Morning All

Have discovered that on compression my CV joints' allen bolts and the steel part of the boot retainer are fouling on the underside of the top wishbone. Anyone else seen this ? I would have assumed that the car should hit the bumpstops before the CVs foul the wishbones ? Am I too fat ? Is my spring rate / pre-load too low ? Have I assembled something wrong ?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks
Simon

wind pre-load up a bit, where are the bumpstops away? in the coil over strut? pain in the bum to add unless the top unscrews

springs may also be a bit weedy too if you are....................a person who prefers pies





[Edited on 17/11/08 by Mr Whippy]

First noticed yesterday after I had dialled out some of the negative camber to stop the tyres fouling the body sides on full bump - that's moved the CVs in relation to the bones. Also first time yesterday with 2 adults in the car - probably 25st in total. Car looks perfect OTR with nobody in it so perhaps I have to wind up the springs as you say and accept that it will look too high when empty. For reference the spring pre-load is set at lowest - ie the springs are just held in place by the lower platform at full extension - I still think however that the design should be such that the mechanical design should preclude the CVs hitting the bones within the normal range of suspension movement / adjustment - shouldn't it ?

Thanks
Simon

Just sounds like you have more travel than normal (alter the bump stops) and need to be realistic about the ride height if you are going to take passengers. My beetle is so low that I can't take anyone in it unless I wind it up to suite but that’s just me being a fashion victim and bikers often face the same problem. All part of the fun...

A low Beetle ! You must know all about excessive negative camber !!

Simon

A lot of Viento owners have experienced the same problem at first. Normally on the passenger side of the car.

There are lots of ways in which this can be overcome.

1. Stiffer springs –I was supplied with 200lb 8 inch springs for the rear but quickly decided that they were too soft and part of the problem. Changed them to 300lb 8 inch ( could possibly have fitted 9 inch –not sure )- this solved the bottoming out problem. I now plan to change to 275lb as I think the 300lb may be a little too stiff. Have to play around and compare how they feel.

2. The rear wheels are too close to the chassis so you cant get much negative camber- this changes the angle of the cv/hub – I fitted 20mm hub centric spacers on both rear sides because I could then run a little negative camber on the rear and secondly it spaced the rear wheels out in the arches so that the looked much better (235 rear tyres on 8 inch rims)

3. Change the allan bolt s used in the CV joint to Dome head versions –not done this but the other two approaches sorted my problem out.

Hope this helps

Paul

( negative camber is the top of the wheels closer to the car than the bottom – I think ?? )

What is the ride height at the rear measured from the chassis to the floor? It may be too low? You say the car looks OK when empty but does that mean the wheel looks OK in the wheel arch? Reason I ask is that at the Newark show we had a load of Viento's lined up and most of them had the rear arches fitted differently which affected the way they looked. Raising the ride height may cure your problem but make the arch look empty? Also well worth checking the corner weights after setting ride height.

Thanks all

Yes, passenger side worse than driver's. Have now checked where the car sits empty with a full tank and found that there's only 0.75 inch or so between the top of the shock body and the bump stop on each side, so the springs are fairly well compressed. They were set up at install with no open pre-load at all so the car will be sitting pretty much as low as it can.

I'll try winding up the spring platforms initially and see how I get on. Only downside is that the wheels look fine in the arches now !!

Thanks
Simon

Simon, do you want me to come and sit in the car while you adjust the springs?

If its really bad, my 21 year old Son will be back from Uni in about a month.
Then we could both sit in your car whilst you adjust (Thats about 42 Stones between us).

Its funny, as I have not had this problem. Although my suspension is a bit hard.
Also I have 2.25" diameter shocks / springs not 1.9" ones.
I cant remember what the spring rates are, but I think they were heavier than what Luego (at Peterborough) recomended, as they were playing wioth spring rates at the time.