Driving low.

[slocar]

I'm not as low as most of you (2 and a bit inches under the rails), but I really don't scrape on anything much. In about the last year, I can count 3 times where I scraped, the last of which was a goat sized speedbump where I left just about all the undercoating off the right frame rail.

That said, it comes damn close to scraping on just about everything, and I'm not really a huge fan of scraping/hitting or whatever, so when I do go lower (which will happen once I have a different wheel/tire setup), I don't know how it will all work out.

[aar0n.]

dude, your car isnt even low man

when you sart hitting your front subframe on road reflectors like i am, then complain abtou stresses
im so low, my TIE ROD is hitting my unibody

Sounds like you need to do some tie rod notches in the frame rail

[Rally]

Sounds like you need to do some tie rod notches in the frame rail

Or better yet tie rod ball joint extenders/spacers teamed with drop spindles or control arms ball joint extenders. That will get the tie rod away from the frame rail, help with your tie rod and control arm angle problems, fix your roll center, unbind inner bushings/balljoints, and help your steering rack. It's cool that we're all low these days....now let's start working on "doing low right" and start re-adjusting geometries and stuff to alleviate stresses on the parts.

To jeremy, do what feels right to you. If you wanna raise it, go for it. It'll still be a sick car. What suspension parts are you worried about stressing. It's possible to make changes to account for the extreme drop and remove some of the added stresses to things like bushings and balljoints.

[Tuck&Poke]

Or better yet tie rod ball joint extenders/spacers teamed with drop spindles or control arms ball joint extenders. That will get the tie rod away from the frame rail, help with your tie rod and control arm angle problems, fix your roll center, unbind inner bushings/balljoints, and help your steering rack. It's cool that we're all low these days....now let's start working on "doing low right" and start re-adjusting geometries and stuff to alleviate stresses on the parts.

hmm... i've never heard of a tie rod extender for slammed vehicles. I've heard of people using it on lifted trucks for greater range of travel, but i've never seen an application for a car. Where can i find what your talking about?

[boligrafo123]

hmm... i've never heard of a tie rod extender for slammed vehicles. I've heard of people using it on lifted trucks for greater range of travel, but i've never seen an application for a car. Where can i find what your talking about?

Post the motor mount.

[Tuck&Poke]

Post the motor mount.

Slammed my pan into the ground so hard i broke two motor mounts. When i fixed the pan i replaced one of the mounts, the other seemed fine, i guess from bottoming out a few times and stuff after that the other finally gave out. Boligrafo and i were pretty shocked when we started pulling it out. One of those "ooooh... thats why it feels like shit" moments.

Next time i get on the lift ill post a pic of my subframe, shit is BEAT up.

[SteveO@OpenRoad]

i drove my MK2 all the way down on the front FK's and had maybe 15mm to go in the rear. drove it everyday. Hit some stuff. . . HARD but never broke anything or bent any wheels.

Now i drive my mk5 with 31 psi up front and 39 psi out back on 19's. puts me right above the tyre. low is a lifestyle

[aar0n.]

^
MK2s can also take a beating better than newer cars haha

[SteveO@OpenRoad]

^
MK2s can also take a beating better than newer cars haha

hahah x100

[Rally]

hmm... i've never heard of a tie rod extender for slammed vehicles. I've heard of people using it on lifted trucks for greater range of travel, but i've never seen an application for a car. Where can i find what your talking about?

It varies between make and model. On some of the earlier VW's you can just drill out your steering knuckle and use a tie rod flip kit to achieve the same thing. Not sure what your Passat would have under it.

You'll want to space the control arm and tie rod at the same time to avoid bump steer.

When a car is slammed your control arms and tie rods are at a steep upward angle. This isn't ideal for handling as it throws the roll center way out of whack. You can correct this to an extent with the parts I mentioned. They lower the control arm and tie rod to a more manageable angle. It also helps avoid the binding that some cars (mk4) get where the control arm mounts to the subframe and it cures any problem with tie rods hitting the frame without having to notch it.

Example from an STI kit:


Adjustable tie rod kits



VW MK3 ball joint extenders for the control arm



VW MK3 tie rod flip kit



Pics of them installed on an mk3

[jeremyuhh]

lol. all this commotion from my post.

my car is low or i wouldn't be scraping. and yea i could go lower with smaller wheels. but it dont matter right now, just wanna get some "friendly" input. its my resonator, that sits right in the middle of my under body. that's what scrapes almost everything. my muffler, not so much.

and yea the car is set up that low for those tires and wheels. they're 13x7s with 205/60. that's what came with the car and that's what i'm gonna work with till i get some new ones.


i guess im gonna take it to a shop today and see what they can do about this.

[aar0n.]

H2 sport spindles are an option on newer VWs but they're $$$

[*96tegls*]

i dd my dumpt teg, its well worth it !

[Ezze90]

i wanna get my car stupid low but the roads here in NEPA are shit. especially in scranton.

EDIT: If i knew how to post pics i would but i'm declined when it comes to computers lol

[ShanesG]

Older cars have a more shit hanging, mostly the exhaust and are harder to get lowlow. I'm sure with some smaller tyres and a few tweaks underneath he'll be able to sit it damn low by anyone's standards

my car is your avatar??? Whats up with that???