CAR I want to find the genius that designed the suspension on my mk4

[redfred18t]

and punch him right in the face.

As some of you know with mk4 vw's, the suspension can be kind of a pain in the ass. Specifically, the front. There are three big things that gripe me about this car.

First thing is the floating strut mounts. What a stupid design. It has poor handling characteristics not to mention it makes strut removal very difficult. Not a big deal if you have air tools, but a PITA nonetheless.

The second thing which is another pain in the ass. The stupid ass spindle. What genius decided that spreading the spindle for strut removal was a good idea. I have a strut spreader (two to be exact, lol) but still, it is a pain in the ass. Not to mention my KW v2 coil currently on the car was seized when I tried pulling it out. Not a great big deal, but still a PITA as well.

Now the third thing which is what pisses me off the most. The fucking right front axle. When you drop the spindle, the axle hits the subframe, so you have limited movement. In order to remove or install the factory suspension, you have to pull the axle in order to get the spindle low enough in order to slide the strut out (or in). Arghhhh


Yesterday I was going to pull my coils, put a gli suspension on, and put snow tires on. Well I knew I was going to have problems with that right front, so I started there. By the time I got the compressor fired up in the cold weather (ether rules, gas compressors dont), I was already fealing beat. Then I had to wrestle and hammer the kw coil out of the spindle, with the spindle totally spread. Then I get to that issue with the RF axle. Oh man what a pita. I've never pulled the axle myself (friend helped me pull my oem strut out) so I'm going to have to find out what tools I need and what I need to do for that. I was hoping it wouldn't happen either because I figured the gli strut was shorter, and obviously a little lower than stock. The damn thing wouldn't fit by 1/2-1" or so. I was so pissed, I was like "fuck this" and just threw the kw coil back in. Then I just threw all the snow tires on and I was done for the day.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

And after I put the snows on, I then realized I could have just raised the car for the winter or until I feel like pulling that axle. In my frustration I didn't even realize it.

 

[deusexaethera]

That sucks dude. But at least your suspension can survive a hit from a single pothole.

Can't you buy solid strut mounts for A-chassis cars?

 

[20aeman]

Hmmm, I've never had to remove the axle to do suspension. Just wiggle the strut and make room.

I have shine camber plates that eliminate the rubber strut mount with a spherical bearing...cleans up the slop pretty well, except they are noisy mofos.

 

[art_VW_shark]

That sucks dude. But at least your suspension can survive a hit from a single pothole.

Can't you buy solid strut mounts for A-chassis cars?

I was just going to mention a snide remark about B5's!
oh by the way deus, I didn't tell you.
passat was at the dealer for 6 days.
Cost to owner, wait for it...






0.00 dollars. recalls FTW! Poorly designed pollen filter seals allow water in. Flooded car->trashed tranny control unit. car would drive but shift improperly.

 

[deusexaethera]

Yeah, my car has the older pollen filter design that works properly. It also has the older coilpacks that don't fry themselves on a regular basis, but the tradeoff is it has a single ignition controller separate from the coilpacks, and it does fry itself on a regular basis. (The newer coilpacks have built-in ignition controllers, and that's why the whole coilpack fails.) Bosch electronics FTW?

I'm gonna have to get my suspension looked at again. When I take hard corners, I can feel the front end squirming. For the unenlightened, on my car that means the rubber twist-bushings on the suspension arms are torn and/or delaminated from their metal housings. Again.

 

[Mr3GTP]

Yeah, my car has the older pollen filter design that works properly. It also has the older coilpacks that don't fry themselves on a regular basis, but the tradeoff is it has a single ignition controller separate from the coilpacks, and it does fry itself on a regular basis. (The newer coilpacks have built-in ignition controllers, and that's why the whole coilpack fails.) Bosch electronics FTW?

I'm gonna have to get my suspension looked at again. When I take hard corners, I can feel the front end squirming. For the unenlightened, on my car that means the rubber twist-bushings on the suspension arms are torn and/or delaminated from their metal housings. Again.

So, Bosch is the new Lucas?

 

[deusexaethera]

Not sure what you're talking about.

Anyway, every electronic part on my car that has failed was made by Bosch; the few parts that are made by other companies are holding up like champs.

 

[art_VW_shark]

Yeah, my car has the older pollen filter design that works properly. It also has the older coilpacks that don't fry themselves on a regular basis, but the tradeoff is it has a single ignition controller separate from the coilpacks, and it does fry itself on a regular basis. (The newer coilpacks have built-in ignition controllers, and that's why the whole coilpack fails.) Bosch electronics FTW?

I'm gonna have to get my suspension looked at again. When I take hard corners, I can feel the front end squirming. For the unenlightened, on my car that means the rubber twist-bushings on the suspension arms are torn and/or delaminated from their metal housings. Again.

dad took it to work, says it drives great. as in, new tranny control module probably has updated (maybe W8 ) firmware and its like a new car

 

[Mr3GTP]

Not sure what you're talking about.

Anyway, every electronic part on my car that has failed was made by Bosch; the few parts that are made by other companies are holding up like champs.

Ask any fan (or owner) of classic British motorcars about Lucas electrics. I think they hold the patent to the word "fail".

 

[deusexaethera]

Gotcha.

I had a professor in college who drove an old Austin-Healey. He said it had just two circuits -- one for the left half of the car, one for the right half. Except that his was a later model, with more electrical stuff in it, and to keep the loads balanced between the two circuits they sometimes wired things to the circuit on the other side of the car, which made it well-nigh impossible to diagnose electrical problems.

 

[deusexaethera]

dad took it to work, says it drives great. as in, new tranny control module probably has updated (maybe W8 ) firmware and its like a new car

Sounds like the next month should be good driving, then.

 

[art_VW_shark]

Sounds like the next month should be good driving, then.

hey. just because your b5 wasn't reliable doesn't mean is