2 hours ago, TMB said:

 

Yeah I know what you mean.

 

I've always thought it was bad practice to only do a spring on one side. Always do mine in pairs.

 

I can't understand why he didn't just change them as per my instructions. Even if he was trying to save me money, the drop in ride quality is definitely not worth the saving even if I was looking to save money which I'm not.

 

 

1 hour ago, DieselMonte said:

It would take a long time for a brand new spring to sag like a 16 year spring. Whos to say that the old spring wont keep sagging as much as the new one does? 

I've always been told to do them in pairs, no reason not to.

And +1 on doing the rear springs yourself, as I said earlier they are a very easy diy if you have a jack and jackstands.

That video shows what to do, you dont need a lift or a transmission jack, you need stands to keep the chassis supported in the air and some form of jack, I didnt even bother taking off the wheels.

-Lift up the back of the car and support it

-Slide under and remove the lower shock bolts (17mm iirc), have the jack lightly supporting one of the perches for the spring when you completely remove the bolts.

-Lower the rear beam slowly until its as far as it wants to go

-At this point you should just be able to remove the rear springs by hand, no spring compressor needed

Then its just the reverse for installing. Only thing to be wary of is to make sure the rear is jacked up plenty high to allow the rear beam to droop. I think it took me sub 30 minutes beginning to end including getting tools and jacking the car up. 

 

The issue I've got is, I don't have any jack stands or a jack but otherwise I can see it's a pretty straightforward job. Thanks for going to the trouble of locating a guide though for me 👍

 

It does really further reiterate the point though that he should of just changed the springs as well as the rear shocks given how simple they are to do. There's no way I'm going to feel the full benefits of them new shocks with 16yr old springs, absolute madness and of course the front struts and nearside spring they're 16yrs old! 😩

Nothing wrong with 16 year old springs in terms of ride comfort unless one or both have broken ends, you definitely would get the benefit of the new rear shocks on older but functional springs.

 

I completely agree that the front springs should have been changed as a pair however it sounds like the new one has far too high a spring rate, I reckon that he did indeed buy a pair but on replacing the first spring either when compressing it or after fitting he realised that the new one was not compatible at all and stopped there before fitting the second one which would have made things twice as bad.

 

You should measure the spring rates by getting somone to sit carefully on each wing while you measure how many mm the suspension sags, ideally find another identical stock unmodified vehicle to compare with.

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

Nothing wrong with 16 year old springs in terms of ride comfort unless one or both have broken ends, you definitely would get the benefit of the new rear shocks on older but functional springs.

 

I completely agree that the front springs should have been changed as a pair however it sounds like the new one has far too high a spring rate, I reckon that he did indeed buy a pair but on replacing the first spring either when compressing it or after fitting he realised that the new one was not compatible at all and stopped there before fitting the second one which would have made things twice as bad.

 

You should measure the spring rates by getting somone to sit carefully on each wing while you measure how many mm the suspension sags, ideally find another identical stock unmodified vehicle to compare with.

 

So are you suggesting that you feel it may be the incorrect spring as well'? Also, how could I measure in mm how much the suspension sags please? They are surely far to smaller increments without specialist equipment?

 

Height from ground to wheelarch unladen & then with a fat bloke sat on the wing, preferably on a cushion because the tinwork tends to have the rigidity of a wet lettuce leaf these day.

Just a quick question. Does anybody know if 'Monroe' even does springs for a Fabia Vrs/ Polo GT TDI?

 

Because I've had a look on Monroe's online catalogue to see what springs they say are available for my Polo and they only have 2 variants which BOTH are cross referenced with STANDARD VW spring part numbers!

 

Which would suggest it is in fact the wrong spring!

 

Edit:

 

Sachs online catalogue for BLT engine: 6Q0 411 105 N

 

Monroe 2 variants for BLT:

6Q0 411 105 AK

6Q0 411 105 AJ

6Q0 411 105 AH

 

Cross referenced with the catalogue link that TMB gave me:

https://volkswagen.7zap.com/en/rdw/polo+derby+vento-ind/po/2005-253/4/411-411010/

 

Monroe's appear to be for standard cars ONLY!

 

Thanks,

Tom

Edited 29 May, 20215 yr by Tomjones1995

Yes, that seems likely and would explain the awful handling.

The factory springs have coloured paint splodges on them which can be helpful for identifying which part number you need (if you still have a factory one(s) fitted and the paint hasn't worn off).

 

Like this....

 

Edited 29 May, 20215 yr by TMB

16 minutes ago, TMB said:

The factory springs have coloured paint splodges on them which can be helpful for identifying which part number you need (if you still have a factory one(s) fitted and the paint hasn't worn off).

 

Like this....

 

Thanks,

 

Yeah I know about the paint splodges but I can't see them on my original springs so I'm guessing it's been worn off :/

 

What a merry dance these mechanic's are sending me on indeed!

 

I'l be contacting him on Monday with this info and I'll update you all in due course.

 

Thanks again Guys

 

 

Edited 29 May, 20215 yr by Tomjones1995

8 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

Yeah I know about the paint splodges but I can't see them on my original springs so I'm guessing it's been worn off :/

 

Either that or it might have had non-OE replacements in the past as modern car springs just love to snap.

41 minutes ago, TMB said:

 

Either that or it might have had non-OE replacements in the past as modern car springs just love to snap.

Oh right yeah that's a possibility 👍

Just a quick update

 

I decided to take the car to yet ANOTHER garage further away from my home because the MOT fella didn't bleed my brakes properly twice so I'd lost trust in him.

 

So this new place changed both front springs and said the brakes were still full of air despite me going back to the the MOT fella to bleed them and now the car is much much better thank goodness

 

Thanks to everyone for the help and advice,

It's much appreciated

 

Tom

 

Does it drive better now? No more bouncy-bouncy?

45 minutes ago, TMB said:

Does it drive better now? No more bouncy-bouncy?

 

Yeah thanks, no more bouncy bouncy haha

 

So relieved to of sorted it now, much more like the car I bought

Edited 17 June, 20214 yr by Tomjones1995