What springs for 3dr hdi?

[KrisB]

Hiya guys,

Hopefully someone's gonna go 'bam, there's your answer'...

Good quality springs to fit a 3dr Hdi 'variant' and lower by 40 or 50mm?

I'm sure there's issues with getting the HDi Dturbo to sit lower on springs due to it being what it is and not a 5dr?

Ta muchly guys.

[Niall]

1.8 springs. Mine have dropped my gti about 50mm and gti and hdi are about same weight iirc?

[Matt]

As Niall said. 1.8 spring will be going on the rallye too

[puglove]

I would say 40mm gti springs would drop a hdi 50mm due to the hdi being a tad higher on OE?

[KrisB]

Keep talking guys

[Niall]

What more do you want us to say? Buy and fit them for you?

[KrisB]

Haha, im glad i know you, and that i no longer suffer from a sense of humour failure.

Actually, yeah go fit it. i've got bare shit to be gettin on with lol.

i'll get some 1.8 springs with a 40mm drop then.

ps, have you got a reg of that old oil burner 1.8 you had?

[Niall]

Yeah I think I'm funny....everyone else doesn't. Ah well, FTC!

I'm sure hdi is the same weight as gti give or take a few kg. also think the only people who do the 1.8 springs are spax. I paid 75 delivered for the ones you fitted for me but sure you have your contacts!

[KrisB]

Eurocarparts? Not exactly a good contact tbh.

[Niall]

That the only place you can get them from? I got mine from euro performance and they were dispatched direct from spax and were with me next day

[KrisB]

I could use Kam racing i guess. But thanks for the next company...

[Niall]

Do you use gsf? They do spax stuff I've heard.

[KrisB]

Nope, because 'I've heard' they're worse than ECP, and tbf, you couldnt get much worse so i dread to think. It's okay when your a walk-in customer, but people like me, na mate. We need continuity. I've actually practically stopped using ECP, means i gotta put prices up but im fed up of the stress they cause me.

[Niall]

Fair play.
Hope you get the right clutch for me next weekend!

[KrisB]

Of course, i'll go to PMA.

Just clutch still? or torsion bar aswell?

[Niall]

Will text you in a min. Got a few other little bits to do

[4WayDiablo]

I've got -40 spax springs on '6 shocks and always get comments on how we'll it handles

[Connor]

Springs for a HDi? Why not 40mm HDi springs?

[KrisB]

Erm, yeah okay. Did you read the first post?

[Niall]

I've got -40 spax springs on '6 shocks and always get comments on how we'll it handles

Just a shame you can't drive for shit ain't it!

[Connor]

Erm, yeah okay. Did you read the first post?

What because its the dturbo? Or did i miss the point?

[KrisB]

I'm asking about this... I'm aware that some hdi's dont go as low as they should with just lowering springs listed for a hdi, because they made 5dr hdi's on stilts and 3dr hdi's with sports suspension, so when you lower a 3dr it just sits the same as before.

[Connor]

Can you not specify 3dr or sport when ordering? Never looked into it myself but the must be?

[Daniel306]

i thought the Xud and Hdi are about the same weight and the Gti was heavier, gti -40 springs lifted up my dturbo

[KrisB]

Weights are irrelivant.

It's the size of the springs that make the difference, or the spring rates. Both before and after. And im also pretty sure the hdi has about an extra 20mm LESS on the bottom part of the shock.

[Poodle]

You've lost me Kris, why is weight irrelevant? If you fit springs designed for a heavier car, then they won't lower as much as you expect them to, no?

As Daniel says, XUDs and HDis are very similar in weight, GTi6s are 60-70kg heavier.

[Mr Whippy]

Standard 3dr HDi is about 50-70kg lighter than a GTi6, and they sit the same height too (had a GTi6 and HDi both 3dr P3's)

I had the HDi weighed and it was as good as bang on book weight at 1135kg empty.


1.8 front springs may lower a GTi6 because it's a lot lighter than a GTi6, but the 1.8 and HDi probably weigh the same, so 1.8 springs might not lower a HDi much at all.

Obviously springs alter the ride height but struts can be different too, so always check the spring seat to hub locking notch distance. The HDi might have a longer throw, or a shorter one, or the same one. In any case if it's different you need to factor it in.

Ie, my 'OEM' spec shocks from GSF to fit "xsi/s16/gti6/hdi d turbo" had a different spring seat to hub notch distance by about 15mm, ergo the car sat 15mm higher after new shocks went on! Arghhhh...

That leads me to believe that either Bilstein decided all cars should sit 15mm higher, or there is some variance between the above cars and they chose a middle ground distance to use?! Would be interesting to find out


My theoretical method

Park the car on flat ground. Chock under the front sub-frame to point you want car lowering (put weights over front struts and make sure it lowers the car to the chocks)
Once happy with the chock height, remove the wheels and chock under the end of the wishbones to load the springs up, keeping the car pre-loaded with the weight it needed to lower it. Now use an oxyacetylene torch to heat up the springs. Let them heat up and then cool. Fingers crossed when you put it all back together it sits at a new lower height


From what I've seen you can have springs made/adjusted like that. But they do them in a special machine and run an electrical current through them, altering their free-length by the amount you want to alter the ride height by. Hmmmmm...


Cheers

Dave