Strut tower cut-off for camber adjustment

[Crild]

Ohlins are meant to be placed with a set amount of preload. These coils will only allow for 5mm of lowering from stock fyi(at the proper preload) so that's probably why you aren't happy. Even if you lower the perch all the way for "max low" the shocks will bottom out due to being out of the useable travel range. Part #'s for ttrs & R are identical too I believe.

 

[Crild]

One more follow-up to the above post. My Vorshlag camber plates consumed the more travel than any other camber plate. This is partly because they have a dual row heavy duty bearing but also because they are designed for cars that can leverage an adjustable shock body. My EVO9 had no issues with travel because the bottom of the shock could be moved to provide the appropriate ride height. This platform doesn't offer that so we sacrifice travel for ride height. Giving my shock body and abortion is similar to adjusting shock length on a different platform.

With the vorshlag plates and ohlins with 10k front springs set at the lowest setting it was bottoming out over the slightest imperfect transition. My buddies have swapped camber plates and chopped the shocks which DOUBLED the available travel. This solved all of their problems. I'm still looking at changing direction by going with JRZ PRO, JRI or KW ClubSport 3-way adjustables as I don't know of another track ready solution. The KW V3 and PSS are more of a street shock that has WAY TOO SOFT of springs for track work. I don't believe either will allow you to have the shocks custom valved to the springs. I'm nearly convinced that to get sufficient stroke to clip rumble strips at the track we will need to have an remote reservoir shock. If the lower perch is maxed out then we will be bottoming out the shock as once lowered it leaves only 1.25" of suspension bump travel.

I would look into MCS personally if you want a track focused suspension.

 

[madface1]

BC Racing coils are $1050 with camber plates, custom spring rates and lengths, custom shock lengths. Obviously there is no camber plate that can be adjusted without cutting the strut tower, but there are zero issues with the top nut hitting the factory strut hole because it sits under the strut tower. On my car at -2° of camber, I can even leave the dampening adjustment knobs on and they don't come into contact with anything.

 

[Crild]

BC Racing coils are $1050 with camber plates, custom spring rates and lengths, custom shock lengths. Obviously there is no camber plate that can be adjusted without cutting the strut tower, but there are zero issues with the top nut hitting the factory strut hole because it sits under the strut tower. On my car at -2° of camber, I can even leave the dampening adjustment knobs on and they don't come into contact with anything.

those are NOT a track ready suspension product. The higher end BC stuff is but they only make the low end street based stuff for our platform.

 

[madface1]

It sounds like EVILAUDI wants the car to go low AND perform well, so there aren’t many options that will do both. Considering they can be custom valved and spring rates customized, BC seems like a fairly good options, if not the only option.

 

[Cliff]

The following pics will help explain this in more detail. The center point for the ohlins shocks is out of whack on our platform. The shock provides WAY more droop travel (2.5") than bump travel (1.25"). The droop is actually affected by the sway bar endlinks as well. The endlinks prevent the shock from using all of the available droop. The bump travel is very limited meaning once you lower your car to the ground and get in it, you are pretty much riding on the bump stop. This is what mine looks like when static. The crud on the sleeve is the end of shock travel. Hitting this creates a thunderous boom that makes me cringe. These undampened suddent impacts are also what crowned my Vorshlag camber plates.

I would talk to Ohlins and see if they have any spring recommendations for you. When I ordered my kit, I had different spring rates in mind, and I wanted to lower my car to the maximum extent allowed by the dampers and by the 265/35R18 tires I wanted to run. Ohlins revalved the rear dampers to be appropriate for the substantially stiffer rear springs I am running. They also specified Swift main and helper springs for my project. The helper springs are there to keep the main springs located under negative load.

 

[EVILAUDI]

I have spoken to Brian from Ohlins several times. He has taken very good care of me and have even offered me a full return. Very solid company but they have no intention of modifying this suspension. The problem with my platform is very low production numbers and thus very low demand for the product. Ohlins has since changed their marketing to say their suspension will perform better than stock but will not offer any ability to lower the car.

It should be noted this is my fourth set of Ohlins. I've run them on all my previous platforms. They are really top of the food chain before you jump to a competition level shock priced north $5000. I apologize for taking this thread slightly off topic but the truth of the matter is to get maximum suspension travel on a MQB most of us will require a camber plate with a deep shock mount point that in turn requires shock tower modification.

At this point the only camber plate that appears to fit the bill is the Ground Control and even it has some limitations that may require some home grown work arounds to address. I believe Cliff's photo is about the cleanest example of what is required. Having the horseshoe plate under the top of the shock tower gave up about a 1/4" of suspension travel but also allowed the plates to provide maximum negative camber. This approach would still give you more travel than Super Pro, 034, Vorshlag or OEM.

But even with that approach, if you are running to top adjusting shock (like most of them are including MCS) you will still need to cut the top off. The picture I posted above of the modified tower with JRI shocks is a good example.

 

[EVILAUDI]

Shorter springs were tried on a couple different cars. The spring isn't the issue its the shock insert. Ohlins has four different inserts and the one being used is already the shortest one they have to offer.

I'm also not slamming the car. It's a very modest drop and the adjustability is required for corner balancing the car.

 

[Crild]

Shorter springs were tried on a couple different cars. The spring isn't the issue its the shock insert. Ohlins has four different inserts and the one being used is already the shortest one they have to offer.

I'm also not slamming the car. It's a very modest drop and the adjustability is required for corner balancing the car.

Sounds like you should of talked to ohlins before you ordered? They refuse to change their marketing material from 15mm to 5mm of lowering for their mqb suspension. It's very agrivating that they refuse to fix the issues with this kit considering they are one of the most reputable suspension companies out there.

 

[Sumfuncomet]

I have the Superpro, installed and done! they arent adjustable, it is a fixed design plate.

 

[EVILAUDI]

I did speak to Ohlins beforehand but I was one of the first in the country to run them on this car. I've had them on the car for over a year. This is my off-season so I'm re-working my suspension.

Like I said there are significant differences between the MQB platforms. Even the RS3 and TTRS have different length front shocks. There are bigger differences between the MK7 and S3. At the time I also didn't know the Vorshlag plates would rob me of over 1" of suspension travel. They are the worst option for the MQB platform.

The SuperPro camber plates are an excellent alternative for a street car. With some aftermarket coilovers the protrusion will still require tower modifications though.

 

[burgerkong]

Here's how I did mine, 3D printed a jig and went to town with a 2" holesaw (and rapidtap).

 

[EVILAUDI]

That is fantastic! Thanks for sharing! I can tell you are as OCD as I am.

 

[EVILAUDI]

Here is what I was talking about with camber plate stack height. Here are my Ohlins one side with Vorshlag plates and the other with Ground Control. As you can see there is a pretty significant difference in travel. Now I could also cut the bottoms off my shocks and gain another .65". This would effectively double the travel I had before modification.

 

[GTIfan99]

Why are you all wanting to adjust the cambee plates? I can see on a race car, but you pretty much get as much as you can on these cars and adjust every other alignment setting to get the car to handle well.

If I can get close to -2.5, I'm done, no adjustment required.