Folks:
This past December 28th I bought a new Passat SEL Premium 3.6L VR6 for my wife. For her job she drives it 500 to 1,000 miles per week.
It's a great car and we like it so far but its dampening was far too soft, especially on the front end. The front end wallowed up and down like it was '60s American car with a 800 pound cast iron V8 in it. Also too, the ride height was too high, resulting in excessive fender gap and a 4x4 look.
I didn't want to do anything too stiff or low because my wife would object. So, I bought a set of Bilstein H6s and a set of H&R OE Sport springs. The Bilsteins would fix the soft dampening and the springs would fix the ride height. The job went without a hitch.
The front hubs have to be pulled off the halfshafts, then re-attached with new TTY bolts torqued to 200Nm PLUS another 180 degrees! WOW, that's tight!!! I had to use a 4 foot breaker bar to achieve that torque. Eeeewww, I'm still a bit uneasy about torquing something so tightly. This is the first time in my life I've ever used a 4 foot long breaker bar on anything. I bought it just for this job based on VW Vortex internet forum talk. The job took about 6 hours in total, from first positioning the car in the garage to walking into the house to clean up.
Next up, a set of black 19" OZ Superturismo wheels. Car has 18" OEM wheels on it now.
Ride height is 0.9 inches lower in front, 0.6 inches lower in back, giving it an ever so slight front end rake. I think it looks good. The ride is perfect, firm but not harsh.
Windows had been tinted too since the first set of pictures.
FWIW,
Scott
This past December 28th I bought a new Passat SEL Premium 3.6L VR6 for my wife. For her job she drives it 500 to 1,000 miles per week.
It's a great car and we like it so far but its dampening was far too soft, especially on the front end. The front end wallowed up and down like it was '60s American car with a 800 pound cast iron V8 in it. Also too, the ride height was too high, resulting in excessive fender gap and a 4x4 look.
I didn't want to do anything too stiff or low because my wife would object. So, I bought a set of Bilstein H6s and a set of H&R OE Sport springs. The Bilsteins would fix the soft dampening and the springs would fix the ride height. The job went without a hitch.
The front hubs have to be pulled off the halfshafts, then re-attached with new TTY bolts torqued to 200Nm PLUS another 180 degrees! WOW, that's tight!!! I had to use a 4 foot breaker bar to achieve that torque. Eeeewww, I'm still a bit uneasy about torquing something so tightly. This is the first time in my life I've ever used a 4 foot long breaker bar on anything. I bought it just for this job based on VW Vortex internet forum talk. The job took about 6 hours in total, from first positioning the car in the garage to walking into the house to clean up.
Next up, a set of black 19" OZ Superturismo wheels. Car has 18" OEM wheels on it now.
Ride height is 0.9 inches lower in front, 0.6 inches lower in back, giving it an ever so slight front end rake. I think it looks good. The ride is perfect, firm but not harsh.
Windows had been tinted too since the first set of pictures.
FWIW,
Scott
