Fitting springs

[soc]

Anyone every fitted new springs to a car themselves?

Is there much involved? I've a set of Eibach springs (courtesy of Dave and Karl) sitting in work ready to stick on the golf but I'd kind of like to have a go at doing it myself.......

[Myfeckin FTO]

Anyone every fitted new springs to a car themselves?

Is there much involved? I've a set of Eibach springs (courtesy of Dave and Karl) sitting in work ready to stick on the golf but I'd kind of like to have a go at doing it myself.......

Jeez - you're mad for work - Me personally - I'd let someone else do it.
Obviously you'll need something to support the weight of the car - axel stands or a lift - on an FTO you will have to undo bolts on the top and bottom of the struts and I think the droplinks also. You'll also have to wait for the springs to settle over the course of a couple of weeks before getting your car laser aligned.

You'd want to be either a mechanic with the relevant tools or a sucker for punishment to do them yourself though - when you can throw €50-€75 at a good local garage to get them done right.

However we are talking about a Golf here - so I'd say the suspension is not as complicated - maybe replace the "Strut Cartridge" or something

[Dave]

you'd also need a set of spring compressors! glad to hear the arrived ok and everything!
Karl is working away on the other stuff!

[soc]

Anyone every fitted new springs to a car themselves?

Is there much involved? I've a set of Eibach springs (courtesy of Dave and Karl) sitting in work ready to stick on the golf but I'd kind of like to have a go at doing it myself.......

Jeez - you're mad for work - Me personally - I'd let someone else do it.

naw, just wanted to get it done over the weekend without having to pay through the nose

You'd want to be either a mechanic with the relevant tools or a sucker for punishment to do them yourself though - when you can throw €50-€75 at a good local garage to get them done right.

Paul Nolan reckoned it would cost about €150 which I thought was pretty expensive - can't imagine it would take much more than 1-2 hours to do with the right tools - I mean it is only undoing a load of bolts isn't it...

I have a trolly jack and axle stands from my days with the FTO but I don't have a spring compressor though ..... they're not too expensive though so that probably wouldn't be a problem...

wonder how much quickfit or advance would charge....

[soc]

you'd also need a set of spring compressors! glad to hear the arrived ok and everything!
Karl is working away on the other stuff!

aye, he's doing up some templates and prices for me as we speak......

[CJ]

Paul Nolan reckoned it would cost about €150 which I thought was pretty expensive - can't imagine it would take much more than 1-2 hours to do with the right tools - I mean it is only undoing a load of bolts isn't it...

If you're doing it for the first time and learning as you go along, it might take you at least 4 or 5 hours, if you have the time, give it a go though, its not difficult, just time consuming.

CJ

[kevinod]

Ya, haven't done it personally, but you need spring compressors as someone already said, which is the main tricky bit... if you don't have the right tools its going to be pretty difficult.

A spring compressor is basically just a bolt with hooks at either end, you hook onto the spring, and twist the bolt, hooks head towards each other so the spring gets shorter and will thus fit. As I'm sure you already realise, when the spring is on its putting a certain amount of pressure above and below it all the time, so you can't just sit it on and screw the bits back together without it being compressed.

The ones we have at home are individual ones, and you need 2 per spring, but the problem with that is they have a tendancy to slide towards each other and you have to start again... I think you can get them in connected pairs that stay apart but haven't seen these.

Do you have the Haynes manual for the Golf? those yokes are invaluable for doing stuff you haven't done before, but don't rely on it 100%, can be vague or imprecise at times.

Kev.

[joe 90]

Ive done a few of my own cars over the years its just takes time. Youl be able to pick up the clamps at any good hardware store, should cost about 35 euro. I had a 00 golf last with a Reiger kit on and when i lowered it it was just way to low!! especially on the front. It was the only car I didnt fit them myself so cant help you with any tricky bits. I ended up taking mine out cause I used the car every day and did alot of miles ( 118,000 on a 00) and it was just to uncomfortable, not trying to put you off or anything

joe

[Speedyboy]

I wouldnt lower the suspension on a new car id be afraid of ruining the comfort.

[soc]

aking mine out cause I used the car every day and did alot of miles ( 118,000 on a 00) and it was just to uncomfortable, not trying to put you off or anything

joe

Awww man - and there I am with a set of eibach springs....

