HSD TT coilovers (NA6) - review/issues
Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 10:01 pm
installed a set on thursday night last week.
pretty much set them low as to start off with. lots of scrape-age that night, and friday night too. got up at 8am on saturday and pulled everything apart again, adjusted everything, leveled it all out and fiddled with the damper settings a bit etc.
today, on the way home from work, i took good notice of everything they were doing. drove along some very wavy, bumpy and unsmooth streets coming home.
stopped and adjusted the front dampers to a 3 (1 being soft, 12 being stiff) down from 8 or 9 i think.
takes the wavy roads (short up and down lumps) a lot nicer with the fronts soft.
the issue i have it that something clunks over larger bumps. i think it's the rear left corner, either the car bottoming out, or the spring bottoming out.
when i got home, i backed the car up onto the wood ramps i made, took off the bootlid, and had a bit of fun standing in the boot bouncing the rear end up and down as forcefully as i could.
i concluded that the spring isn't bottoming out, as i think i had the car bouncing well harder than it ever would on the road.
had a good look at the rear components as well, no obvious signs of anything touching anything else.
in the front i found that the spring seats (the locking collars) were touching the upper control arms, causing minor damage to the upper collar, sort of smooshing the alloy upwards. sounds nastier than it looks.
this annoyed me, because i wanted to have it as slammed as i could. it's raised a fair bit from the initial point, a fair bit more sensible.
but still with this clunking noise!
i'll put the whole car on stands tomorrow night, and inspect everything very thoroughly when i put my new brake pads in.
another, less serious issue, is that my spare wheel will no longer sit where it's supposed to in the boot. the strut top, with the damper adjuster on the very top of it, stops the wheel from being able to go back as far as it should, meaning that the securing hole is offset to the hub hole of the spacesaver wheel. i could tap a new threaded hole, and move the spare out a bit, losing more precious boot space, but allowing clearance for the strut top. a bit frustrating!
overall,i guess i'm happy with my purchase. the ride quality is good. damping changes are noticeable and the ride is only very slightly more severe than stock.
sits at a nice height now, desperately needs wheels to complete the look.
let me know what your thoughts are.
pretty much set them low as to start off with. lots of scrape-age that night, and friday night too. got up at 8am on saturday and pulled everything apart again, adjusted everything, leveled it all out and fiddled with the damper settings a bit etc.
today, on the way home from work, i took good notice of everything they were doing. drove along some very wavy, bumpy and unsmooth streets coming home.
stopped and adjusted the front dampers to a 3 (1 being soft, 12 being stiff) down from 8 or 9 i think.
takes the wavy roads (short up and down lumps) a lot nicer with the fronts soft.
the issue i have it that something clunks over larger bumps. i think it's the rear left corner, either the car bottoming out, or the spring bottoming out.
when i got home, i backed the car up onto the wood ramps i made, took off the bootlid, and had a bit of fun standing in the boot bouncing the rear end up and down as forcefully as i could.
i concluded that the spring isn't bottoming out, as i think i had the car bouncing well harder than it ever would on the road.
had a good look at the rear components as well, no obvious signs of anything touching anything else.
in the front i found that the spring seats (the locking collars) were touching the upper control arms, causing minor damage to the upper collar, sort of smooshing the alloy upwards. sounds nastier than it looks.
this annoyed me, because i wanted to have it as slammed as i could. it's raised a fair bit from the initial point, a fair bit more sensible.
but still with this clunking noise!
i'll put the whole car on stands tomorrow night, and inspect everything very thoroughly when i put my new brake pads in.
another, less serious issue, is that my spare wheel will no longer sit where it's supposed to in the boot. the strut top, with the damper adjuster on the very top of it, stops the wheel from being able to go back as far as it should, meaning that the securing hole is offset to the hub hole of the spacesaver wheel. i could tap a new threaded hole, and move the spare out a bit, losing more precious boot space, but allowing clearance for the strut top. a bit frustrating!
overall,i guess i'm happy with my purchase. the ride quality is good. damping changes are noticeable and the ride is only very slightly more severe than stock.
sits at a nice height now, desperately needs wheels to complete the look.
let me know what your thoughts are.
