Mk6 golf 1.6tdi shock absorber springs problem

[scanny]

Can anyone give me some advice my wife owns a mk6 1.6 tdi 2010 totally standard ,failed the mot on a front coil spring should be easy Job but they made a right **** of it and the car was never the same afterwards felt like there was knocking noise from the suspension area ,so last month I bit the bullet and replaced basically the lot the front shock absorbers the springs the suspension mount the drop link arms and even wheel bearings ,but she says when she goes over the speed bumps the car now catches the bump such as the engine under tray but this never happened before as it’s standard motor it’s not lowered or anything .the tray underneath is all in place I just can’t see why this would happen any ideas thanks

[Rob69]

Check the correct springs and dampers were fitted, sounds like they may be a lower or less progressive spring rate or softer damper than the originals, allowing more travel for the same load ( speed hump).

[Crasher]

Yes there are dozens of springs and dampers, often the aftermarket bundles groups under one number where some results are too soft and others too harsh. The use of aftermarket parts must be very carefully judged by someone who knows what they are doing using the OE references against aftermarket manufacturers numbers, Suplex being the best we have found IF you know the OE part number, not some spotty teenager on work experience using a purely REG number look up system which is very hit and miss.

[scanny]

I bought some from a vw specialist,apparently the springs I bought from eBay were called continental direct springs ltd but they don’t make them they are from China say no more ,so the new one I’ve bought the diameter is different one end to the other how can I find out the correct way round the spring goes thanks

[Rob69]

Unless things are vastly different on a mk6 from the last mk 5 I did, It'll only go in one way round, tight coil to the top and bigger diameter to the bottom. Did you not find this when you fitted the chinese ones?

[scanny]

I had replaced the original shock absorbers with a make called vorderkante off eBay ,the ride seems ok but surely if it the car under tray catches the road humps wouldn’t it be most likely the springs causing it

[scanny]

The Chinese springs did fit only one way and to be fair wasn’t identical to the springs I replaced. Hence why I think there not right

[Rob69]

depends on the damping rate or stiffness of the new dampers compared to OE dampers combined with a different spring rate, how far the spring compresses on the speed hump

[Crasher]

There is only one brand of aftermarket spring I will use and that is Suplex, they are always perfect, the range is huge, the UK stocks massive and they are very easy to obtain, the key is to get the correct cross reference number and for that you need to know what your car was built with and then use a trade only cross reference, depending on the application catalogue is inaccurate as there so so many variations. Having said that the A4 Avant we are just doing need a pair of rear and there was no stock so I had to compromise and use Sachs! At least the Sachs application number was only tied to the specific VW part number and not bundled and they seem fine. At a push I will only use Lemforder on the rear of something like an old Golf 4. Dampers wise I will only use Sachs/Boge or in certain special applications (such as Golf 4 4 Motion) Monroe. The key lesson I have learnt is not to trust look up lists, I will only fit based on the VW number over to the manufacturers number using a system called Tec Doc.

[scanny]

Car now sorted the springs were approx 20mm shorter ,then when I measured the width of the shock absorber where is goes into the hub it measured 51mm where it should be 50mm I know it’s only 1mm but was a pain to get in the hub , so I replaced with some shocks from gsf they were perfect slid into hub no issues , just see if I’m able to get refund for incorrect parts off eBay