Where to have my car lowered

[Vishal Tween]

Hi all,

I am after some advice if possible! I have a set of H&R springs for my B7 A4. We attempted to install them the other week, and was stumped by the pinch bolt on the upper suspension arm as most of you may have guessed!

I have decided to leave it to the pros with the tools and equipment to hand. I have spoken to some garages who are willing to fit my springs and they have quoted around £200. Does this seem fair to you guys? I've not really used garages much as I tend to DIY everything where possible.

Midlands VW said £250 for fitting and full tracking and alignment. Tempted to go to them (I live in Solihull).

Thanks
Vish

 

[jojo]

Just take it to midland VW if they are doing a full 4WA in that price! I could probably find someone to fit it for you down the road for 100 odd, then you need to get the alignment done afterwards, saving you a little, but not much.

 

[Vishal Tween]

Just take it to midland VW if they are doing a full 4WA in that price! I could probably find someone to fit it for you down the road for 100 odd, then you need to get the alignment done afterwards, saving you a little, but not much.

Hi JoJo,

Where do you think you could get it done for £100? I was quoted £100 but the guy then realised he didn't have oxy-acetelyne and didn't want to embark on the task without it.

I can get a 4WA for less than the £150 difference, more like £50!

Thanks
Vish

 

[jojo]

Hi JoJo,

Where do you think you could get it done for £100? I was quoted £100 but the guy then realised he didn't have oxy-acetelyne and didn't want to embark on the task without it.

I can get a 4WA for less than the £150 difference, more like £50!

Thanks
Vish

Local friend and forum member. You don't need heat to the the pinch bolts out, if you know what you are doing.

 

[Vishal Tween]

Yes I've read up on them quite a bit, I've seen a very good trick of chopping the head off through the knuckle with a dremel, and then using multiple bolts and washers to pull the bolt out thread first.

Can you tell me said friend and forum members name please? Cheers

 

[desertstorm]

I believe it's possible to remove the strut without undoing the bolt. I removed the strut and spring from my B5.5 Passat a few times and the B7 is esentially the same design. The trick is to jack both sides of the car at the same time. Remove the C link that connects to the ARB and the undo the three bolts securing the top mount, undo the upper arm inboard bolts. You can now push the wheel hub down a lot further than you normally could because the ARB isn't connected. Refitting lowered suspension is usually even easier as it's uncompressed length is shoerter.
Midland VW are very good , my car was in there recently for a front wheel bearing.
I got the alignment on my car done at A-Line in Dudley. They have a full Hunter set up and very keen prices.
www.alineyourcar.co.uk

 

[jojo]

I was thinking that too Karl, the struts should drop out without disturbing the pinch bolt.

 

[jojo]

Yes I've read up on them quite a bit, I've seen a very good trick of chopping the head off through the knuckle with a dremel, and then using multiple bolts and washers to pull the bolt out thread first.

Can you tell me said friend and forum members name please? Cheers

@A3-Lee want a job? lol

£100 is a number I plucked from the air btw, Lee will give you a price if he's free to do it.

 

[Vishal Tween]

I believe it's possible to remove the strut without undoing the bolt. I removed the strut and spring from my B5.5 Passat a few times and the B7 is esentially the same design. The trick is to jack both sides of the car at the same time. Remove the C link that connects to the ARB and the undo the three bolts securing the top mount, undo the upper arm inboard bolts. You can now push the wheel hub down a lot further than you normally could because the ARB isn't connected. Refitting lowered suspension is usually even easier as it's uncompressed length is shoerter.
Midland VW are very good , my car was in there recently for a front wheel bearing.
I got the alignment on my car done at A-Line in Dudley. They have a full Hunter set up and very keen prices.
www.alineyourcar.co.uk

We tried this but even with the bottom of the shock floating and all three top mounts released, the shock only moved mm's. We may well have missed something however, and I have decided to throw the hat in and pay someone! I don't have the necessary tools to do this properly!

And yes A-Line is where I would go, they did my EP civic.

I was thinking that too Karl, the struts should drop out without disturbing the pinch bolt.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/Ludemandan/S4/Control arms/Together.jpg

This is my suspension setup. The pinch bolt is supposed to be released to allow the arm to drop if i understand correctly .

 

[Vishal Tween]

@A3-Lee want a job? lol

£100 is a number I plucked from the air btw, Lee will give you a price if he's free to do it.

Thanks.

 

[desertstorm]

Because you never undid the ARB this limits how far the bottom arms move down. Once the ARB is undone you can push the bottom arms down further which then gives you the room you need. Even if it doesn't you can get some coil spring compressors on the spring and just compress it a little.

 

[jojo]

We tried this but even with the bottom of the shock floating and all three top mounts released, the shock only moved mm's. We may well have missed something however, and I have decided to throw the hat in and pay someone! I don't have the necessary tools to do this properly!

Yeah, guess they are the original struts, there's a plastic screw thing that holds it up, you need to rock it forward and backwards to snap it off.

 

[Vishal Tween]

Because you never undid the ARB this limits how far the bottom arms move down. Once the ARB is undone you can push the bottom arms down further which then gives you the room you need. Even if it doesn't you can get some coil spring compressors on the spring and just compress it a little.

We did drop the ARB and were able to release the bottom of the shock, this gave us a bit more room, but there was still little to no movement in the shock, maybe wiggled a few mm up and down. Without spare parts and a limited range of tools, we decided to cut our losses rather than start breaking things if we got too heavy handed haha!

Yeah, guess they are the original struts, there's a plastic screw thing that holds it up, you need to rock it forward and backwards to snap it off.

That may have been what was stopping it dropping, like i said above we didn't have any spare parts or tools so were anxious to start breaking things haha!

 

[Nilz]

Another vote for @A3-Lee here, he is local to us and will do a spot on job for you.

 

[Vishal Tween]

Good to know! He's taken my reg and is getting me a price today. Does Lee have his own garage or something?