More I read this place... the more I read people leaving stuff off, people bodging stuff with the ever quoted 'its been fine, never had any problems'

stuff like

wheels with wrong pcd, but no wobble bolts

tyres, blantatly scrubbing/cutting into arches

wheels out of the arches

springs cut so they rattle

i could go on...

and yeah you never had any problems. BUT i did once own a golf g60, which came with big centre caps covering the wheel bolts. After using it for 3 months (in anger and yes it went well over 100mph on a privat road) i got my mechanic to look over it and he said one of the front wheels had two wheel bolts in it and thread in one was fucked... so essentially one wheel bolt. I was fine, i never died, wheel stayed one THANK GOD! but just cos its never happened doesn't mean its not likely and doesn't mean its safe!

Be safe people! if not for yourself for passengers and other road users! and perhaps modified car drivers wouldn't get such a bad press!

springs cut so they rattle? erm, so the fact that my UNCUT lowing springs rattle is fine, yet if a cut spring rattles its dangerous? just sayin... :)

Edited 19 December, 201114 yr by erixtar1992

No, usually when people put lowering springs on they put shortened dampers on too to compensate so they shouldn't rattle. But when people cut the springs too much obviously they rattle. If you've put springs on and they still rattle then you're doing it wrong.

i find that alot of the most dangerous vehicles on the road are from dippy drivers who know sod all about the vehicle and carry on regardless. also top gear doesnt help out in this matter, when they do there cheap car challanges, they drive about in cars that should be on a scrap heap, that whine and make all sorts of noise but so long as they still go alls well, and this adds to peoples ignorance and dizzieness

but i still enjoy top gear

i think pete has a valid point (this is after experiencing what some cp members are capable of) A few years ago there was a black mk3 golf cabby for sale on here. Looked fairly tidy from the pics and was sat on a set of coil-overs. Anyhow it sold to a non member. a few months later, I was on the look out for one in black for the wife. Looked on autotrader and found a black one for sale in MK. Went to look at it and it was ok for the money, needed some bodywork, but it went and had pleanty of mot left.

After a few weeks of driving it, the wife complained of the car making funny noises, so took it to my mates garage to have a better look at things and found the following

1. front suspension was missing upper spring cups, so springs were sat on the rubber top mounts

2. rear shocks had not been bolted up correctly. the nuts were finger tight

Ok, so only 2 faults, but pretty serious ones imo

Turns out the car was the same one that had been advertised on here, only the owner had removed the oh so expensive budget coilovers and not fitted the original suspension correctly. I tracked down the owner on here, but he didn't reply after I asked why he had put the suspension together without all of the correct bits.

If your gonna do something, at least do it right!

i've had a car off here where the brake calipers were freshly painted, but the caliper bolts were finger tight and the bleed nipples snapped off!!!

It's just people giving their personal experience of some thing, no one is forcing anyone else to copy them and as with all advice on here it's followed at your own risk.

I've run a mk2 golf on lowering springs with uprated dampers on which the springs could move about in the cups when jacked up, I was fine with that because I knew that contrary to what some people say on the internet it was impossible for the springs to fall out of a macpherson strut. I never had any problems what so ever with that and it even passed an mot like it although the tester did mention it to me.

Now if my experience of running loose springs was the opposite and by some obscure occurrence the spring had managed to unravel itself from around the shock and roll off down the road as I crashed in a ball of flames, would my personal experience be more relevant and welcome in a thread about cut or loose springs than my positive experience of them?

Don't get me wrong I do agree with you in a way and I've seen some shocking stuff being done to cars on forums including this one, but people shouldn't be discouraged from giving their experience both good and bad. If some one is giving out shocking advice they normally get shot down hard on here anyway which is probably a pretty good deterrent for anyone reading and thinking about following the advice

Also people sold bodged cars long before the internet was invented, its just buyer beware. Obviously you can't check every nut and bolt on a car, but you also shouldn't live by the assumption that every one that fucks about with cars knows or cares what they are doing. You just have to be careful and if some things been fucked about with give it a quick check to make sure its been done properly, one man's job well done is another man's bodge.

