Rear ARB now fitted to an A2

Hi All,

After reading this and other threads on suspension (and being new to the A2 scene) I'm thinking about up-grading my suspension.

I'm looking at going the whole mile and fitting the Koni FSD's, Weitec springs along with the White line ARB, this will come in at around £850 fully fitted. How much of a difference will I actually feel?

I have a 54 plate 1.4 TDI (90bhp) Sport with 17 inch wheels.

I started looking at this as I've noticed recently the esp light flashing away when I take long sweeping bends at higher speed, would this resolve this?

Also would fitting these parts lower the car at all? I'm looking at the parts from Awsome, the springs say 30mm

Thanks in advance for your feed back. (and sorry as I'm sure this has been covered else where before)

Darren
 
Hi,you have nearly same wishlist as i have installed.
Awsome are ace and fitted my suspension.
If you have sport springs then i would just get the front weitecs, not the rear.
I went from se springs and with std springs the back end was slightly high, with the -30 rears the suspension now sits lower than i would like. I still have the rear se springs and might fit them back one day.
 
oh also...check your front arb as the bushes may be shot, you will also want to change the droplinks at the sametime. Its easier to get it all done in one hit to get the suspension factory fresh again.
 
Thanks CHB, the car was in the workshop just before christmas and the front was fine, I had a top mount replaced as it had gone, the only other thing needed was front brakes The technician was being overly picky too as I asked him to fully check it over as I was about to buy it and wanted to know everything that may need doing.

How much does this lower the car?
 
Last edited:
Mine use to do the same as yours, there was a roundabout just after leaving work that i always had the traction control light on in the dry and even more so in the wet, but now i really have to push it to get to come on and think that also the weight of my 17's playing a big part of that as it doesn't do it with the 16" TT wheels.

Now FSD's give a 15mm lift but as your lowering by 30 i would say you would se a lowering of about 15mm, i would leave your sport rear springs on as it helps when loading the car if you lower the rears you will find that the car sits well into the arches when you have people or a load in the back.

As you have replaced 1 strut top bearing i would replace the other side as you've got everything out, and if one sides gone the other will not be long behind as when i fitted my FSD's only one side was making a noise but both sides fell to bits when i removed them (good job i had got 2);). When i fitted my FSD's i did the hole lot ARB(front) and bushes plus every nut, bolt and washer then a year later fitted RARB and it did make a difference to the handling

Phil
 
Many thanks MR Reaper

That's just what I wanted to know, I don't want a hugely lowered look, and as I have 2 eight year old moys who are growing fast being too low on the rear would be an issue.

I really just want to remove the harsh bang every time I drive over something harder than a crisp packet LOL


Not fitting the rear springs saves me money too which is even better bringing it all in at around £800 fully fitted, think it needs to be done.

Darren
 
If you go for FSDs and Weitec -30s at the front, you'll see no net lowering at all compared to your Sports suspension.
 
Darren said:
Many thanks MR Reaper

That's just what I wanted to know, I don't want a hugely lowered look, and as I have 2 eight year old moys who are growing fast being too low on the rear would be an issue.

I really just want to remove the harsh bang every time I drive over something harder than a crisp packet LOL


Not fitting the rear springs saves me money too which is even better bringing it all in at around £800 fully fitted, think it needs to be done.

Darren
Click to expand...

You will improve the crashing over bumps but if you want to go the full hog, look out for some 16" TT wheels like what i and alot of other members have fitted as they're 7J wide so allow upto a 205 tyre and with a 50 profile side wall will also increase comfort and still give it a nice look

Phil
 

Attachments

  • 22012012383.jpg
    22012012383.jpg
    528.3 KB · Views: 203
Something I am about to do is to fit spacers, 5mm each axle at the front and 15mm each axle at the rear. This will widen the tracks of the car and will also make the wheels fill the arches better

So something else to consider.....

John
 
dan_b said:
Ooh hello, my Whiteline RARB has arrived!
Any tips for fitting?
Click to expand...
Nothing particular. It's fairly straight-forward, not tricky.
Err, maybe wait till rain stops, if you do it outside ? :eek:

john-wingnut said:
Something I am about to do is to fit spacers, 5mm each axle at the front and 15mm each axle at the rear. This will widen the tracks of the car and will also make the wheels fill the arches better
Click to expand...
Be aware that wheel bearings don't usually like track widening.
Although 5mm at the front is very little, and rear bearings fail later than the front...
Not sure if it's worth the hassle for 5mm. You will also need new wheel bolts, what's not cheap. Maybe not (??) for the 5mm spacers, but for sure for the 15mm ones.
 
give me a shout if you are going there, I've always want to have a look plus get a ride in yours post-fitting! Very popular place recommended on many forums, helpful owner/staff, good equipment ...etc.
 
fbi said:
Nothing particular. It's fairly straight-forward, not tricky.
Err, maybe wait till rain stops, if you do it outside ? :eek:


Be aware that wheel bearings don't usually like track widening.
Although 5mm at the front is very little, and rear bearings fail later than the front...
Not sure if it's worth the hassle for 5mm. You will also need new wheel bolts, what's not cheap. Maybe not (??) for the 5mm spacers, but for sure for the 15mm ones.
Click to expand...

The rear ones are hub centric and bolt to the hub. The wheel then bolts into the spacer.

As long as you have 7.5 turns of the bolt to secure the wheel then there is no need to change the bolts. Im only doing 5mm at the front end as that is all that is required. As you say this will have minimal effect on the bearings.

Shouldnt really mess the rear bearings up either, as I dont often have a heavy load in the boot, so shouldnt over stress them.

John
 
Well, fitted my Whiteline this afternoon. Just did it on the driveway under the car, no ramp. Took me about 90mins - most of the time was spent trying to remove the lower bolt under the rear shock absorbers. Other than that a straightforward job, although I'm a bit concerned about the lack of real clearance around the brackets that mount around the axle - either the exhaust heatshield or what looks to be the fuel tank. Anyone else have that concern?
Took the car for a very quick spin and have to say it's obviously got a lighter and more responsive turn-in. Didn't have any high speed corners to go into though so will reserve judgement for some proper driving next week.
I have it on the traditional "mid" setting.
 
Interesting comments on the clearance Dan!
Although there are few of these installations and I've looked at the posted pics quite closely, I have always thought that the clearance is marginal?
If I were to fit (currently considering) the rear ARB, I would weld the "U" bolts to the axle and trim them accordingly. It does then make it a permanent fixture but neater and more robust in my opinion.

blue skies
tony
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top