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What parts to place when rebuilding suspension?

pac17

New member
Location
Canada
Car(s)
Mk7 1.8t
Hello all,

I'm starting the journey of modding my car and am starting with wheels, tires, suspension.

Car is 2015 (mk7) golf comfortline (1.8t)
163,000 km on the car.

Ive decided to buy some new aftermarket wheels but staying at 17" because i'm not changing the brake calipers just yet so I don't want them to look small.

Got my tires, INDY 500s.

My question lies within the suspension. I'm going to be using a set of coil overs because I'm wary of the current dampers and might as well go coil overs if i'm going to change them. I'm currently looking into SCALE coil overs.

While replacing those, I thought while I am down there I might as well look into changing out any worn out parts so I can have "fresh" suspension rather than having new coils and something else that I haven't replaced breaks.

My question is: what is there to replace in terms of suspension?

I'm not too mechanically savvy so i'm trying to learn. I'm concerned with things like bushings and other supportive parts that may be worn out after the driving and I want to basically rebuild the suspension.

Any ideas as to what specific parts I should look to replace? Obviously I'm going to have the car inspected by a more qualified person but anything I should tell them to look for specifically? Or anything I should outright change regardless?

Thanks
 

Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Location
Go Birds
Car(s)
16 Touareg TDI
Springs, struts, strut mounts, strut bearings, control arm bushings / control arms. You can buy Audi RS3 control arms that bolt right up to your MK7 and are OEM with better performance than the Golf control arms but the same NVH.

also, of course, all torque to yield hardware is one time use so you need stretch bolts
 

Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Location
Go Birds
Car(s)
16 Touareg TDI
The springs themselves may be okay, you can usually get away with retaining the springs and just change the struts, mounts, and bushings. but a good inspection would tell you whether you've got signs a spring or two could use replacement. your car isn't that old so the springs are probably fine, springs usually only break at like 10+ years old and irrespective of mileage.
 

victorofhavoc

Autocross Champion
Location
Kansas City
Check and replace any rubber parts and metal contact areas that move. For example, endlinks can be a common wear point that's overlooked (any play in an endlink is bad), wheel bearings, alignment adjustment points if frequently touched, tophat if you choose to stick to oem for comfort and quiet, strut bearing, bushings in the control arms, especially at steering attachment points. Also check the dogbone mount. That's technically a mount but it is a suspension point as well with frequent failures.

Rubber if not cared for degrades and cracks. Look out for any that's really grey and brittle to the touch.
 

scrllock

Autocross Champion
Location
MI
Balljoints, endlinks, shock mounts are a good spot to start. Inspect control arm bushings. On a budget, new arms off rockauto are relatively cheap and will include pre-pressed bushings. Generally cheaper than the cost and effort of pressing in new bushings to your old arms.

You don't need to worry about springs and struts if you're going coilovers of course, and if you're using the Scale camber plates/strut bearing, you don't need to worry about new OE ones either.
 
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