coilover kit problem!!!

8th April 2009, 20:29

first off i know its in the wrong thread and i have double posted just desperate to get it sorted. Rite, just got my car back today after a day and half of it bein in garage. the car looks great but when i hit a bump in the road its making quite a big bang. Can anyone advise me to what it is and am i gunna die driving it? lol

Thanks given

8th April 2009, 22:50

where the spring shortens too much which allows the strut and top mount to collide...
causing a noise/crunches

8th April 2009, 23:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by evans1089

where the spring shortens too much which allows the strut and top mount to collide...
causing a noise/crunches

is this dangerous in any way?

8th April 2009, 23:40

if you hit a bump hard enough yea.. very.

9th April 2009, 00:40

what kit is it and how low is it?
If the spring is too long and soft for the rideheight then it will be going coilbound so it will be dangerous on high speed bumps.
Jack the car up and look for marks where things are touching. Look to see if paint is missing from the coils
Kev

9th April 2009, 08:58

Its hard to know as so many sounds could be described as a banging sound. A few possible problems I can think of off hand.

You have gone to short on the springs and there going coil bound. This will be quite a thud of a noise.

There car is that low the bump stops have been cut or removed entirely and the car is bottoming out. Again quite a substantial bang of a sound.

The springs are to shorts and are coming unseated when the wheels are unloaded and then banging when returning. More just a thud and possibly the odd twangy sound but not always.

The drive shafts are actually hitting the inner wing due to the car being too low. Bit of a thud. If you stick you head under the car you should be able to see where it is hitting if it is this.

You have you car set so low you are destroying your drive shaft. This would be more a repetitive knocking sound.

9th April 2009, 10:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by KamRacing

what kit is it and how low is it?
If the spring is too long and soft for the rideheight then it will be going coilbound so it will be dangerous on high speed bumps.
Jack the car up and look for marks where things are touching. Look to see if paint is missing from the coils
Kev

its the receland kit, only a cheap one and i wasnt expecting great things but it feels like the shockers bottoming out when i hit a bump so im driving round trying to avoid them

9th April 2009, 11:20

well the only way to find out is to jack it up and inspect it.
I have my suspicions that the spring and damper combination is too soft and the spring has too many coils for the ride height you are running.
If this is the case then raise the rideheight for now, then when you can afford better springs then replace the ones you have...

Kev

9th April 2009, 11:23

raceland kit is shit
if its sat at the bottom of the coil you will be smashing the bumpstops
ive seen 2 or 3 kits and all of them do ecatly the same
1 has been binned
and the other is getting modified with some faulkner springs tomorrow to get it to work right

9th April 2009, 11:30

moved to suspension section btw

9th April 2009, 11:34

Its a shame people buy this stuff. I've never heard a good word said...
I know of a few people who have used these on low golfs, and even if the car is not for performance or track use they have upgraded to sometime better like KW

9th April 2009, 14:21

you should have read this : http://www.saxperience.com/forum/sho...amex+coilovers

9th April 2009, 14:31

every time i see that (and after seeing that very kit) im still unsure by how it solves the problem
lees car banged like fuck with that very kit fitted

9th April 2009, 14:43

yea i agree with alex, its not a good kit at all. and that was one built by yourself pete.
it is dangerous and the equipment is cheap. if your going to use coilovers spend the money. its not even that much more if you know what your doing, just need to ask people and learn.
Use quailty stuff and you will see so much difference.

9th April 2009, 15:45

cheers for the help people. I shouldnt of bothered with them really i bought the car to do as a project along with another i got going but then i lost my job so anything i could get cheap was a bonus. What are the dangers of driving it like this? and should i just get better springs or what?

thanks again

9th April 2009, 16:12

your best bet is to wind them up so you can keep as much travel as possible. replace the kit if your best option. take you time finding out bout the different parts that make up the coilover and build your own. just dont cut corners and read up.

