Hi,

Been reading forums for a while, but this is first post. I have an 03 plate Superb 2.5 TDi Comfort (another candidate for being old before my time )

Got car in for major service, timeing belt, change water pump etc and they spotted one of the front springs is snapped. Now I would love to lower the car but funds are uber tight at the moment so need to replace the front spring with a standard jobbie, Does anyone have a guide to doing this, I have had a look round forum but couldnt find much about this particular job on a Superb. Is it hard to do, ive seen a few cars that have been lowered (look very nice BTW). Also is there an equivlent passat/a4 front spring I could use?

Also car has only done 56k miles, would you expect the spring to snap at this sort of mileage?

Thanks in advance

Ian

Just did a bit of googling and found a guide for a B5 Passat. Does this look right?

Articles | VW Passat spring install for B5 platform

Just did a bit of googling and found a guide for a B5 Passat. Does this look right? Articles | VW Passat spring install for B5 platform

No it does not, don't know if it's just 2.5V6, but there's lot of airco/brake piping so basically forget access plugs on top in the plenum, they're downright pain to access.

Undo the big bolts next to the access plugs and drop the assembly down, then remove the shock as per the rest of Passat instructions

But if you're getting new springs from a dealer, get sport springs for Superb 2.5TDI V6, they're 20mm lower and much nicer to drive. Price was the same as regular ones last time I checked, and in fact they are made from the same thickness wire but are one coil shorter.

Also, if spring was broken, chances are that the spring seats are damaged.

To be honest, replacing just the one spring after 6+ years is false economy.

I'd replace both shocks and springs and use new spring seats, new bearing and new bottom bolt and bottom and top nuts at this point. Bolt/nut replacement is mandated by VAG anyway.

My favourite with sport springs are Bilstein Sports B6 monotubes - excellent driving while still very comfortable on long trips. That's what I currently use for the last 50k miles /3 years

Thanks for reply Diesel V6, dont suppose you have a pic of your cars ride height?

Deciding what to do now, watching other post about lowering car seems to be about the same price to go for coilovers. Cost for 1 spring from skoda stealer is £63 +vat (cost fitted was £230 :eek:)

My cars ride height is stock on average, as I have front sport springs(-20mm) and rear HD springs (+20mm) fitted. This is so that the car is level when the boot is full and towbar carrier attached, otherwise the drag was too much above 130mph, and the car looked like old Mercedes with 3 people in the back.

But for driving with mostly unloaded car, I'd be quite happy with -20mm all round. Lower drops are purely for the looks, and if anyone claims that they do manage to retain comfort, I suggest physics course, in particular on damping force vs shock travel length. Shorter shock travel length = larger damping forces that need to be applied = stronger jolts that you feel in the cabin..

Coilovers do reduce unsprung weight, so in theory if they have similar shock travel length to stock, you would get similar comfort and better handling. However, most do not have anything like the same travel length (I've seen ones that have half of stock travel!), plus I do not know how long they last, and those from reputable companies cost double the monotubes+springs.