Hottuning coilover installation help please.

[VR6child]

This afternoon I got to work putting in the rear coilovers. Got the old ones out fine, and got the new rears in without too much trouble. Did up the 17mm bolt near the brakes pretty easily. Pushed the top of the strut up through the strut tower.

This is where my problem starts - I'm pretty sure I have all the bolts, washers and rubber mounts in the right order. However when I try to tighten up the bolts on the strut tower in the boot, the whole lot just turns around with it, the washer, the mounts, and pretty sure the inside of the strut too. When the car is up on a jack, it feels like there is some play around where the strut goes through the strut tower.

The car sits on it's wheels fine and I adjusted the height perfectly, just I'm not sure how to get those bolts on top of the strut tower really tight. Anyone?

[Mrk_Mickey]

Hmm...I can't quite remember how I did mine now, but I do remember that they were just bolt on..I don't think I had to do any ''holding'' per se with the strut or other parts.

I think I do remember the big metal washer turning with the bolt, but that's because of the torque..

Edit: I haven't really helped at all have I? hahaha

[VR6child]

Gonna bump this as I am still stumped. Can someone please look at the following and tell me what I am possibly doing wrong? At the moment it seems like the suspension just won't fit the car. Spent all weekend working on this and it has myself, my brother, and my neighbour (an experienced mechanic) confused as to how to get it fitted properly. All the bolts are tightened as much as possible, but there suspension is still sitting far too loosely in the strut tower.


Pretty sure I have this order right



When the suspension is mounted and the car is on it's wheels the strut tower should look like this:


But instead it looks somewhat like this, as you can see the mounts have all risen approx 10mm and would clearly be bouncing around if I tried to drive like this:


We are going to try to use a spring compressor to remove the old tube like washer from the top of the old suspension and swap that in with the new coilovers to see if that clears up the problem.

[rayray086]

My Hottunings fitted on just fine with plenty of thread up top... assuming the sequence of those nuts and washers are correct, maybe check to see if you've fully tightened the nuts? I remember having to use a spanner (vice grips should work too) to hold onto that top part of the strut piston so I could tighten the nut manually.

[VR6child]

Just tried your suggestion, held the strut piston with an adjustable spanner and turned the nut as tight as I could with a ring spanner. Got maybe a few more threads down but still the mount is rising the best part of 10mm in the strut tower. Was using that much force that I almost rounded the nut, still no use.

[rayray086]

Is the very first nut (that holds the cylindrical piece on the coilover strut) fully tightened down too? Sometimes you can be fooled that it's fully tightened if the coilover perches are wound high to begin with; as the springs start to compress it gets harder to tighten that nut. Perhaps wound the coilovers as low as possible, and tighten the nut first from there?

If the top rubber mount isn't sitting flush onto the body, maybe the washer that goes under the top rubber mount isn't flipped the right way?

[VR6child]

Thanks for the suggestions. I will go out and double check what you mentioned - 99% sure I got the very first nut on the cylinder very tight, and that I have the first washer sitting as it should.

Will also try your first suggestion again, when I have someone else to hold the strut piston tight while I use the ring spanner on the bolt. At this point I'm using all my strength to get the bolt down even just one thread, and there is still a good way to go before the top rubber mount sits flush on the body.

edit: it just seems like the cylinder-shaped washer on top of the springs is too long, and not letting the mount settle down low enough. We compared that same washer on the old suspension and it was a good 5mm shorter than on the new coilovers. Hence why we thought swapping the old and new cynlinders would allow the mount to sit properly.

[VR6child]

Bumping this again as something is definitely wrong here. It is lucky I don't have to rely on my car to get around too much. Rears are still not done.

Tried the fronts today -

put the cone shaped spring cap on top of the springs > new bearing > first nut which holds the whole assembly together.

Just these three things tightened down take up pretty much all the thread! No way in hell that is going through the strut mount, the strut tower, the metal stop, and then taking another bolt on top. The thread is far too short! I've checked the order of the nuts/bearings etc about 10 times. No matter which way I look at it, the thread isn't gonna hold all the parts it needs to.

[Stephy]

Just sent the link to my Mr Coilovers - i'll let you know if he can shed any light on the situation...

[VR6child]

Cheers! I may take a pic of the fronts also to help explain what I mean...

Edit: the socket I used to remove the top nut from the oem front suspension doesn't fit the top nut on the new front coilovers. I was under the impression these should be the same?

[Stephy]

Scott Bolton 05 May at 18:50
Changed my mind on how the parts need to go.

No change is needed as they are all in order.

You will need to wind the spring seat right down out of the way and remove the upper mount nut and confirm the factory VW spacer tube is long enuf for the nut to tighten all the way up on the thread and hold the upper spring seat in place propperly. If not the Hottuning item will need shortening down suitably. This is the norm as I have had to do this to the last 2 VW coilover kits I have done. Then the parts can be refitted as Normal If the bushes still don't tighten correctly (they should do) replacement bushed may be required as may have compressed over the years.

[Stephy]

Not sure what any of that means but he's fitted coilovers in all of my cars and i've had no troubles.

[VR6child]

Thanks very much that is pretty damn helpful! So looks like I will have to either

a- use a spring compressor, take the old tube out, and try it with the new coilovers

or

b- cut down the new spacer tube to an appropriate size

or

c- failing all that order new rear mounts.

Man am I glad my neighbour has a bunch of spring compressors handy. Thanks again for the info but I am still stuck on the fronts. There is far less thread on the new coilovers than the oem ones, and I can't see myself fitting everything I need onto the new threads...

[VR6child]

Not sure what any of that means but he's fitted coilovers in all of my cars and i've had no troubles.

Nah all of that makes sense to me, it is in a similar vein to what my neighbour (also a mechanic) was telling me. Looks like I will end up with some sorta half oem/half hottuning frankenstien suspension but whatever.

[Stephy]

Pretty much - pretty lucky Matts best mate is a suspension/brake/tyre guru!

From memory, we used spring compressors on all the cars (but him working in a tyre/suspension joint he had them handy...)

I'll send him the link again and see if he can nut your fronts out...