OK, here's a tip for anyone thinking of fitting Eibach springs. But first a bit of background...

I've had Eibachs on my Furby vRS for over a year, initially with standard dampers and later with Koni adjustables. From day one I was delighted with the improvement to the pitch, dive and roll, but less than impressed with the effect on ride which, at high speed on poorly surfaced M/ways I would best describe as 'jarring'.

When others who'd fitted Eibachs reported on Briskoda that they found the ride as good, if not better than standard, I began to wonder if my springs were faulty. So I made arrangements to take them to Eibach UK to be compression tested. They were found to be within spec. Eibach's design and test engineer agreed to road test the car over a public road test route he uses for setting up the suspension on cars as varied as Prodrive WRC Subarus and Tony Blair's 3.5 tonne armour-plated Jaguar! He concluded the poor ride was either due to a damping problem or the need for more progressive bump stops.

His mention of bump stops got me thinking about the effect of lowering springs on the standard bump stops. He said that some cars are designed to have the bump stops in constant contact between dampers and body mounts (Rover 75 and Golf Mk5 for example). But when I examined the Furby, it was clear the stops are only there to act as a buffer when the springs are in maximum compression.

Fitting Eibachs lowers the ride height by 25mm and this reduces the amount of free movement in the suspension before hitting the bump stops to about 0.5" at the rear and virtually nil at the front. In other words, the suspension is constantly bumping against the stops. Could this be the cause of the jarring ride?

I decided to shorten the bump stops to restore the amount of free suspension travel to standard. The rear stops are quite long (110mm) so I shortened these by 30mm. The front stops are rather shorter (55mm) so these were reduced by 20mm. To allow the re-fitting of the damper dust covers at the rear, I decided not to chop all the length off one end but to take a section out of the middle of the stop, re-joining the two ends together with Araldite Rapid.

And the result? Eureka! Problem solved. OK, the ride is still firm - Eibachs are 25% stiffer than standard after all. But the ride is so much more compliant (smoother) and the jarring at high speed has completely gone.

So my advice if you're fitting Eibachs is:

1) Well beforehand, order a new set of bump stops - part Nos:

Front 6Q0412301A - £4.95 each + VAT

Rear 6Q0512131B - £7.24 each + VAT

2) Cut and, in the case of the rears, re-join as suggested above.

3) When the suspension is dismantled to fit your Eibachs, fit the new bump stops at the same time.

4) Enjoy!

Hope this is useful.

Thats brilliant thankyou very much.

Could someone please explain "bump Stops" though or post a piccy of where i should look?

Alex

Thats brilliant thankyou very much.

Could someone please explain "bump Stops" though or post a piccy of where i should look?

Alex

There's a pic of a rear bump stop in this thread:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?t=28918&highlight=Eibach

see the section on Rear Springs and Dampers Step 1.

Thanks for posting that, very useful information

I am having my springs fitted tommorow by JBS, i just checked with them and they are shortening the bump stops.

Hmm sounds interesting.

for the research.

Mine is fine :confused: but a good tip for anyone who is having the above problem.

Mine is fine :confused: but a good tip for anyone who is having the above problem.

Didnt you get yours fitted at JBS?

I think they would have shortened your bump stops for you then

Yes I did . If they have done that already that's brilliant, didn't know they knew about this issue already

So the bump stop is inside the damper?

So the bump stop is inside the damper?

No. It sits between the top of the damper body and the mounting point for the damper (or strut) on the car.

Would this affect all suspension setups.. ie would coilovers have the same problem?

Wonder if the Elegance Fabia is different then as the ride quality on mine hardly changed at all when I had my Eibachs fitted. My mate did them and I'm pretty sure he didn't monkey about with the bumpstops! :confused:

Chris

Some good advice there mate. In my days of messing with the Saxo etc it wasn't uncommon to shorten the Bump Stops for exactly that reason.

With lowering shocks you normally have a shorter shaft and therefore less travel so proportionately the Bump Stop should be shorter.

Powerflex do some nice Polyurethane Bump stops

Would this affect all suspension setups.. ie would coilovers have the same problem?

I would have thought you'd get new bump stops with coilovers. Could be wrong.

I would have thought you'd get new bump stops with coilovers. Could be wrong.

Im just thinking to myself.. if i was going to do this.. and taking the suspension off, i might as well put coilovers back on.. oh and poly bushes

Neo_VR - victim of "the slippery slope"

Powerflex

http://www.powerflex.co.uk/bumpstop.asp

Im just thinking to myself.. if i was going to do this.. and taking the suspension off' date=' i might as well put coilovers back on.. oh and poly bushes

Neo_VR - victim of "the slippery slope" [/quote']

could know someone who'll take your springs off your hand

OK, here's a tip for anyone thinking of fitting Eibach springs. But first a bit of background...

I've had Eibachs on my Furby vRS for over a year, initially with standard dampers and later with Koni adjustables. From day one I was delighted with the improvement to the pitch, dive and roll, but less than impressed with the effect on ride which, at high speed on poorly surfaced M/ways I would best describe as 'jarring'.

