UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

OK following on frrom the thread in the MKIV section

I bought these from Kam Racing following an offer in the MKIV section

Thanks Jon for all your help







Firstly I had to kick this out of the garage as I’ve been waiting for a nice day and today wasn’t looking promising dark clouds above and getting wet underneath a car is never much fun so although a garage enviroment is less than ideal it's better than being wet!!



Second I get to use a new set of spanners (thanks to a letter to PPC which was awarded the star letter and published this month – it wasn’t about the polo so I’ll leave it at that but it's hiding behind the LC )



Measured the height from ground to the highest point of the arches before I put the car in the garage

Front
Nearside - 57cm
Offside - 57cm

Rear
Nearside - 57cm
Offside - 57cm

Get the polo in the garage - front end first – loosen the wheel bolts and get it into the air on nice solid axle stands





Take the plastic covers off the rear damper mounts – right hand side is easy the flap opens up – left hand side you have to pull the carpet trim away





Undo the top nut and then remove the large washer undo the next nut and remove the smaller washer (note orientation) finally remove the top rubber section and lay all the parts out so you can put them back in the same order



Now the top of the std dampers will drop down out of the shell





next step undo the lower shock fixing



Once undone it should come out really easily (new and old laid side by side for comparison purposes – they are much shorter!!)



Repeat with the other side and now the rear end is stripped and ready to start assembly



Something still needed for the coilovers



Lower rubber mount removed (it just pulls off once the nut and washer are removed)



Now refitted to the new coilovers



So fix the lower part of the coilover to the rear beam (note orientation of the bolt)



With the assistance of a jack - lift the rear beam up to get the shock into position



As it's raised up make sure that the upper part is centred in the hole



All those parts I laid out in order can now be added to finish the assembly process (top half of the rubber mount and the small cup washer tightened down with the original nut)



Then the large cup washer and the new nylock nut tightened down and same with the other side



Then press the rubber cover back on top



Jack the car up and remove the axle stands and lower the car down to the floor



So car out of the garage to turn it round is an opportunity to see what the ride height is like at the rear - at this point the rear shocks are on the bottom of the threads - it's a lot lower that the original lowering springs









NOTE - I know there are only two bolts holding each wheel on.

I did this because

- I knew once the front was done I was going to be adjusting the coilover heights all round

- I was not going to be driving anywhere on the car untill the heights were set

So back the car in the garage and start on the front end



First job get it up in the air and on some axle stands



Passenger side strut top mount removal went easily - tools required 7mm Allen key and a 21mm deep socket or cranked ring spanner



Dropped down nicely ready for the next stage



Unfortunately at this point I had a problem



The allen key recess split and that kinda rained on my parade. It's hard to stop the damper rod turning when the allen key just jumps round in the hole.



So I guess powertools are needed



Nice sharp drills - start with a small one and the gradually go up in size - as always fast in bad - slow is good and lubricant is essential to stop the drill bits being ruined - anyway didn't take long



Was proper split......



So having freed of the top time to hit the lower mounts (remember orientation of the bolts)



Remove the two lower bolts (18mm spanner size which is unusual)



So both sides out time to take a comparison shot (yep these are shorter too)



Again there are parts from the old shocks that are required



None of these bits tho



Having got the shock out there was still the problem of removing the remaining parts I needed to fit the coilovers - the top bearing I needed and nothing to hold the damper rod while I undid the second nut



Time to break out the mole grips - I'm binning these shocks anyway so I could have reverted to getting the angle grinder out but mole grips (two sets) would do the job. Never ever use mole grips or stilsons on a damper rod that you want to use



Time to bolt up the bottom section



Time to bring the jack into play again



Use the jack to get the shock top up to the right place



So time to tighten it all up





On to the other side



Jack time



Nicely seated



Top washer and nut and it's all back together again



At this point the springs were very slack so I wound the adjusters up to take the slack up in the springs - once the slack was taken out I knew that this was as low as it would go and still pass an MOT (Loose springs on a car when lifted off the wheels are an MOT failure)



Down on the deck and onto a nice level surface again - front doesn't look high now





But it's way too low for my tastes





For interest I measured it at this point

Front
Nearside - 52.5cm
Offside - 52.5cm

Rear
Nearside - 52cm
Offside - 52cm

Time for one of those mobile phone shots (OK so it's a 3210 and regarded as a bit of a brick but it does at least illustrate the point)





So that's pretty much it except for jacking it up to the height I want (same height as it was before) and once that's sorted out bolt the wheels on properly and fit the bolt covers back

Brilliant guide! Been waiting ages to see what these look like before ordering mine, think i'll place my order next week now! What tyres are you on btw?

