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2023-2024 MQB Suspension Rundown (street & track setup)

SierraCarrera

Ready to race!
Location
Ohio
Car(s)
MK7 Sport, 981 CS
I'm not sure how much it could be attributed to bearings and mounts though. I got new aluminum Whiteline LCAs (crappy, I know) and new Febi strut mount bearings from FCP installed at the same time. The noise developed almost immediately after installation, along with everything else, and the mechanic basically said there's nothing he can do.

I don't think the suspension is set to high either. It's still lower than stock and unfortunately, I can't go lower due to the state of our roads. I frequently scrape already on city streets because of dips caused by buses driving and parking on the road while loading and unloading passengers. I try my best to dodge them, but sometimes I just can't.

So you're feeling a lot of bouncing as well? What about crashing? I think there's more minor vibrations on the highways too even when it's not bouncing.
Are you able to jack up the car? My B14s were super noisy/clunky until I took the little clear rubber collar around the spring and shimmied it towards the top where it was kinda jammed up against the mounts. I'll try and take a picture this week.

Also if this helps, the suspension felt amazing after corner balancing/alignment. The fronts were 13.5" hub to fender and rears at 14"
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Are you able to jack up the car? My B14s were super noisy/clunky until I took the little clear rubber collar around the spring and shimmied it towards the top where it was kinda jammed up against the mounts. I'll try and take a picture this week.

Also if this helps, the suspension felt amazing after corner balancing/alignment. The fronts were 13.5" hub to fender and rears at 14"
Same measurements as my B8/H&R setup. Rides great.
 

geokilla

Go Kart Champion
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI DSG
It has to be an install issue. Typical issues are strut mounts/bearing installed and torqued down incorrectly, how the spring is clocked in the strut, isolators, etc. Sway bar end links not installed/torqued correctly. Has to be one of those things. Many run B14s without drama. The ride being crashy is typically from being too low but you say you aren't maxed out, no clue here man.
Well that sucks... Definitely no point in paying hundreds or a thousand to reinstall old suspension parts correctly. I might as well redo my suspension and hope I get better or the proper parts, or get lowering springs and Koni FSDs along with all the proper parts, nuts, and bolts. I'm never going to adjust the ride height anyways. Heck they didn't give me back the collar thing to unlock and lock the spring height.
Are you able to jack up the car? My B14s were super noisy/clunky until I took the little clear rubber collar around the spring and shimmied it towards the top where it was kinda jammed up against the mounts. I'll try and take a picture this week.

Also if this helps, the suspension felt amazing after corner balancing/alignment. The fronts were 13.5" hub to fender and rears at 14"
I could measure them when I'm back in Canada but I'm not sure how accurate it'll be since my summer wheels are larger than my winter wheels as per my signature.
 

SierraCarrera

Ready to race!
Location
Ohio
Car(s)
MK7 Sport, 981 CS
Yeah sounds like the shop you took it to wasn't great. I've had so many bad experiences with even "reputable" shops that I'd rather just try it myself and make sure it's done right, even if it's a pain in the ass. Not to mention you can usually get all the tools/parts and a couple bottles of bourbon for less than half what these places charge :LOL:
 

geokilla

Go Kart Champion
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI DSG
Are you able to jack up the car? My B14s were super noisy/clunky until I took the little clear rubber collar around the spring and shimmied it towards the top where it was kinda jammed up against the mounts. I'll try and take a picture this week.

Also if this helps, the suspension felt amazing after corner balancing/alignment. The fronts were 13.5" hub to fender and rears at 14"

Same measurements as my B8/H&R setup. Rides great.
Just measured from the centre of the hub to the fender in my garage, which is slightly sloped towards the garage door. All around, I got 13" to 13.2" so I could be off by 0.2" or so. Definitely nowhere close to 13.5" to 14". I remember my car was sitting a bit higher. I guess the difference is due to winters being 225/45R17 vs summers being 235/45R17?

Either way, there probably is an install issue as you guys said, and with the suspension settled after over a year, I need to either get another shop to redo the installation, or switch to a different suspension and get rid of all my Whiteline/SuperPro parts. I can't raise the ride height myself because I never got the locking collar thing back when they installed my coils 2 summers ago.
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Just measured from the centre of the hub to the fender in my garage, which is slightly sloped towards the garage door. All around, I got 13" to 13.2" so I could be off by 0.2" or so. Definitely nowhere close to 13.5" to 14". I remember my car was sitting a bit higher. I guess the difference is due to winters being 225/45R17 vs summers being 235/45R17?

Either way, there probably is an install issue as you guys said, and with the suspension settled after over a year, I need to either get another shop to redo the installation, or switch to a different suspension and get rid of all my Whiteline/SuperPro parts. I can't raise the ride height myself because I never got the locking collar thing back when they installed my coils 2 summers ago.
The tire/wheel is not invovled in the center axle to fend lip measurement - doesn't matter.
 
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geokilla

Go Kart Champion
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI DSG
The tire/wheel is not invovled in teh center axle to fend lip measurement - doens't matter.
Why wouldn't it? Larger sidewalls means the tires are taller, which means the centre axle to fender distance is longer.
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Why wouldn't it? Larger sidewalls means the tires are taller, which means the centre axle to fender distance is longer.
Good lord man....think about your axle...it doesn't change position relative to the car's fender lip when you put larger or smaller tires on - the gap between tire/fender will change and if you measure ground to lip like most folks like to do then yes, tires, wheels, air pressure all can change that measurement. This IS why this is the way to measure b/c it removes all of those variables when comparing to others or even yourself.
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Does anyone have a part number for the Mk8 Golf R front LCAs??
Or the RS3 bushings??
.
Just look them up on FCP Euro or parts.vw.com.
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion

geokilla

Go Kart Champion
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Car(s)
2018 VW GTI DSG

tigeo

Autocross Champion
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