9th April 2009, 16:14

new one for me if uv got coilovers there should be no space in between the spring and the damper thus being coilovers u only get that if u put sport spings on standard dampers thus being able to move around and make a clanging noise so if uv defo got coilovers i dont no what it could be outher than it hitting ur innerwings where its too low

9th April 2009, 16:17

looks like im gettin a better kit then. No, its like thers no bounce left in the car so its just bottoming out, oh well i will have to save up lol just hope it doesnt kill us in the meantime

9th April 2009, 16:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phsyco_Paff

new one for me if uv got coilovers there should be no space in between the spring and the damper thus being coilovers u only get that if u put sport spings on standard dampers thus being able to move around and make a clanging noise so if uv defo got coilovers i dont no what it could be outher than it hitting ur innerwings where its too low

no space between springs and damper? no mate, think you need to review what your saying.

9th April 2009, 17:25

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=170213319029

9th April 2009, 17:27

thats not a coilover mate.

11th April 2009, 00:26

ive had hot tuning/raceland/jamex (all the same) coilovers on all 3 of my mk2 golf's and cant rate them enough. think they are great pieces of kit, every set ive had i've removed the helper springs and never had a problem. yeah they bang and are bouncy but thats what you've got to expect from a low car surely? loads of our vag boys use them and never had a problem. but then you never hear the good stories about a product...only the bad

11th April 2009, 01:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_16v

ive had hot tuning/raceland/jamex (all the same) coilovers on all 3 of my mk2 golf's and cant rate them enough. think they are great pieces of kit, every set ive had i've removed the helper springs and never had a problem. yeah they bang and are bouncy but thats what you've got to expect from a low car surely? loads of our vag boys use them and never had a problem. but then you never hear the good stories about a product...only the bad

think the difference is vags chassis, componets can take abit more abuse than french tin cans!

11th April 2009, 10:14

phyco u need to read my link it explains whats wrong with the kit.

alex the kit lees car had was quite smooth on the 106 considering how low it is and thats 100 times better then it was origionly. lee doesnt run drop link extenders which means the arb is hitting chassi, prob causing quite a knock. the grp n top mount is a quick fix but its no more dodgy than removing a helper spring in a normal kit.

matt we font get helper springs with the saxo kit, its a dual rate single

11th April 2009, 10:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_16v

ive had hot tuning/raceland/jamex (all the same) coilovers on all 3 of my mk2 golf's and cant rate them enough. think they are great pieces of kit, every set ive had i've removed the helper springs and never had a problem. yeah they bang and are bouncy but thats what you've got to expect from a low car surely? loads of our vag boys use them and never had a problem. but then you never hear the good stories about a product...only the bad

the vag kits are of better quality than the saxo ones it seems
best think to do with the raceland/jamex/whatever kit is to go buy some better front dampers (say apex) that fit through the standard damper cup and then some faulkner springs at about 7inch long and 160 lb and a helper at about 50lb to suit the gap left by the shorter spring

the stiffer stuff will mean its harded to move it and it wont bang as much
plus it wont roll as much in corners

ideally id go a lot harder but trying to keep the ride comfy im on 300lb springs but im not fussed by comfort

11th April 2009, 10:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex-VTS

every time i see that (and after seeing that very kit) im still unsure by how it solves the problem
lees car banged like fuck with that very kit fitted

And so did mine Alex. The kits are awful. You basically need your strut machining down, shorter shocks and different springs. Alex and afew others can tell you about all that in more detail as im not very good with it all. But i sent my kit back mate. Truly the worst thing i ever bought. (Although, as Lee and some others have proved, you can eventually make a decent kit out of it, just needs £££)

11th April 2009, 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_16v

ive had hot tuning/raceland/jamex (all the same) coilovers on all 3 of my mk2 golf's and cant rate them enough. think they are great pieces of kit, every set ive had i've removed the helper springs and never had a problem. yeah they bang and are bouncy but thats what you've got to expect from a low car surely? loads of our vag boys use them and never had a problem. but then you never hear the good stories about a product...only the bad

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackvtrt

think the difference is vags chassis, componets can take abit more abuse than french tin cans!

we ordered 8 sets in for VAG customers. We told them they were no good but they wanted them anyway - I said I wouldnt take them back as i knew what would happen.
There were 8 unhappy customers with the ride quality and part quality. One guy was a mechanic and gave us such damming feedback we refused to buy any more in no matter what the customers wanted.
A good quality coilover kit can run low and offer a firm but excellent ride. Most people that buy cheap coilover kits have no experience of the good ones so suffer clunking and banging because they dont know better.
I've been able to run 280lb springs on coilovers on the road with a better ride than a cheap adjustable brand of suspension due to using the best parts i could afford.
Kev

11th April 2009, 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHIP

And so did mine Alex. The kits are awful. You basically need your strut machining down, shorter shocks and different springs. Alex and afew others can tell you about all that in more detail as im not very good with it all. But i sent my kit back mate. Truly the worst thing i ever bought. (Although, as Lee and some others have proved, you can eventually make a decent kit out of it, just needs £££)

it proves the old saying. Buy cheap...buy twice.

