Coilovers and 17's

shakt1 · Post by **shakt1** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:14 pm

Il be getting the car lowered on coilovers in the next few days, around 50mm or so on 17s.

I wanted to know whether any additional upgrades have to be made, ie. bushes,drop links etc. I dont know much on this topic, so if someone can be kind enough to shed some light on this non technically.

Are upgrades are essential or can the coilovers be fitted to my car as it is?
Would there be any difference in performance or reliability?

The coilovers are Eibach and the wheels are TT Comps. I also have a strut brace which will be going on.

Look forward to some info and advice guys...

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:37 pm

nothing I know of, just get it tracked asap after the lowering

shakt1 · Post by **shakt1** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:43 pm

Right ok...Its just that iv read so many threads on this forum regarding bushes, ARBS and drop links that it got me concerned. As this is the first time Im doing these mods, I want to be certain that im doing it all properly...

DanDiesel · Post by **DanDiesel** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:08 pm

one of ther main problems with lowering the mk6 is if you go a certain drop, the anti roll bar starts to knock on the drivers side drive shaft which causes a knocking noise which can be heard inside the car!

there are a couple of options when this happens, firstly and cheapest option is to get shorter droplinks to raise the ARB up to avoid contact with the driveshaft.
i did this first on my ibiza and the droplinks didn't even last a year, so i'm now going to try the second option.
this is to replace the front anti roll bar with an uprated one which is designed to avoid any contact by having bigger hoops!
its a much more expensive option but it should solve the knocking problem AND also improve the handling!

as your only dropping your car 50mm, you should be ok, after this is the limit of where the problems with the arb/driveshaft can occur.

another thing that will deteriorate more quickly are the wishbone bushes, which due to the lowering will be under far more strain and will probably need replacing. i have also had this done, one option is to fit the bushes off a Seat Ibiza cupra which are solid items and more resistance to wear.

as Dave Burton said, as soon as you get it lowered get the tracking and camber done and get a 4 wheel alignement done to avoid uneven tyre wear!

hope this answers some of you question mate!

pidge87 · Post by **pidge87** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:58 pm

DanDiesel wrote:one of ther main problems with lowering the mk6 is if you go a certain drop, the anti roll bar starts to knock on the drivers side drive shaft which causes a knocking noise which can be heard inside the car!

there are a couple of options when this happens, firstly and cheapest option is to get shorter droplinks to raise the ARB up to avoid contact with the driveshaft.
i did this first on my ibiza and the droplinks didn't even last a year, so i'm now going to try the second option.
this is to replace the front anti roll bar with an uprated one which is designed to avoid any contact by having bigger hoops!
its a much more expensive option but it should solve the knocking problem AND also improve the handling!

as your only dropping your car 50mm, you should be ok, after this is the limit of where the problems with the arb/driveshaft can occur.

another thing that will deteriorate more quickly are the wishbone bushes, which due to the lowering will be under far more strain and will probably need replacing. i have also had this done, one option is to fit the bushes off a Seat Ibiza cupra which are solid items and more resistance to wear.

as Dave Burton said, as soon as you get it lowered get the tracking and camber done and get a 4 wheel alignement done to avoid uneven tyre wear!

hope this answers some of you question mate!

Ohhhhh no its not.....

Just cut the existing one out

Its what ive done and im glad I did. The car would be faaaar to understeery with a front ARB on my suspension (FK Silverline's btw). I had the coilies all the way down on 16's and the ARB was mashing itself off the DS something cronic

Oh and youll struggle to find an ARB with bigger hoops for the 9n/9n3/Ibiza/Fabia. They just dont exist!

Get in touch with WhiteLine UK. Their ARB for the 9n chassis family goes under the front driveshafts and removes all possibility of drive shaft contact! Costs about Â£120 iirc and they are extremely helpful on the phone

Anyway hope that helped

DanDiesel · Post by **DanDiesel** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:12 pm

I've got a set of H&R uprated ARBs on the way from AMD Technik, that come with bigger hoops so they do exist.

SpikeyG40 · Post by **SpikeyG40** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:24 pm

pidge87 wrote:
Get in touch with WhiteLine UK. Their ARB for the 9n chassis family goes under the front driveshafts and removes all possibility of drive shaft contact! Costs about Â£120 iirc and they are extremely helpful on the phone

Got any pics of this ARB? Would be really interested to see! Must admit i haven't heard of one that goes under the driveshafts, but makes sense i guess.

How low is your car running with this ARB? i would imagine you would have to be running fairly low to avoid contact with the underside of the drive shaft?

pidge87 · Post by **pidge87** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 6:42 pm

DanDiesel wrote:I've got a set of H&R uprated ARBs on the way from AMD Technik, that come with bigger hoops so they do exist.

I stand corrected then!

