vw_singh Posted June 12, 2014 Report Share Posted June 12, 2014 And we are back! The Lupo has been happily doing the job of being a great daily for the Mrs. Just a rear wheel bearing replaced last month and regular servicing carried out, the car has been brilliant! Something I have wanted to do for some time now was replace the suspension as the shocks had developed leaks and was leaning way too much in corners. I began researching kits available for the Lupo and kept an eye on various classifieds for a potential deal. As the car would continue to be driven over potholed roads and launched over speedbumps, the requirements meant a compliant ride and a sensible drop. No sump scrapers here. Also with my wife's lack of mechanical sympathy, I needed something that would take adverse situations in its stride. I looked at various coilovers and decided that they were completely unnecessary as the adjustment just wasn't required and I didn't wan't the maintenance hassle either. So various fixed spring/shock combos were investigated. The cream of the crop Eibach Bilstein combo was turning out to be quite pricey and didn't give quite the drop I was after and using cheaper springs with standard shocks sounded like a recipe for a bad quality ride. Various kits from Koni, AP, Spax, Apex and other brands all looked very tempting and all came in around the £300 so while deciding what to buy a brand new Apex Sport kit with a 40mm drop came in on a clearance deal at £215 delivered! Done deal! Apex Sport kit with a 40mm drop The kit looks well made enough for a budget setup. It didn't come with bump stops or top mounts so these were sourced from Euro Car Parts. I went with their option as they offered SKF branded top mount and bearings. So the patient was prepared for surgery. Some reference measurements and pictures were take to see how much the chassis would drop. The old factory suspension had definitely seen better days. A lot of penetrating fluid required. A reference measurement of camber was taken before removal of the shock. An Iphone with the level app or similar will do. This made it easy when fitting the new shock so the camber is close to original while the suspension settles over the next couple of weeks. Final alignment will be done then. The top mounts were dismantled as the top spring cap, dust boot and bearing retaining nut was required. This picture shows the order of assembly. The required parts were transferred to the shocks before fitting to the car. Then the rears were tackled. These were in a similar state to the fronts and had no real damping qualities left. To get to the rear dampers, the interior trim requires removal. The vertical trim pulls away near the top. This reveals x2 torx head screws. Remove these too. The holes can be seen here. Pull the plastic box section towards the front of the car and pull the carpet trim down. This reveals the top mount cover. Pull that off and the top mount will be accessible. Now unbolt everything. The rear bump stops were cut down by the same amount as the suspension drop, 40mm in this case, otherwise the rears would be riding the stops prematurely. I do this because VW tends to use very long rear bump stops for height control so not cutting them down would result in a bumpy ride. Refit is the reverse of removal as they Haynes manual always says! lol. With the rears fitted and the car back on the ground, it's always a good idea to re-tighten all the top mount bolts as the car's weight helps it all seat a bit better. I took the car for a short test drive to help it all settle further and find out what it was all like. I was pleasantly surprised! I expected less roll and a firmer ride anyway as the OE stuff was so badly shot but what surprised me was the way potholes and bad surfaces were dealt with. No crashy bangs or bumps, no hard thumps and I didn't cringe when travelling over speed bumps! Happy as I could be tbh. So how does it look now? Front and rear arch gaps don't swallow children any more. And the overall look is pleasant indeed! I expect it might drop a little further of the next few days too. I'll report back with how it fairs and if the good ride quality is sustained. I hope this helps as I could not find an account for this kit when searching for myself. Gurds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted June 12, 2014 Report Share Posted June 12, 2014 Nice write up. Good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugman Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Hi good write up, did you have much trouble adjusting the camber?. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vw_singh Posted June 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Thanks guys. A bit of an update. The Suspension has now settled with a slightly nose down stance of about 5mm lower than the pics above. Notably the ride quality now has that characteristic nervous damped ride that you only get with cheaper suspension kits. Don't get me wrong, it's not crashy or hard but a little bouncy rather than smooth. Potholes are controlled well but uneven back roads are twitchy. Rugman, the camber is easily set by the two bolts that hold the strut to the hub just like a mk1,2 or 3 Golf. Gurds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danyutz Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 I get that bounciness on springs only, it's absolutely normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.