I lowered a thing

"DasWauto" (DasWauto) 05/21/2015 at 22:49 • Filed to: stancenation

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Specifically, this thing. I installed VW’s sport suspension kit*, which only lowers it 1-1.5” or so. It’s subtle but noticeable, ride is firmer but still comfortable, the car definitely rolls less in corners and the front end doesn’t lift or dive as much during acceleration and braking. All good things as the car was a bit on the squishy side for my liking.

[* I recall reading these springs come from the factory on some trim levels of Golf but seeing as I bought the cheap one, I obviously didn’t have them.]

It took about 5 hours to do yesterday. It may have taken up to 2 hours to do the right front where we started, and hour and a bit for the other side and less than an hour for the rear.

The front is a bit of a pain as VW uses a strut that is !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (picture is a Mk. 6 piece but the idea is the same), which requires a tool to spread said spindle apart to allow the strut to be removed. That last tool can be hard to find, I made my own with a grinder and an 8mm hex bit. Much swearing and the loosening of the axle shafts, sway bar and ball joint ensued but eventually we managed to wrestle the strut out of the wheel well. Spring compressors then make fairly quick work of taking the strut apart to swap the springs over. Installation is simply the reverse of removal, cussing included.

Spiffy blue springs.

The rear springs are a piece of cake. Take out the bolts for the sway bar, lower shock mount and spindle and observe as the spring throws the control arm down and ejects itself. Handy and not too dangerous but for the other side I chose to put the jack under the control arm so the spring wouldn’t launch itself out upon removal again. Reassembly is easy, the spring slots into place and the jack is used to push the control arm back up to the spindle, shock and sway bay mounting points.

All in all it’s very doable if you’re not too afraid to get your hands dirty and the $150 or so I spent on tools (who doesn’t love buying more tools) is much better than the $600 I was quoted to install these.

MLGCarGuy > DasWauto 05/21/2015 at 22:52

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Please don’t kill me but this being 2015, I was about to say “what a strange GoPro” but then I realized…it was a phone pole.

Also, the car looks much better with a drop.

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > DasWauto 05/21/2015 at 23:26

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Looks great! Are you planning any other mods?

DasWauto > Denver Is Stuck In The 90s 05/21/2015 at 23:39

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It’s my first car with a warranty so I’m a little weary of voiding that but if/when I get over that a tune may be in order along with an intake and exhaust. The latter two may happen anyway/sooner because I need more noise from the engine (needs more turbo woosh). Nothing outrageous though, I like by cars to be subtle and stock(ish).

I do have one slightly crazy idea I might do (paint/wrap/plastidip-wise) that would completely throw subtle out the window but I’ll reserve that until I choose to do that.

jkm7680 > DasWauto 05/22/2015 at 07:39

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Looks really nice!

DasWauto > jkm7680 05/22/2015 at 09:47

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Thanks, I’m pretty pleased with it. The wheels sit nicely within the wheel well now, not too much of a gap anymore. I hope this is not the start of a slippery slope of lowering and other mods; I’d like to keep it subtle and functional.

PilotMan > DasWauto 06/19/2015 at 18:05

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I bought a complete set of metric Hex sockets when I installed my springs.

DasWauto > PilotMan 06/19/2015 at 21:37

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Looks nice, it’s subtle like mine. I had to buy a spring compressors and set of 12 point bits as VW is quite fond of those and uses them for the axle shafts and a couple of bolts in the suspension. I already had a torque wrench and a decent set of metric and SAE tools so the total cost wasn’t too bad.