It's all relative. These days there is a different attitude, safety overload eventually had an effect and people are shocked by things they never used to be.

In the 70s, if it ran, it ran.

Even in the early 90s, when i started helping a mate fix cars from auction, some of the cars.. They'd rot through at the base of the pillars, he had a MK2 Escort and the roof was virtually held on with newspaper and filler. Chevette with pegs to hold the window up and rope to hold the engine up. Another mate got pulled with bungee straps holding his bonnet down and the old bill were fine with it. Just wanted to check he was insured.

Nobody crashed and died.

The last time i saw a car crashed due to mechanical failure it was a mint and original, very modern Skoda Fabia estate. The rear wheel had come off the drum in a corner. Probably caused by a tyre shop buzz gun.

No, usually when people put lowering springs on they put shortened dampers on too to compensate so they shouldn't rattle. But when people cut the springs too much obviously they rattle. If you've put springs on and they still rattle then you're doing it wrong.

i have lowering springs + shortened dampers and they are still capable of rattling. and my suspension is all together correctly.

Cheapo kit probs.

I've gone super pikey with 80mm kit with 2 coils off. But the springs are welded to the topmounts and cable tied to the struts, aint going nowhere

Cheapo kit probs.

I've gone super pikey with 80mm kit with 2 coils off. But the springs are welded to the topmounts and cable tied to the struts, aint going nowhere

yeah, when you find cheap bilstein front shocks let me know haha

a mate of mine when young worked in a scrap yard. (not a breakers,.,, proper grade write offs)

El Cheapo spec 5 spokes on a 205 - hit a kerb at speed and the rim came off, with tyre. It made a chinese throwing star type implement which cut the guys leg off in the passenger seat!

a mate of mine when young worked in a scrap yard. (not a breakers,.,, proper grade write offs)

El Cheapo spec 5 spokes on a 205 - hit a kerb at speed and the rim came off, with tyre. It made a chinese throwing star type implement which cut the guys leg off in the passenger seat!

how did the wheel get in the car?

no door. if it ran, it ran.

a mate of mine when young worked in a scrap yard. (not a breakers,.,, proper grade write offs)

El Cheapo spec 5 spokes on a 205 - hit a kerb at speed and the rim came off, with tyre. It made a chinese throwing star type implement which cut the guys leg off in the passenger seat!

That's the problem with driving into curbs at speed, people have a tendency to get badly injured

no door. if it ran, it ran.

no door. if it ran, it ran.

no door. if it ran, it ran.

I used to drive a van in the 90s with a sliding driver's door, drove everywhere as a multi-drop driver with it open. Also, i didn't have a seatbelt. So too much of a left turn and it was bye-bye's..

The thing was a narrow Sherpa which wanted to tip over, so i'd have been mouse-trapped if i wasn't flung out far enough.

Perfectly legal this was, too. Domestic multi-drop licenced, see. And guess what - i'm still here..

But how many children died Mikey? So irresponsible....

But how many children died Mikey? So irresponsible....

None, but a fair few fluffy rabbits did (i mainly drove at night, being a milkman)..

Honestly I do not trust many people's mechanicing skills.

I'm off put buying so many cars on here due to how people do things, which a lot of the time varies to how they say it's been done.

I'm used to working on cars dead accurately in a prototype environment.

I just have habits, such as tightening things up in diagonal patterns etc, regardless what it is lol.

I always torque bushes etc at ride height. Ok some rattles etc may not be ideal but it's a case of being aware and knowing if it's dangerous etc

and i'm still here despite driving with only 1 out of 4 wheel studs in a wheel. But that doesn't make it safe, or sensible, or preferable and if i wasn't so lucky i'd be dead and lots of rabbits and small children too.

There's been cases where guys have jumped out of planes, parachutes failed to open and they've actually survived. Doesn't mean that the army has cut costs and sends paras out with no parachute cos 'dave did it and was fine, no children were killed'

(i mainly drove at night, being a milkman)..

does that mean you are my father?

(i mainly drove at night, being a milkman)..

does that mean you are my father?