Hi All,

I've been asking around various vw specialist garages, normal garages, friends etc and researching online but am getting really stuck with this - I wonder if anyone here can advise/help me out.

Most people here seem to want to lower their cars - I actually want to do te opposite.

My idea is to create a more rugged version of my 1992 Polo Coupe - ideally getting an off-road type look but also the functionality of being able to carry lots of weight (4 bikes on the roof, 5 people and a dog in the back) or carrying building materials.

So I want to know if I can raise the ride height and stiffen the springs to stop the car from lowering too much when carrying a lot of weight.

My car has fairly wide 15" wheels - 195R80s I think - and I have the added problem of these catching on the wheel arches when the car has a heavy load such as bikes on the roof - ultimately I want to open up the wheel arches too and add some fender flares but raising the ride height could already do the trick hopefully if it's possible.

I have found a place that manufactures springs and after looking at various solutions my question is this:

If I had some springs made based on the standard springs for my car but just 1" longer, plus 1 or 2 coils taken out of each spring to make them stiffer and so that they couldn't compress as far (i.e. the car couldn't lower as much), would such springs still 'work' OK on my car:

- would the 1" extension cause toe-in, affect the anti-roll, cause the brake arms not to reach etc which are all things I have been told in passing to 'watch out for' but when originally discussing trying to raise the ride height by 2" over the standard?

- would the extra stiffness in the coil springs be OK in terms of the ride itself - i.e. hopefully just a bit firmer but not uncomfortable?

- if I achieved more heavy duty springs instead by using thicker wire in the coils is that a better option (I am a little worried about doing this just in case as I don't know how much space is needed between the spring and the struts or the housing)

I have looked at various options between fabricating an extension to hold the whole suspension system a little lower down, extending the holding thread, various types of coil spacers etc.

My feeling is that getting some springs made just 1" longer with a coil or 2 removed to make them stiffer shouldn't cause any major problems but I just don't know and don't want to go through all of the time and expense of getting this done if it doesn't work...

Anyway, long story short, does anyone know if it's possible to raise the ride height above the standard for the Mk2 VW Polo Coupe and what the best way to do this is?

many many thanks,

Alan

There was a gang of lads did the Mongol rally in one a few years back, I think all they did was put Golf springs on it. There's no particular reason it should put the back out of line. The front will need retracking, and you might end up with a bit more positive camber and caster. To be fair though, a new set of springs and shocks will give a daft amount of arch clearance. There's enough slack in the brake flexis to plant it over the crest of a hill, so I can't see that being an issue.

I always used to get some blocks of cast nylon, cut a channel in, and jubilee clip them to a coil on the rear spring to stop it bottoming.

I've had a standard mk2 coupe S, loaded up with archery gear, quite happily green laning on standard springs. They're suprisingly good at a bit of light off roading. My "things I will do one day" list includes taking a Mk2 trialling.

Stiffer probably won't be a problem for ride -

Your standard springs will be a compromise, VW probably tuned the chassis with 2 passengers and half or a full tank of fuel, so the spring tuning will have been based on this "average" condition, and verified as being safe at GVW.

By frequently having it loaded more. You're increasing the mass. Meaning to attain the same primary ride frequencies and spring balance you should technically increase the rates to make the car feel similar to standard, obviously everything else varies too such as bush rates, damping, and obviously you may end up with a higher roll centre. But then again the extra mass may bring you into the same region it was originally tuned.

Did you make any progress? I am taking a mk2 to Mongolia and back. So needed to do the same thing I.e. raising the car. Any advice would be amazing, please get touch