Preplanning my suspension

[HondaStomper]

I was talking to this guy today about lowering DSM's. He said that there is a hole crap load of stuff that has to be replaced to perform correctly. I have been searching for about an hour now and I can't find anything other than the basics. So is there any thing else that I need besides: adjustable struts, coil-overs, and a camber correction kit?

HondaStomper

Just for the record: 96 Tsi AWD, no mods yet

 

[Ray_G]

Camber correction along with your the actual components may work out for you-but there are certainly other things that I would take into consideration. I'm in the midst of tuning my 95 TSi's suspension now and I did the same (searched) and what I knew, but didn't know until I started wrenching was that it would be worthwhile to consider when/where to replace bushings, bolts, links, etc. I found a lot of rust on the surface and the bolts-and that played into the ease of actually doing the work.
Things I would do/am doing/be prepared to do:
-Consider new links for your front sway bar connections; off ebay they're not the expensive and it prevents you from having to sprint to the dealership on a Fri afternoon b/c you had to cut one off just to get the front strut/spring out (not that I did that or anything...). The 14mm nut that you have to hold to get the nut off the link seems to be easy to strip and then it's time for the cut off wheel and a new link.
-PB blast/WD-40 etc all the connections that you're going to have to swap out a couple of days in advance to start breaking them loose. Use of air tools will help a lot if you have access (if you're doing this yourself) so will the essential breaker bar, hammer, absurdly large flathead screwdriver, etc.
-If you're tuning suspension then you might want to think about doing your rear sway bar at the same time-that will have a huge impact on the performance.
-Somewhere in my searching I found some very good posts about how the suspension all works as one item (common sense but I didn't really contemplate it till I was in the midst of my changeover) and how a lot of our 9-10 year old cars are running on bolts and bushings that aren't functioning totally 100%. These are things that I'm going through and fixing now, but it's worth thinking about ahead of time just in case your front lower control arm isn't moving as well as it should and you have to cut the bolt and put a new bolt/bushing on...etc.
The biggest thing I've relearned is that no project is simple or quick-but that it's worth it to do it right too.
Hope that helps a little.
r-
Ray

 

[pkieley]

"Find all posts by NDgsx" !

 

[HondaStomper]

Ray thanks for the advice. There is some real good advice and I will look be looking into it. Pkieley I will be fiending all of his post shortly. What I realy need to know is there any major parts to replace, such as long arms, short arms, to lower the car? but judging by your awnsers I guess not. The guy I was talking to was clearly an idiot. Thanks again guys.

HondaStomper