo · Post by **whitegtipolo** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:36 pm

fair enough i was miss informed but your still a smart arse and that deserves a smack to the teeth if i ever saw you

Period!