11th April 2009, 18:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by KamRacing

it proves the old saying. Buy cheap...buy twice.

Agreed. I'd love another coilover kit, but if i did buy one it would be FK's or something. Pricey, but atleast your getting a decent kit.

12th April 2009, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by 106pete

phyco u need to read my link it explains whats wrong with the kit.

alex the kit lees car had was quite smooth on the 106 considering how low it is and thats 100 times better then it was origionly. lee doesnt run drop link extenders which means the arb is hitting chassi, prob causing quite a knock. the grp n top mount is a quick fix but its no more dodgy than removing a helper spring in a normal kit.

matt we font get helper springs with the saxo kit, its a dual rate single

it wasnt smooth on the 106 at all.

leas arb didnt hit his shell. you can just see the massive chunks out the spring where they have been hitting.

its a dangerous kit and one day someone is going to follow your guide and end up jumping a spring, crashing and destroying there car. That guide is just a suicide guide. it should not be allowed on the site. im begging people not to follow it and serouisly pete your going to feel bad when someone has killed themselves off. cutting springs and machining parts should not be on a DIY guide.

12th April 2009, 18:38

I'll never be touching any cheap brand coilovers again let's put it that way one of the threaded adjusters broke it could of ended worse than it did but luckily it never.

anyway I'm not here to biccur or cause shit

13th April 2009, 10:48

its good that i no of flaws in the kit, whats the chips missing from the springs? and just how did the thread adjuster brake? did the thread chew up or did something actraly brake?

as far as im concerned how i made that kit was safe the only thing ive thought of changing was grinding flat the top coil so its a flat face on the top mount.

as far as i know modifying your suspension and using non tuv approved parts is illegal, so satify some of yu guys once ive had some more feed back on the kit i will adjust my thread to suite turning it into more of a why not to by rather than a how to fix guide.

need ur input on the kit lee?

13th April 2009, 20:47

it smashed pretty much 90% of the threads off the inside. there is no way to improve that. the kit is using a thread that was intended for holding the damper down to support the weight of the car. hhhhmmmmm ner its not going to work!

you can see on the springs where they have been hitting and its covered on marks/dents/chips from it.

13th April 2009, 21:53

ahhh now i understand, i did wonder myself if that ally thread was upto holding the damper and weight of the car.

is there any chance of a pic of the spring, ill add this lot to my thread.

13th April 2009, 22:00

When me and my bro had the 106, we did a couple of trackdays and alot of fast road driving, never bottomed out or caused any issues when we used it..

I thought Pete did quite a good job tbh..

13th April 2009, 22:01

i think it all got thrown in the bin man

14th April 2009, 10:50

mite still be sitting around in the garage.

it bottomed out a few times in the xsi when we used them, tracks are smooth so it wont bottom out, its the normal road driving that was bad.

14th April 2009, 15:38

yeah but u gotta appreciate the car is pretty low, any kit will bottom out that low, unless u start running alot harder springs u aint gonna stop it, then ull just permantly have a harsh ride.

id love to have a ride in a saxo with fk's see what the diffrence is.

14th April 2009, 15:50

Even on the roads it wasn't bad at all imo..May have bottomed out a few times, but it was so low it would scrape the underside driving up the road in places..

14th April 2009, 16:55

another difference is the xsi was stripped and therefor a lot lighter than lees (and most other saxo/106s) so the extra weight made it bottom easier

15th April 2009, 15:02

what size dia and lenght springs do they use?

15th April 2009, 16:25

the cheap kits use a 2.5" dual rate spring, its not helper and main like other coilover kits.

16th April 2009, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by 106pete

the cheap kits use a 2.5" dual rate spring, its not helper and main like other coilover kits.

cheers, do you know the length aswel?

16th April 2009, 16:49

no sorry mate, never checked it tbh