CraigMK4 wrote:Brilliant guide! Been waiting ages to see what these look like before ordering mine, think i'll place my order next week now! What tyres are you on btw?

Glad you found it usefull

Regarding tyres - 195/45 15 Khumo's - I've run the same tyre in a different size on my trackday car and they perform quite well - however these are now getting near the end of their life.

Good and very picture-rich tutorial m8, hopefully people can now understand how easy fitting a different suspension is

Nice guide you have made there. Looks fairly straight forward to fit them too. I may just have to buy a set of these now. How long did it take you to fit them. Whats the ride like on them is it rock solid or a bit soft?

tomadomeit wrote:Nice guide you have made there.

Thanks

tomadomeit wrote:Looks fairly straight forward to fit them too.

It is

tomadomeit wrote:How long did it take you to fit them.

About 4 hours but to be honest I could have done them a lot quicker without the power tool issue and having to stop and take pictures

tomadomeit wrote:Whats the ride like on them is it rock solid or a bit soft?

Haven't really had a lot of time to try them out much - drove it this morning and it seemed firm without being harsh but it's early days as it takes a little while for new shocks/springs to bed in

good guide boy... but i've one question, dont'you had to do the "convergence" of the front wheels?? i've found the word convergence with google's translation from italian "convergenza",so i dont' know if it is the correct word.. hope you understand

Berseker wrote:good guide boy... but i've one question, dont'you had to do the "convergence" of the front wheels?? i've found the word convergence with google's translation from italian "convergenza",so i dont' know if it is the correct word.. hope you understand

Toe in or Toe out in the UK

Now if I had changed the ride height from how it was before (and it was already lowered) you would be perfectly correct I would need to adjust the "convergence"

But I used the Coilovers height adjustable settings to get me back to exactly where I was before therefore now need to adjust

PS at 43 years old I haven't been called a "boy" for quite a while

bstardchild wrote:

Berseker wrote:good guide boy... but i've one question, dont'you had to do the "convergence" of the front wheels?? i've found the word convergence with google's translation from italian "convergenza",so i dont' know if it is the correct word.. hope you understand

Toe in or Toe out in the UK

Now if I had changed the ride height from how it was before (and it was already lowered) you would be perfectly correct I would need to adjust the "convergence"

But I used the Coilovers height adjustable settings to get me back to exactly where I was before therefore now need to adjust

PS at 43 years old I haven't been called a "boy" for quite a while

well when i'll be 43 (missing 22 years from tomorrow, i was born in 1986, 9th October..) i'd love to be called "boy"...!!

by the way, you say that you set up the coilovers height to get back at the height where you was before, but i don't understand, you previusly had the original springs and coilovers, dont'you?? and so, why you set up your new coilovers with the old,original height?

Berseker wrote:well when i'll be 43 (missing 22 years from tomorrow, i was born in 1986, 9th October..) i'd love to be called "boy"...!!

Thats why I didn't take offence

Berseker wrote:by the way, you say that you set up the coilovers height to get back at the height where you was before, but i don't understand, you previusly had the original springs and coilovers, dont'you?? and so, why you set up your new coilovers with the old,original height?

Nope 60/50 lowering springs on original std shocks Coilovers yes but not adjustable ones

bstardchild, I've had mine fitted today and the initial ride is bumpy as hell! Now i haven't had the camber or alignment done yet (it's getting done tomorrow) but how long did it take for yours to settle in? Cheers.

CraigMK4 wrote:bstardchild, I've had mine fitted today and the initial ride is bumpy as hell! Now i haven't had the camber or alignment done yet (it's getting done tomorrow) but how long did it take for yours to settle in? Cheers.

Firstly if you haven't had the camber or alignment done the wheels won't be straight so bumps are massively harsh - tend to kick the wheel in your hands

If you've kept it at the same ride height as std then it will be stiff as a board

I put mine at the same ride height as it was so I didn't have to do the tracking and I did the camber by eye and spirit level - the current ride is a bit stiff

and during the course of 200 miles it has dropped a bit lower too so at the weekend jacking it up a bit and it was still harsh so I dropped it down 25mm and the ride was better but as the tracking was then out I put it back to where it was untill I can book a tracking session

Overall I would say that the springs are a bit too stiff for the weight of the car but I'm going to see what it's like dropped again with the tracking done

Aren't the top bolts for each strut torqued on? Shouldn't they be a set value?

Smidley wrote:Aren't the top bolts for each strut torqued on? Shouldn't they be a set value?

Yes FT (Fookin Tight) LOL

Bump. Sorry just bumping it for easier reference to it.

Cheers