Rear suspension collapse

[Gloves88]

Was out for a drive yest and went over a dip in the road (pos a little too fast  ) and my already old and worn suspension gave up on the rear passengers side.

Realised it was sitting lower on one side so had a look under the car and the strut and spring, instead of sitting upright as they do normally are now resting/pushed up against the side of the wheel arch (away from the wheel)....does not look right at all!

There was a post up a while back about someone having a similar prob (has been deleted now so cant go back to it) but I think I remember the cause being a knackered bump stop...does that sound like what’s gone?

I have new sus to fit anyway just hope there isn’t any internal damage.

When replacing the rear sus what do i need...fitting coilovers so....new bump stops and top mounts, is that everything?

Cheers

[jezza16v]

Sounds like the top spring plate has failed, probably rusted away, and maybe even the strut snapped, it gets badly corroded where it passes through the spring plate. When I took my rear suspension off to replace the collapsed spring plates, one of the struts had worn so thin it just snapped when I was dismantling it........ I just hope your top suspension mount hasn't torn.
Don't know about coilovers, others will though i'm sure.

[rubjonny]

theres also a wee c clip on the strut, this can casue the failure as described.  usually though its the spring plate that rusts allowing the c clip to push thru.

heres a complete list of everything you should replace when refurbing the rear:


From AVS:
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=502 x1 (part 13&14, rear)
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=603 x2 (part 7, rear)
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=600 x2 (part 10, rear)

From VW:
1H0 512 149 rear rubber spring seat   £2.46 (x2) (part 12, rear)
8D0 512 097 rear snap ring      £0.09 (x2) (part 21, rear)

[Gloves88]

Thank you very much for that! 

I’m going to attempt fitting the new sus this week.

Is it pretty obvious where everything goes, or is fitting the above very different when putting on coilovers? Never fitted suspension before but have read quite a few guides and didn’t look too complicated so thought I’d give it a go.

Also while I’m at it....I have new G60 top mounts for the front sus, should I replace anything else? Cheers

[rubjonny]

front bits:


From AVS:
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=597 x2 (part 7, front)
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=499 x2 (part 5, front)
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=781 x2 (part 10, front)

From VW:
N 022 150 1 front strut nut      £1.41 (x2) (part 12, front)

Though if you're fitting coilovers, all you need is the top nuts and mounts, the rest will be included on the struts.  For the rear all you need is the top bushes:
http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=502

Edit: Fitting is easy provided you can get the old front struts off, the top nuts can be a pain if some garage has buzzed em up with a windy gun.  Other thing is VW changed the size of the top nut at some point, usually the ones on the car will be 22mm and the ones VW sell will be 23mm or 24mm!  The old ones I remove with a spark plug socket with an allen key thru the middle, new uns a lambda probe/diesel injector socket fits.  Worst case drive it to a garage and chuck em a fiver to buzz the nuts loose, then do em up hand tight then go home and whip em off.

Oh and some coilovers come with their own top nut too, so might not even have to get those!

[Gloves88]

Two very helpful answers....thank you very much.

These questions get asked a lot and there is no thread that seems to have all the answers in them or is set out as well as this. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

Can I suggest this is put into the maintenance section (can i do this??) under "Suspension replacement parts" or something along those lines. Think it would be of great help to everyone else in the future.

Thanks again 

[rubjonny]

yeah i should put together a proper how2 with pics, but i didnt take any photos when doing mine or my mates struts.  maybe someone else (you?) could get pics

[JC]

yeah i should put together a proper how2 with pics, but i didnt take any photos when doing mine or my mates struts.  maybe someone else (you?) could get pics

that would be tops mate - stil undecided as to fitting coilies mesen 

[Gloves88]

yeah no worries mate...will get some step by step pics when i fit mine. Should be sometime this week or the next.

Can throw together some instructions as well and will put the info from above in. Can have a look over it when I'm done see if I've missed anything 

[rubjonny]

shure ting!