Hi, first post here. 🙂

Mk3 VRS owner, 2.0 TSI with stage 1 remap.

MOT was up and had 2 cracked coil springs.

Decided to get all 4 done, and stipulated to garage (major franchise EH) as its a VRS so want like for like springs replaced?

Assured me they would, paid more and waited longer.

So got car back last night and oh boy, cars now sitting high like an SUV!

2-3 inches higher, especially at the front.

Suspect wrong springs fitted, wanted a sanity check Chaps if I could.

There's another VRS near me, took pics of his and mine to compare.

Its night and day to me, could someone take a look andngive an opinion please?

Thanks.

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by gazjam

Seeing the pics together like this,

The front end is absolutely out of spec, car drives.and feels very different.

Going to speak to Service Mgr tommorow.

Any advice on how to approach this with him very much appreciated.

Cheers.

This isnt a rant thread, more a searchnfor different eyes on kt, 2nd opinion kinda thing.

Feel Ive been ripped off, no invoice/work breakdown given (just handed my keys back) and when I asked about invoice told I'd be emailed it.

Nothing came.

Also charged around £325 a corner for this work... and it ain't right.

Cheers.

Edited 26 November, 202526 Nov by gazjam

Sounds expensive for replacing 4 springs.

It doesn't look right in the pics to me. It will of course sit a bit higher on new springs than on old/broken springs so don't let them fob you off if you're certain it's wrong.

How to approach it? They need to put it right free of charge and with minimum inconvenience to you.

Check the colour markings on the springs maybe?
@petrolbloke I agree, £325/ corner is wayyyy too high.

Edited 29 November, 202529 Nov by Lee01

I had a similar problem with my 2000 BMW 740 Sport a few years ago. Broken front spring replaced with a standard item which made the car sit lop-sided. Garage told me that the "Sport" springs were only available in pairs,so they got the standard one without asking me. When I gently "blew my top" at them for not asking me, they had the car back and changed both fronts for the proper items only charging for the parts, including the refund for the wrong one.

In your case, they have clearly fitted the wrong spring / strut assemblies, front and back. Take measurements of the ride height of your mate's car, centre of the wheel to the lowest point of the wheelarch, and compare that to the measurements on your "repaired" car; there will be a significant difference. Present those to the service manager and tell them to sort it.....

If you still have the sales brochure for your car, it will state the vRS suspension is 15mm lower than standard but it only actually quotes overall height.

You mention in the original post that it was a "major franchise EH"; is that a Skoda franchise or other manufacturer? If it's a Skoda franchise we need to know so as to avoid in future....

Edited 29 November, 202529 Nov by SwallownAmazon

What happened when you went to the garage?

This reminds me to suggest that anyone that is interested in their cars, should, at service time or just before it, measure and record the ride height at all 4 wheels BEFORE the car has been lifted up.

I replaced all 4 springs on my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI using, against my better judgement, aftermarket branded springs, in my case Lesjofors, the ride height at the front remained the same within 5mm, the ride height at the rear dropped by 10 or 15mm - on checking up on the online Lesjofors catalogue I discovered that they don't provide a rear spring for that model of car, so I had accidentally bought the 3 door GT version, which makes my wife's Polo sit almost "flat" - which looks better!

If I ever own a VRS, I'd only ever fit or get fitted genuine VW Group springs, aftermarket only provide maybe a selection/option of 6 front springs whereas VW Group will be offering more like 10 options - so when buying from a VW Group outlet you will get sold the exact correct rating/length of spring as it had when leaving the factory.

It's always useful to have had a look at the original springs if they were still on the car when you bought it, and record the colour banding/strips on them.

Maybe all "could have/should have" done in your case, but others could take some of this onboard.