Lower

[Mersh]

Hi everyone.

I have an 03 130 TDI sport and have bought shocks and springs to drop it 30mm. I have lowered three mk three golfs and a Corrado but having looked at both the front and rears the whole set up is completely different.

Before I got getting myself into trouble does anyone have any tips or helpful advive?

Ta,

Mersh

[borasport]

Rears are not a problem as the hole top mount comes away from the car, just a set of spring compressors required, fronts are quite tricky cause of the amount of travel in the 'tractor like' shocks, but should be a breaze if you disconnect the anti-roll first, and spring compressors of course. You may need a deep section ring spanner for the top mount as you need to get an allen key through the middle, i use a plug socket and turn the socket with a spanner whilst holding the allen key.

[Mersh]

Ta for the advice. I have a suitable spanner for the top mounts from when I did the Golf's so shouldn't be overly difficult. One question though. Do I need to remove the parcel shelf to get to the top mounts at the rear?

Thanks again.

Mersh

[Col]

Just to add my bit....

The MK3 type notched tool for the front top mounts won't work. The easiest way is to use a spark plug socket (the big type LOL, not the narrow one). That way you can insert an allen key through the centre to hold the centre and then get a ring spanner to undo the nut.

The trickiest bit on the fronts is spliting or opening up the hub where the shock sits in. VW use a special tool which is well worth getting from a 3rd party tool supplier. When I did mine however, I crudely used a large cold chisel and a lump hammer (not good) !

The rears are a doddle, you don't even need spring compressors. Simply take the shockers off then the beam swings down enough to simply insert the spring.

Good luck (and buy the splitter tool for the fronts), trust me !

[borasport]

You do not need to go inside the car for the rears the mount bolts up into the arch from the outside which is realy handy but make sure you disconnect at the bottom first you will require spring compressors if you can only get one side of the car up at a time.

[borasport]

to get the shock out of the hub drop the anti roll link take out the bolt out of the hub then hit the bottom of the strut where the spring sits upwards with a lump hammer, this is the quickest way but only do it if you binning the old shocks for new(compress the spring first)

[Mersh]

Thanks for the help, I am a bit more confident going into the whole job.

Cheers,

Mersh