When others who'd fitted Eibachs reported on Briskoda that they found the ride as good, if not better than standard, I began to wonder if my springs were faulty. So I made arrangements to take them to Eibach UK to be compression tested. They were found to be within spec. Eibach's design and test engineer agreed to road test the car over a public road test route he uses for setting up the suspension on cars as varied as Prodrive WRC Subarus and Tony Blair's 3.5 tonne armour-plated Jaguar! He concluded the poor ride was either due to a damping problem or the need for more progressive bump stops.

His mention of bump stops got me thinking about the effect of lowering springs on the standard bump stops. He said that some cars are designed to have the bump stops in constant contact between dampers and body mounts (Rover 75 and Golf Mk5 for example). But when I examined the Furby, it was clear the stops are only there to act as a buffer when the springs are in maximum compression.

Fitting Eibachs lowers the ride height by 25mm and this reduces the amount of free movement in the suspension before hitting the bump stops to about 0.5" at the rear and virtually nil at the front. In other words, the suspension is constantly bumping against the stops. Could this be the cause of the jarring ride?

I decided to shorten the bump stops to restore the amount of free suspension travel to standard. The rear stops are quite long (550mm) so I shortened these by 30mm. The front stops are rather shorter (110mm) so these were reduced by 20mm. To allow the re-fitting of the damper dust covers at the rear, I decided not to chop all the length off one end but to take a section out of the middle of the stop, re-joining the two ends together with Araldite Rapid.

And the result? Eureka! Problem solved. OK, the ride is still firm - Eibachs are 25% stiffer than standard after all. But the ride is so much more compliant (smoother) and the jarring at high speed has completely gone.

So my advice if you're fitting Eibachs is:

1) Well beforehand, order a new set of bump stops - part Nos:

Front 6Q0412301A -

Wonder if the Elegance Fabia is different then as the ride quality on mine hardly changed at all when I had my Eibachs fitted.

Was this the 2.0 Elegance? I would like to drop mine a bit (while retaining the ride quality) so the spring rate you chose would suit me if the engine block is the same weight. What was the part number of the Eibachs, and how far did the suspension drop? Did you change the dampers as well?

Dude, you will not be able to retain the same ride quality with lower springs. Bumps will be harsher, you'll have moved out of the comfort zone.

I don't know what coilovers would do for you, but I do know they help since they have adjustable dampers, so you can set it so that maximum shock absorption happens at the right time...

:confused:

Dude, you will not be able to retain the same ride quality with lower springs.

Scoobychris's experience is otherwise. That's why I asked him. Maybe your spring rates are higher than his. It may be possible to retain ride quality on normal roads, even if it is not so good on bad roads or cobbles. Also, I find the ride quality of the VRS quite acceptable and would like to have cornering that approaches it.

That's what I mean man. On bad roads you really feel the effects of lowering the car, but on a nice clean road it is almost as good as the standard setup.

I decided to shorten the bump stops to restore the amount of free suspension travel to standard. The rear stops are quite long (550mm) so I shortened these by 30mm. The front stops are rather shorter (110mm) so these were reduced by 20mm. To allow the re-fitting of the damper dust covers at the rear, I decided not to chop all the length off one end but to take a section out of the middle of the stop, re-joining the two ends together with Araldite Rapid.

Sorry but I'm confused, you say that the rear stops are 550mm long, that's 55cm!! I'm assuming you meant to put 55mm but that seems too small for the back ones:confused: If that was the case then 3mm is hardly anything. Same thing applies to the front ones. I hope you can clear this up for me as I was hoping to take my car to the garage to get it done today:thumbup:

Scoobychris's experience is otherwise. That's why I asked him. Maybe your spring rates are higher than his. It may be possible to retain ride quality on normal roads, even if it is not so good on bad roads or cobbles. Also, I find the ride quality of the VRS quite acceptable and would like to have cornering that approaches it.

Sorry completely missed you asking my opinion Nah my Elegance was the 1.9TDI Fabia and I believe the Eibach springs for that are also suitable for the 2.0l model, which would imply that they were the same spring rating and nose-weight As I said earlier, I noticed no real change in the ride quality, but a massive difference in the car's keenness to go round corners

Just to add, I also did the dampers on mine, rather than using the stock dampers...

Chris

I decided to shorten the bump stops to restore the amount of free suspension travel to standard. The rear stops are quite long (550mm) so I shortened these by 30mm. The front stops are rather shorter (110mm) so these were reduced by 20mm. To allow the re-fitting of the damper dust covers at the rear' date=' I decided not to chop all the length off one end but to take a section out of the middle of the stop, re-joining the two ends together with Araldite Rapid.

Sorry but I'm confused, you say that the rear stops are 550mm long, that's 55cm!! I'm assuming you meant to put 55mm but that seems too small for the back ones:confused: If that was the case then 3mm is hardly anything. Same thing applies to the front ones. I hope you can clear this up for me as I was hoping to take my car to the garage to get it done today:thumbup:

Sorry for the confusion. I think I may have transposed the dimensions of front and rear. If I recall, the front stops are about 55mm and the rear about 110mm. In any case, the main thing is to shorten them the maximum possible. Since I wrote that article I have shortened the rear stops still further 'cos the rear suspension was still bumping against the stops with passengers on board. If you want to soften the ride further, reduce the tyre pressures to 30psi front, 28 psi rear. Tyre wear is unaffected.