Anyone fitted their own coilovers and had to use the M14 driver???

[h100vw]

Glad to be out.

Once I got home last night, I had another session with my new coilovers to adjust the front height (too high still).
Looks like the adjusting collar on one seized up on me, though...

Does anyone here use a spring compressor when adjusting their coilovers or does everyone just adjust them whilst there's still some tension on the collar?

Should move with the weight of the car lifted up. I can do mine by hand with the front wheel off the ground, don't even need to take it off. Remembering to undo the grub screw in the collar.

Gavin

[gotboost?]

Ahhh, ok. Mine jammed whilst I was tightening and doesn't have a grub screw, just the two collars. Won't budge either way. I've soaked it in WD40 in the interim.

[Eddy]

Hoyhoy.

Me use a spring compressor (modified), the springs are 200mm long by 65mm ID @ 350lbs plus a keeper spring.
I'd rather do it that way than adjusting.
>
>
Sorry, I thought that we were talking about when taking them out.

[leitch]

The bottom collar is there to lock the one the spring actually seats on.. Can you loosen it off by itself?

[gotboost?]

I can loosen off the bottom collar, no problems. The top one that the spring sits on is the one causing me the grief.

Gotta go back into hospital tomorrow night, so I'll give it another go on Thursday.

[gotboost?]

Fixed! Had to zip down to the nearby VW mechanic in Rocklea and get him to use his tools on it. All moves freely now and ended up just getting them adjusted while they were on the hoist. Saved me having to jack it up again at home to do it.

[gotboost?]

Yay... yet another annoyance after fitting coilovers... lol

I'm getting this noise like the spring is catching and then shifting in its mount in the coilover every time I turn almost to full lock.

I've had this issue in the past with other cars I've lowered and it's just a case of the spring not being seated properly. Easy fix - jack the car up and shift the spring.

In this case, the coilovers have a smooth metal mount top and bottom, so there's no real notch for the spring to sit against.

Any ideas??

[Jmac]

Did you use your original strut bearings?? ive just done Jasons and his bearings were stuffed man, nice new ones with mounts FTW.
Im sure he will agree.
If the bearings are binding itll take the spring with it on full lock. Can only be that if you are still running standard sway, bigger sways tend to touch the alloy consoles on full lock and takes a bit of a real mess around to get proper clearance, it all needs to be slackened off and clearance made and a definate wheel alignment afterwards. Back to the top though this shouldnt be happening with yours. And of courseyou should get the alignment checked anyway.
Good luck
Jmac

[gotboost?]

I was thinking it might be the strut bearings, but I checked them while they were out and they looked ok and moved freely enough. Then again, I'd only tested them while they were out and had no pressure...
Oh well, looks like I'll need to order them!

[gotboost?]

Apparently, the Golf MkV strut tops/bearings are the same? Along with the Jetta, Caddy and Passat.

Also, do you need to replace the strut tops or just the bearings themselves?

[gotboost?]

Didn't hear back, so I bought the MkV strut tops anyway.

FYI, they don't fit.

However, the bearings fit just fine and I'm getting less knocking than before.

Does anyone else know what may be causing the occasional knocking when cornering? I already have the shortened drop links fitted.

[Blitzen]

Mine knocked for ages after I fitted them, just on close to full lock, and at low speed, then one day the noises disappeared.
I fitted Bilstein Febi strut top bearings last time I replaced them. They have gone again, so they need replacing. When I bought them, they stated they were common parts across a few cars in the VW range, including the MK5.

[Jmac]

The bearings you will find start with a 6N2 number, this started back in 6n2 days, so the bearing have been around a long time, MK5 do use them, MK4 dont. Pretty much all of the range that has the strut mounted at the top with the 3 m8 bolts have that bearing.

[gotboost?]

Already got them and fitted them. I'm just having the exact same issues that had caused me to buy the bearings. Something else is causing it.

I had read on VWVortex that it can be the spring catching and slipping on the metal plate at the top of the coilover.

Apparently, there are rubber rings available that sit between the spring and top plate of the coilover to provide more grip for the spring.

[s4mmie]

Thought I'd ask here, save starting another thread.
I'm about to change out the fronts tomorrow.
Just wondering if you need coil spring compressors or if you can wiggle the stock struts out...