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Front Strut - MKV Rabbit Stock Spring Paint Code

midlife

Wrabbit Worker
Location
VA
My 2009 Rabbit (2.5L) has 'stock' suspension (new aftermarket struts reusing springs). I purchased the Rabbit used, but I think the previous owner was in a accident. The problem I have is that the paint codes on the strut coils are not the same. I am wondering if anyone else has the same vehicle and can check to see what paint stripes are on your front springs?

Attached are pictures and I think the one with four stripes is wrong.

Driver's side
3 stripes -> Pink-Orange (looks yellow due to flash)-Blue


Passenger's side
4 stripes -> Pink-Orange-Blue-Blue


I only found one thread that talks about the paint codes, but it is specific to the GTI and I am pretty sure that weight of the engine is different so the paint code will be different too.
http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125085&highlight=paint

Thanks.
 
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midlife

Wrabbit Worker
Location
VA
OK, I have found some correlation between the label on the car and the VW parts list. The only problem is that neither of the springs on the car match the correlation.

I have the lifetime alignment on the car with Firestone and I use it at least a few times a year. After reviewing the alignment reports, it looks like the front passenger side has had -1 degree greater camber than the camber of driver side, on every report. So, although I have no idea what the ratings are for the springs currently on the car, it does seem like passenger side springs are softer than the driver's side.

I just replaced the VW struts with aftermarket and have an alignment set for tomorrow morning, but I have measured the camber angles manually and the passenger side is about -2 degrees where the driver's side is about -0.5 degree.

Here are the labels that I compared showing the correlation. It would be nice to know what the car really requires from a stock point of view in aftermarket springs, so I can order matching springs. Let me know if you have any thoughts on which springs to select that would match stock springs. Thanks.



 

midlife

Wrabbit Worker
Location
VA
I found a 2013 TDI with 40K miles in a junkyard. The front right suspension was still in tact, unlike the left side of the car according to the guy behind the counter. I bought the knee assembly from the car. The strut from it is VW, so I assume it is the original. The paint code: pink, orange, blue (three stripes). The matches what I already had installed on the left of my rabbit.

I used the spring, knuckle, and ball joint from the 2013. The camber is much, much better coming in at -0.5 instead of something greater than -2.0.
 
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