Passat tdi Suspension upgrade

Hi, this is my first post to this site, I hope someone can help!

I have a 2003 Passat 1.9tdi SE 130. Everything about it is great except the suspension. If I hit a dip in the road at any decent speed, the back end hits the suspension stops and I shave a few mm off the mudflaps. On cornering... well lets just say the indicators are marked Port and Starboard.

I'm seriously considering a suspension upgrade but haven't time to do it myself.

Anyone know anywhere in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area that would do an upgrade? I live out in the sticks so don't particularly want to lower the car, just make it a bit stiffer.

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by ajr1969

Hi, this is my first post to this site, I hope someone can help!

I have a 2003 Passat 1.9tdi SE 130. Everything about it is great except the suspension. If I hit a dip in the road at any decent speed, the back end hits the suspension stops and I shave a few mm off the mudflaps. On cornering... well lets just say the indicators are marked Port and Starboard.

I'm seriously considering a suspension upgrade but haven't time to do it myself.

Anyone know anywhere in the Newcastle Upon Tyne area that would do an upgrade? I live out in the sticks so don't particularly want to lower the car, just make it a bit stiffer.

Thanks.

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Most people owning a B5 platform car try to make their car's softer!

Anyway, I hear that Koni and Eibach are the way to go for a suspension upgrade. Konis are recommended in the A6 section (same as your Passat really) but my mate has fitted an Eibach Pro Kit to his A3 which he reckons has made a fantastic difference.

Erm, are you sure there isn't something wrong with the suspension? My B5.5 crashes in and out of potholes all day long and it's only the front that scrapes in deep ones. It's also fairly planted around corners, without much roll.

The back does go soft over time - I can recommend Monroe Gas for the REAR, but not for the front, although I will qualify this - if you don't mind a slighty firm ride the Monroes are good on the front, but for me I lost some of the smoothness of ride I had before - it handles very well for not a huge deficit in ride; it depends what you want really.

I would say however, do the rears first and if that gives you the result you want, leave it at that. You can fit them yourself and they seem to make the bigger difference - changing the fronts as well did not give me the same gains and I did loose that supple ride.

I run a PD 130SE and have not had any grounding/bump stop instances.I have Grayston auxilliary coil springs on the back to accomodate caravan nose weight.These are progressive and stiffen the back end up nicely without altering the ride height.The springs are around £80 delivered and are easy to fit,concentric with the originals.M.A.D also do a similar item.

Best,
Frank

Sounds more like wear and tear than typical vehicle characteristics.
It's hard to advise on a subjective issue, but I had new O.E. (boge front and rear bilstein) dampers all round and front springs, and new front iron octopus and have no problems, but I would rather the ride was a bit softer if anything, especially over ridges and sunken potholes, as these seem to be the typical characteristics of Britain's roads as it sinks towards developing-world status.

In my experience you rarely need to replace springs on cars as they age (unless they break) but changing shocks makes a huge difference. You don't usually need upgraded shocks, just new ones. When you drive a car every day you don't notice the shocks gradually going off. You put new ones on and can't believe the difference.