Shock absorber doesnt fit

[John417]

Hey guys , so i had the spring on drivers side fitted incorrectly i found out yesterday , i decided to just replace both front springs but i dont know yet which ones are the correct ones whether its for standard suspension or sport suspension i think the sport one but these are out of stock so anyway i decided today to remove the strut myself take it to a garage so then can just reposition the spring so that it sits properly which they have done , i come home with the strut try to fit it but it doesnt fit now because if i put the two strut bolts in the holes at the top the bottom of the shock which is supposed to sit on the lower arm is positioned sideways basically if i was to put the bottom of the shock on the lower arm the two bolts at the top wont be positioned so that they could go into the holes at the top i hope you understand , so now im thinking is there a way to fix it at home or what im thinking is that maybe the spring is not the correct one that should be on this car hence why it was positioned incorrectly in the first place so that it would allow for the strut to be fitted is that possible ? Cause now when its siting properly it wont allow for the strut to be installed. The spring has one green and two pink marks on it if that helps ? Im seriously starting to get desperate such a silly issue but somuch trouble with it.

 

[John417]

I really think the spring is incorrect cause when i was removing the shock i had to push the hub a lot to be able to remove it , looking at youtube videos they didnt have to move it that much and the drivers side is a lot higher then the passenger side so i think this spring is too long , could someone tell me where i can get a proper spring for a normal price tps wants like £117 or something which seems like a lot for one spring and the one on eurocarparts for sport is out of stock so id have to get the standard suspension one which looks too long

 

[John417]

Im not sure if i can twist the shock absorber ? I tried but didnt want to push too hard cause im not really sure whether i can do it but looking online now and i should be able to so will give it a go , if someone could advise me where to get the springs that'd be great, thanks.

 

[John417]

Okay so i tried twisting the shock absorber but when i do the lower end of the spring moves away from the rubber ''wall'' that it should be pushed up againts creating a gap which is what the problem was in the first place so i got the same issue now im not sure why did the spring move is the spring at faults or something else? Id hate to buy new springs and then find out the same problem is still happening could it be anything to do with the strut?

 

[John417]

Im kinda talking to myself here But i hope someone will be able to help me , i've twisted the shock i tried to fit it but the problem is this or atleast im pretty sure it is : The spring is too long , i measured the complete shock as it is with the spring and its 65cm tall if i measure it to the coil disc on the top , its too long and to be able to fit it id have to push the lower arm down by a fair bit but that doesnt seem right looking at other videos they all fit nicely so im pretty sure the spring is too long and the fact that it was installed like this this whole time forced in there basically pushing the lower control arm lower im pretty sure that's the reason why my camber is all wrong cause the sway bar is connected to that arm so the fact that this arm is not in a position that it should be messes up the other side aswell , can someone advise if thats possible ? Also how long should the shock be with the spring installed ? The spring is 24cm long on mine and complete shock is 65 as i said.

 

[Andy avant b5]

Hi mate with regards to the drivers side sitting high most cars do to allow full the full tank of fuel and the driver but by the sounds of it something not right is your a4 a sports model

 

[John417]

Thanks for the response mate , yes it is turbo quattro sport. Did you install the coilovers yet on yours ? If you did could u measure the shocks that were on the car ? I seriously dont know anymore i looked at like 10 videos of other people doing it and they all have to jack the lower arm up so that the holes on the bottom of the shock match with the one in the arm but mine is the other way around i have to push the arm down to even fit the shock there the shock is as high as it can be but its still too long to fit i cant push the lower arm any lower and i dont even want to force it i mean it should just fit nicely.

 

[Andy avant b5]

I haven't yet mate going to do it in a couple of weeks when I take them out will measure them also let me know if you need any pictures will send them too bud

 

[John417]

Thanks a lot mate , i have to sort this issue by the weekend cause im going on a europe trip on sunday the messed up part is that i cant even get hold of sport springs all local shops either have just the standard ones or the sports ones are out of stock.

 

[Andy avant b5]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/172703781564 sorry I can't help mate but don't know if this is of any use to you

 

[John417]

That's interesting , if its stock spring then i definetely have the wrong one mine has one green and two pink marks on it and is longer for sure i can tell. I'll try the local breakers maybe i can get a decent condition strut with spring and then just replace the complete set up all 4 shocks and springs cause its all messed up on the front passenger side shock is red drivers side is blue meyle

 

[Andy avant b5]

Yes mate sounds like it's got different shocks and springs both sides

 

[Andy avant b5]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/263597096314

 

[John417]

It was back in 2014 just before christmas i went on a holiday and my brother was driving the car , the drivers side spring broke so he had that replaced but i never really knew what they replaced it with or if they replaced the shock aswell but i think they did i didnt check when i came back cause i didnt even know but that's why its all messed up on the front.

 

[Andy avant b5]

That makes sense have sent you another link don't know if it's any use to you

 

[John417]

Wow thats a good price and the shocks are red which are the proper ones if only it was closer its over 200 miles away from cardiff.

 

[Andy avant b5]

That is a bargain mate hopefully you get it sorted can't wait to fit my coilovers think I will transform the handing

 

[John417]

I'll call every breaker , parts store i can find tomorrow and hopefully it will be finally sorted and it will solve the camber aswell , will update here. Yeah they will transform the car's handling for sure i had the complete shocks springs replaced on my previous e46 and it was like a new car , be sure to update here. Thanks for your help today mate really appreciate it.

 

[Andy avant b5]

No problem mate happy to help

 

[Andy avant b5]

Amy luck mate

 

[John417]

Not really mate i found one complete strut 20miles away but it was from 2.8 v6 , the interesting thing is that i called the breaker and asked them how long the strut is and they measured it and its 65cm same as mine so i went to the car and measured the other strut and its 65cm long aswell so i figured it might not be the strut that makes it so hard to reinstall it so went back and gave me another shot but still didnt really fit so i ended up removing the antiroll bar from the lower arm to be able to push that arm even lower and with a lot of forcing i got it to fit but im 99% certain that there is some sort of issue i mean every single video i look at the strut comes out and goes in nicely they didnt have to push anywhere near as hard as i did im seriously fed up with it now i keep thinking about it trying to figure out the problem , came up with a new idea today but not sure if its realistic basically it goes like this : The spring or shock ( no one knows ) broke while driving i spoke to my brother today he said it was a loud bang and the drivers side droped a lot , two things i think could happen one is that because it happened while driving the force of the weight coming down in a snap could bent some parts or mess up the position of them so i might have the right shock/spring but either the sway bar is bent or lower arm or something thats causing the lower arm to be higher then it should be therefore causing negative camber on that side and positive on the other and making it near impossible to fit the strut , the second thing i came up with was that the shock or spring was forced in there like this before already and due to the forced it broke out of nowhere cause i think it was the shock that was replaced cause the springs are same on both sides on the front only shocks are different i noticed today the springs both have same paint marks.

 

[Andy avant b5]

It sounds like a tricky one

 

[John417]

It is i had 4 garages to have a look at the suspension all they came up with was the spring was positioned incorrectly. Im wondering how this will be solved i hope im not gonna have to be buying parts hoping they will solve this issue without knowing that thats the problem.