Suspension talk

[d_train]

Street comforts are a bit pricier than v1's (I paid $1,332 including shipping from Motorsportworld in the UK) and can't be wound down quite as low (still low enough though, 50mm at the back), but given their intended purpose I would expect that they have a better ride than the v1's (though to what extent I don't know). Gave it a little squirt up the twisties to Peachester on the Sunny Coast this afternoon, was wet so didn't push my luck but still had some decent hustle going, and was quite impressed that they could ride so well and deliver that sort of flat, chuckable handling. The ultimate test will be the bumpy tight corners on Mount Mee, so I will report back when I get a chance to get up there (if it ever stops frikkin raining).

Hey Gusman, I too am looking at the street comforts for the TSI. So, am reading your comments with interest! I have V3s on my other car so hoping to keep it within the KW family, if all goes well. They are a great piece of kit generally speaking.

[pontiff]

Yeah I will let it all settle for a few weeks and review, any rubbing etc will be more evident once it's done it a bit more I guess.

Ride quality is good though, it's not stupidly hard and height is nice. I am going to adjust the height (it's a few mm off in spots etc) but will do once there is some settling

When I get back onto a computer I will write up some points that I found useful for others trying

[BLN355]

I see the dreaded coilover knock has struck again!

Mine had all new stretch bolts and being only 1000ks old I didn't see a need for new strut top mounts. Mines most noticable on the front drivers side (rhs in Aus). Everything is tight so its really a pita to try figure out.

If I push the front of the car down by hand and let it spring back up it replicates the sound it makes. I'll get a video up sometime today.

[pontiff]

I see the dreaded coilover knock has struck again!

Mine had all new stretch bolts and being only 1000ks old I didn't see a need for new strut top mounts. Mines most noticable on the front drivers side (rhs in Aus). Everything is tight so its really a pita to try figure out.

If I push the front of the car down by hand and let it spring back up it replicates the sound it makes. I'll get a video up sometime today.

Yeah I didn't think mine needed them either (and it didn't) but I just bought new ones from imparts as I didn't want to disassemble the old strut.

One thing tho, there is BUGGER ALL thread sticking out the top in the engine bay, the nyloc nut just grabs it fully, bit disconcerting but both sides were the same and there is less thread on the shock than the original ones which is what made me think its normal, I'll post a pic when I get inside

[pontiff]

Standard vs v1. There is no more tighenting to be had, like i say, the actual thread was less on the v1's as compared to the standard ones when compares side by side before even mounting the new mounts and such like.

I might email Kw and just make sure its okay, as i say, it looked rather worrying. Does anyone else have the same?

Also.. does anyone know what pitch the nylocs are? i bought some spares' from bunnings (incase i had to remove the top) and they're not the standard M10/1.5 that i think is the 'norm' here?

[gavs]

Suspension talk

Most likely m10x1.25 which is fine pitch. Too late now but maybe if someone else has some kw's laying around they could measure the top pin length.

Have you guys tried driving them at maximum height to see if you get the same issue? The mk4 used to sometimes give you the impression that the struts were fully tightened when they actually weren't. Are all of you also retightening any other suspension components in the laden or unloaded position? If you touch the control arms at all then they need to be tightened at the laden position. Try jacking up the front wheels individually and see if with the fronts wound right down and at full front compression if the nut is still properly torqued.

[BLN355]

Just uploading a vid right now. The noise is a squeek (to me it sounds like the top rubber mount rubbing on the strut hole it goes through) which vibrates into the cabin. Its much more accentuated inside then the video shows.

[BLN355]

Vid link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x3BtwNx-dI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[pontiff]

That sound almost sounds like the swaybar squeaking but as u did there would not make the swaybar move would it?

If u can really hear it in the cabin it's on the body somewhere isn't it, if you remove the top cap and try it, does it do it then? The top nut is a 22 I believe, I just put locktite on it as I didn't have another one handy given the pitch

[BLN355]

Have you tried pushing the front end down while in the engine bay?
The sound is definetly coming from the rubber mount rubbing/moving on the mounting point of the body.

Could the lack of thread be causing a small gap/not enough clamping force so the rubber is moving around?

That sound almost sounds like the swaybar squeaking but as u did there would not make the swaybar move would it?

If u can really hear it in the cabin it's on the body somewhere isn't it, if you remove the top cap and try it, does it do it then? The top nut is a 22 I believe, I just put locktite on it as I didn't have another one handy given the pitch

[Nuggos]

grease!, lubricate it with some durable thick grease and see if that helps. Make sure it is silicone based otherwise it will oxidise the rubber mount

[Polo_GTI]

Vid link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x3B...e_gdata_player

I have the KW Variant 1s and it too makes the exact same noise up front. Let me know if you find a fix

[pontiff]

Have you tried pushing the front end down while in the engine bay?
The sound is definetly coming from the rubber mount rubbing/moving on the mounting point of the body.

Could the lack of thread be causing a small gap/not enough clamping force so the rubber is moving around?

I think the extra thread is to give the plastic caps something to sit on as without it they can't be replaced. Still... Emailed KW to ask on both points

[pontiff]

I pulled the strut out tonight and gave it the once over, i cannot see anything wrong with it, it looks perfectly normal but i changed out the new febi/bilstein strut mount and put the OEM one back in along with the OEM bearing as opposed to the febi/bilstein one however now it looks like the original strut mount has collapsed?




Dont know how this could have happened as when they came out they were both fine, but now its collapesd? well off to VW to get another one tomorrow. I am not going to put in the bilstein one again, not because there is something wrong with it, but im just trying to narrow things down here.

Misc pics below... the thread on the KW is indeed 1.5, it looks like the ones that bunnings has are 1.75.










so overall... im futher from solving the issue than when I started.

One thing that is really bizzare that i cannot figure out why.. the passenger side, you can remove the strut from the housing without removing the lower control arm bolts, once you have the strut seperator in there it just comes out, but on the drivers side, OMFG it was hard to remove, there was so much tension from the sway bar, i had all sorts of trouble getting the link disconnected.. i had both wheels in the air so there was no tension coming from there, i am really perplexed... is that normal?

[gavs]

Suspension talk

Yeah, the RHS is a real PITA to remove the "easy" way. I did it this way on my golf and while there was less stuff to undo, trying to get the factory strut out was a real bitch. What you need to do is while the car is still laden, replace the flanged strut nut with a non flanged version. This will keep the spring and strut compressed so it's just a little bit easier to wiggle out.