Actually I did a lot of research on this one - Dave'll probably back that one up with all the humming and hawing I did on what bits to get - anyway there's a lot of uk guys running the 1.8T with -35mm eibach springs and they reckon the ride quality is the same as stock but the handling is a bit tigher. I wouldn't have thought a 35mm drop would be too much (hope not anyway).

And to be honest I'm not expecting miracles with the handling but they're supposed to work really well with eibach anti-roll bars which will be my next mod........ I just don't want to change the dampers to shorter ones cause I know from experience that this really does ruin the comfortable ride (even if the handling would be much better)..... I'm a striaghtlining townie me

[soc]

I wouldnt lower the suspension on a new car id be afraid of ruining the comfort.

if what I've been told is true there shouldn't really be much difference in comfort and apart from that the golf is a bit too comfortable to be honest

[Speedyboy]

if what I've been told is true there shouldn't really be much difference in comfort and apart from that the golf is a bit too comfortable to be honest icon_smile.gif

They sound very good let us know how you get on.

Whats the ride like on a standard FTO ive never driven one?

[Myfeckin FTO]

Whats the ride like on a standard FTO ive never driven one?

A pretty good balance for Irish roads IMO - if a little crashy.
For some reason my present GPX seems a better riding car than my last GR. And this is on 215/40 17's as opposed to the standard 16's on the GR.
May possibly have something to do with the new ARB bushes and droplinks front and rear - fitted when I bought the car in April.
I can drive the FTO hard on roads I wouldn't consider taking the RS Roadster on (which is on H&R coilovers). Would still like coilovers on the FTO though - mainly cause the standard stance is quite high at the front but I'd be reluctant to just drop it 45mm on Eibach or Apex springs cause it would be too low with the Top Mix front splitter. Adjustable coilovers where you can change to an optimum setup seem to be the way to go - but they're pretty expensive.

[Speedyboy]

Do you have much hastle insuring the roadster? Ive always liked them put would be worried about insurance/security ?

[Myfeckin FTO]

Do you have much hastle insuring the roadster? Ive always liked them put would be worried about insurance/security ?

The Roadster is cheaper to insure than the FTO - though it may have something to do with them both being insured by the same company (Hibernian). Its a '98 1.8RS which is the top mechanical spec (v rare) - it has an LSD - 6 speed gearbox - strut braces - aluminium panels/bonnet etc - bigger brakes - sports exhaust and a HKS filter (not standard) as well as the H&R adjustable coilovers. Much more fun to drive than the FTO - under 1000KG's, RWD and at least 150BHP so it doesn't lack pace either though I'd say my GPX in its current form would be quicker past 60MPH.
If one of them had to go it would have to be the roadster so I guess thats probably the best endorsement of the FTO I can give. I'd ideally like to have 2 FTO's but like many of the other contributors to this site theres a little matter of the significant other to consider (Hi Honey!). She likes driving the FTO but absolutely loves the Mazda.

[Speedyboy]

Sounds like a fine car you'l have to take me out for a spin sometime

[JD]

Didn't Daz do his own springs a while ago on one of his FTO's, I'm sure there's a thread in here somewhere on it!

[Myfeckin FTO]

Sounds like a fine car you'l have to take me out for a spin sometime

Anytime you're in Limerick - Wouldn't mind seeing your FTO or Skyline either. Maybe we could include these cars in the meet?

[soc]

Sounds like a fine car you'l have to take me out for a spin sometime

Anytime you're in Limerick - Wouldn't mind seeing your FTO or Skyline either. Maybe we could include these cars in the meet?

That's a good idea - then I won't be the only non-FTO car there......

[Myfeckin FTO]

Sounds like a fine car you'l have to take me out for a spin sometime

.. Maybe we could include these cars in the meet?

That's a good idea - then I won't be the only non-FTO car there......

Erm - maybe we should draw the line at Jap performance cars - if we let golfs in we'll have the skoda boys complaining - serves you right for selling the FTO

[soc]

Erm - maybe we should draw the line at Jap performance cars - if we let golfs in we'll have the skoda boys complaining - serves you right for selling the FTO

and there I was even considering an Octavia vRS before I got the golf......

[Speedyboy]

A meet sounds like a good idea but not too far or we'll have shares in statoil