in the middle of fitting my coilovers, when i ordered the spares from skoda they sent me some big alloy spacers(see below), do i need to fit em? i didn't take any off of the old shocks but don't know if i need to fit em to the new ones.

cheers for any help and speed is of the essence as i am actually doing this right now

but bengie we are all lazy sods for getting someone else to do it....

So are these standard Skoda parts you're fitting, Bengie? Those don't look familiar to me, either, but maybe the 4x4 suspension is different...

cheers paul, thats real helpfull of you.

no nick they are kw coil overs but i bought new skoda top mounts and they give me these spacers with everything else and i don't know if i need em, doesn't look it to me but i want to check rather than get it wrong

front setup is the same i think, but i have never seen fwd front shocks

KW's user the std top mounts you dont need to replace them. There we no spacers on my topmounts. is it a 4x4 rideheight thing?

thanks for your second comment, very helpfull. i already have it fitted like you say but have not fitted the wheel and dropped it yet, i will happily go and do this now

just dropped the first side as paul suggested and the top cap was loose as buggery so i have now fitted the spacer and all is good. nearly done both fronts and only backs left

So I guess the struts are just much shorter.

Bengie the rears are easy - might want to wait for daylight tomorrow for the fronts ...

the fronts are now done with the back to be done still so the car looks like a dragster. do i have to remove the inner arch get at the back dampers? remember the 4x4 is different to the fwd

You have to loosen the rear of the arch liner so you can get to the top shock bolt which is a 16mm.

cheers ross, gotta go find my torx bits now and loosen the arch

hit a little hurdle, remembered my mate has my spring compressors, any way of removing the rear springs without using them?

sorted!!! gave up last night and locked up, started again at 8.30 this morning by taking it all apart then hiring some spring clamps when the shop opened. all fitted now just haven't driven the car yet as i was filthy and have just this minute stepped out the shower. now to go drive and enjoy! hopefully

Are you going to get the suspension alignment checked or isn't it necessary for this type of mod?

what a difference!! so much more compliant to drive round the streets. almost zero body roll(well compared to before anyway). did start to notice a little bit of understeer a couple times now though :eek:

time for some better tyres maybe?

got it set quite low at the moment (pics to follow shortly) but that is parked on the kerb so looks a bit lower than it actually is but love it all the same. would it make much difference fitting some strut braces to the car(top/bottom front/back) and how the hell do you fit an upper brace to the front? i thought you normally bolted them to the fixing points but seeing as the car doesn't have any real solid fixing points on the front how do you do it? can you do it even?

Are you going to get the suspension alignment checked or isn't it necessary for this type of mod?

will definitly be getting a 4 wheel alignment done to check things are pointing where they should be

heres a pic, bit low quality but it was taken with my phone

I would bet the rear camber will be well out, adjustable top arms are the best bet to correct this and stop scrubbing the inner edges of the rear tyres out.

Bengie, Sounds like you are a "Happy Chappy".

Ross is right, you will need to get the alignment done or you will scrub the rear tyres. To get it spot on you will need adjustable arms on the back, Forge do them but brace youself for the cost, mine were about

Stuart, would you mind posting the suspension alignment settings you finally opted for? They might be of use as a starting point for others like Bengie who have modified their 4X4 suspension. Maybe even me too one day.

Stuart, would you mind posting the suspension alignment settings you finally opted for? They might be of use as a starting point for others like Bengie who have modified their 4X4 suspension. Maybe even me too one day.

Dennis, Absolutely no idea what they are, I just tell Powerstation to keep understeer to a Minimum, Good Handling for fast road & reosnable tyre life. The set up I have been given I like, they said if I did loads of Motorway miles I might wear the inners on the rear a bit due to the camber but with the kind of driving I do Im getting fairly even wear. I suggest to anyone to chat to Rich before you go up & discuss what they can do. The adjustable rear struts are IMO essential, They also use a very big tapping stick to get tweak the toe on the rear.

ONE THING to remember, If you have any buckled alloys they will throw out the alignment as the bit they clamp to the wheel assumes its straight. Again if you are worried mention it to them & they can spin the wheels up & take an average before fixing on the "adjusting clampy thingy"

Stuart.

I have a print out somewher I think, If I can find it I will get SWMBO to scan it & mail it to you

Thanks, Stuart.

PS; Whilst the adjustable rear struts sound expensive, they are cheap compared with the likely cost of having to replace rear tyres prematurely.

If you have understeer Bengie, look up one oj Johns threads...you can dial the understeer out to over steer with your suspension settings.

Also too low effects handling and can break things if pushing on...

FOr the record I had mine two fingers in wheel arch ath the top. Rear softer than front to promote oversteer, took a while to get it to settle.

just bolted it on as i got it from stuart and it looked level, as i got out of the car i said the rear camber looked quite negative(think i got it the right way round)

will have to get the adjustable wotsits for the rear definitly but yes indeed i am a happy chappy but i do suffer with a bit of understeer now, got the ESP to cut in a few times on the way home tonight on damp roads where it wouldn't have before