Rear coilover springs too stiff, am I stuffed?

Fitted new coil overs to the rear when I got the car. Previous owner had fitted coil overs that were too low and had rusted solid. I fitted a new kit, set the ride height so I could clear speed bumps and away I went.

Well first speed bump I went over felt like someone kicked the car up the arse. Entire rear banged and shook, felt like I had no suspension at all!

Looking at softening it, I'll need to lower the car to take tension out the spring, but then it'll sit far too low to be able clear the speed bump anyway?

Do I need new springs with less tension, or just longer? Debating finding old stock springs to fit to the rear while keeping the coilovers on the front.

Any one experienced with this? What are my options to get a comfortable ride height back, hopefully without having to shell out for a new set of springs!

 

I honestly can't remember but I think it was this set.

https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/wc412vm60vw01-vmaxx-coilover-kit.html

 

Unfortunately as mentioned above that’s what you get with cheap coilovers, I have my pd150 golf mk2 fitted with some blue coilovers that can lower the ride height while keeping the damping rate soft however it’s set rock hard- great for handling round the circuit but not comfortable on long drives. On my other mk2 fitted with ve tdi engine I have springs and shocks and the ride is sublime. The ride height is fixed at the front but the rear is adjustable- basically you compress the ring and move a circlip up a higher grove then the taller sits on it ! The ride on this is very, very good as you will expect from a matched set of springs and shocks. Others recommend Eibach springs and Sachs or Koni shocks, I have not tried that setup but I believe it works too.
I also have another mk2 gti with a 2.0petrol mk3 engine and that has also some sort of blue coilovers setup but there is no damping control on that. This is also driving nice although I found it a bit too low for my liking and raised the front 10mm. I could live with that too. The yellow fk coilovers I bought it to replace the spring and damper suspension but I have yet to find a reason to change as it’s good enough as it is…

 

Ah interesting, thanks. Does anyone do a full set of shocks and springs? Looking at VW Heritage I'll have to buy each bit separately, bump stops, etc and half the parts are out of stock.

 

Get lemforder top mounts and look for eibach springs and shocks of your choice…or maybe look at different coilovers, kw variant or eibach pss9 do come highly rated but they do cost a lot of money ! Had some adjustable suspension a few years ago on another mk2 but I left the car sitting for too long and a rear one got damaged…that was a cool setup !
If you want look for eibach/MTS coilovers kit for mk2 platform, it has good reviews!

 

Put coilovers on a mk1 road car, week later took them off, same issue rear too hard.
I have quite a stock of shocks, mk1 mk2 and Ibiza, but I'm up in the north east
so probably too far
Jon
Will be thinning down the collection soon, probably using marketplace

 

Thanks for the tips! I gotta ask how did the rear suspension get damaged from the car sitting for so long?

 

Rear adjuster seized/rusted and started leaking…couldn’t get them repaired for reasonable money so I threw them away !

 

They look like the ones I had on my bmw mini, made my wife cry as were so harsh.
Have you tried winding the height up?
But seems to be the case on sub 1k coilovers

 

AHH man that really sucks, sorry to hear!

 

Last question before I go on the hunt for suspension parts - could I get away with leaving coil overs on the front and putting shocks and springs on the rear, or would the difference in stiffness make it a pain to drive? Trying to save buying all new components again

 

Sort of like a caddy van conversion, coilovers front but leaf springs on rear still.
You may find it a little unbalanced front to rear.

 

Yeah that's my only concern really. Guess I won't know until I try it at least

 

I did run mine for a week with coilovers on front, lowered springs on rear but I only drove to work 3 times at 5 mole round trip, didn't feel quite right, it was a quick stopgap as had split top mount.

*5 mile, no Penfolds involved .

 

Don't suppose anyone has some pictures of ride height after fitting eibach springs? I've no idea what my ride height is at now compared to stock, so no idea if eibachs are gonna be higher or lower than my current height.

 

Crikey that's tight on arch clearance! Thanks for the pic!

 

Ah fair, looks deceptively low, but of it rides well that's all that matters!