I take it they are listed for Ibiza's? Last year when I was looking for a solution I never came across any that had larger hoops

SpikeyG40 wrote:
pidge87 wrote:
Get in touch with WhiteLine UK. Their ARB for the 9n chassis family goes under the front driveshafts and removes all possibility of drive shaft contact! Costs about Â£120 iirc and they are extremely helpful on the phone

Got any pics of this ARB? Would be really interested to see! Must admit i haven't heard of one that goes under the driveshafts, but makes sense i guess.

How low is your car running with this ARB? i would imagine you would have to be running fairly low to avoid contact with the underside of the drive shaft?

Ive got my coilovers all the way down and run without an ARB. I dont see the need for one when there is absolutely no body roll on the coilovers anyway

Apparently the WhiteLine ones can be used at standard ride height aswell

They utilise Adjustable rose jointed drop links so you can adjust the ARB position to suit. I never did end up buying one as they had literally just been released when I found them. So new infact I would have had to wait 2 months for them to arrive in the UK (whiteline are an australian company!)

Im fairly sure they should have them as a stock item here in the UK now though

shakt1 · Post by **shakt1** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:16 pm

DanDiesel wrote:one of ther main problems with lowering the mk6 is if you go a certain drop, the anti roll bar starts to knock on the drivers side drive shaft which causes a knocking noise which can be heard inside the car!

there are a couple of options when this happens, firstly and cheapest option is to get shorter droplinks to raise the ARB up to avoid contact with the driveshaft.
i did this first on my ibiza and the droplinks didn't even last a year, so i'm now going to try the second option.
this is to replace the front anti roll bar with an uprated one which is designed to avoid any contact by having bigger hoops!
its a much more expensive option but it should solve the knocking problem AND also improve the handling!

as your only dropping your car 50mm, you should be ok, after this is the limit of where the problems with the arb/driveshaft can occur.

another thing that will deteriorate more quickly are the wishbone bushes, which due to the lowering will be under far more strain and will probably need replacing. i have also had this done, one option is to fit the bushes off a Seat Ibiza cupra which are solid items and more resistance to wear.

as Dave Burton said, as soon as you get it lowered get the tracking and camber done and get a 4 wheel alignement done to avoid uneven tyre wear!

hope this answers some of you question mate!

Thank You Dan. That was informative.

How much do these bushes off a Seat Ibiza cost?How many do I need and what is the part number please, or off what reg IBIZA so I get the correct parts?

I dont think Im in a position to get a anti roll bar at the moment and if I stay lowered at say 45mm maximum then I shouldnt need one should I?

Would I get away with using the existing bushes or should I atleast upgrade these as an precaution?

Cheers

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:38 pm

upgrading the bushes will be an expensive job.... and it's not worth doing if yours are ok.

K.I.T.T. · Post by **K.I.T.T.** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:03 pm

Kinda veering off-topic, but i think it's slightly relevant...would just adding lowering springs (around 40mm) be alright with the standard dampers? Heard stories that it wasn't too good for the stock dampers...

Just wanting to make the handling a bit tighter without spending to much. Will probably add a front upper strut-brace as well.

Cheers,
Ash

david burton · Post by **david burton** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:37 pm

40mm is on the limit, but I would say that was fine. the ride won't be brilliant but personally I've never had shocks wear out because of lowering. Done a lot of miles with just a lowering kit in my other polos.

mc_iver_9n · Post by **mc_iver_9n** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:54 am

I had Eibach 50/35mm springs on a year with no problems.

DanDiesel · Post by **DanDiesel** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:00 am

shakt1 wrote:How much do these bushes off a Seat Ibiza cost?How many do I need and what is the part number please, or off what reg IBIZA so I get the correct parts?

I dont think Im in a position to get a anti roll bar at the moment and if I stay lowered at say 45mm maximum then I shouldnt need one should I?

Would I get away with using the existing bushes or should I atleast upgrade these as an precaution?

Glad i could be of some help!

You will be able to use the existing wishbone bushes and as your not going to be lowering it a massive amount then they should last a lot longer than mine did lol

if you do need to replace them, you can just get polo bushes, ibiza ones should fit i do believe.

as an example, the standard ibiza wishbone bushes were around Â£6 each, but the uprated solid ibiza cupra wishbone bushes were around Â£6.50 each so worth the upgrade.

the problem with cost in mind is the amount of time it takes to fit the new bushes (around an hour a side), but because the cupra bushes are so rigid, my garage said that the wishbone would have to come off the car so they could get the bush on more easily. it just wouldn't "bend" on like the standard bush would. so your looking at more labour cost.
(hope that makes sense

)

shakt1 · Post by **shakt1** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:55 pm

Hi Guys, I had the coilovers put on, strut brace and my new wheels.
Id say im 40-45mm lowered front and back, it does look good and il be putting photos up shortly.