Coilover sleeve kits?

So I'm investigating my options for lowering my Passat Wagon. I like the idea of coilovers for their adjustability, but the kits for my car cost $1500. I only paid $2000 for the car. I noticed that eBay is almost overrun by kits like this:

Pretty much an adjustable collar and a coil spring that slips over your existing strut. Seems that most of these kits include springs with linear 350/450 lb rate springs. I know that these are pretty much universal kits, and even more likely just Chinese junk, but I'm still interested for some reason. I found a race shop online that sells coil springs in different rates, so that could be the answer. Just buy a kit and toss the springs that come with it, and buy better matched springs for my car.

I think some guys here used these kits for Challenge cars, but what about for a DD?

Why not go with the generic lowering springs. They are less expensive and more reliable. Unless you want to corner weight your car or change the ride height for jollies they don't do anything.

My biggest concern wouldn't be the coilover setup, but the fact that you're running a higher spring rate on stock shocks. It's rarely a recipe for handling success.

iceracer wrote: Why not go with the generic lowering springs. They are less expensive and more reliable. Unless you want to corner weight your car or change the ride height for jollies they don't do anything.

I like the idea of being able to fine tune the ride height. My tire/wheel combo is pretty tight in the wheel wells, so I don't want to drop the car too far right off the bat, or have to disassemble the strut assembly to slip in a coil spring spacer.

I'm going to swap out the struts too, I just don't know what brand yet.

cheapest ebay no-name coilover set like that + summit springs in correct length/rate = win :) (for less than $200) match rate to shocks.

bluej wrote: cheapest ebay no-name coilover set like that + summit springs in correct length/rate = win :) (for less than $200) match rate to shocks.

Yep.

slefain wrote: I like the idea of being able to fine tune the ride height. My tire/wheel combo is pretty tight in the wheel wells, so I don't want to drop the car too far right off the bat, or have to disassemble the strut assembly to slip in a coil spring spacer.

Remember, every time you adjust the height, it's going to change your static alignment.

Also remember that the circle track suppliers are your friend as well.

Coleman racing is where I snagged the stuff to build my coilovers.

I bought one of thhose $39.95 eBay coilover kits for my stillborn '08 Challenge car. The springs 'looked' OK, what I was interested in was the sleeves. They appeared to be decent; not as good as a set of Ground Controls, but not bad for the price.

I had a set of areospeed ebay universal coilovers on my miata for a while. They're good for lowering the car and messing with the ride height, but that's about it.

skruffy wrote: I had a set of areospeed ebay universal coilovers on my miata for a while. They're good for lowering the car and messing with the ride height, but that's about it.

Assuming you're just using the sleeves...what else would you be using them for???

Bryce

office desk decoration??

I'm actually tempted to go to the JY to get some workbench parts. Coilover spring/shocks for shelf legs etc.

skruffy wrote: I had a set of areospeed ebay universal coilovers on my miata for a while. They're good for lowering the car and messing with the ride height, but that's about it.

Well, my wagon will never be a G-machine, so my desire is mainly to get rid of the wheel well gap, and to lose some of the 4x4 look that the wagon has now. My main concern with the eBay coil kits are the coil are usually 350/450 linear rate springs. I'm thinking that's gonna be too harsh even for a heavy ass wagon.

Yeah, I'd never seen the spring rates listed. I'm considering picking up a set of the fleabay coilovers myself--tossing the springs, just keeping the sleeves. I know, GC's stuff is better, but 40 bucks is much easier to swallow than $399--especially on a $1700 car. Are they safe?

You couldn't use a set of springs/struts from an Audi? Every once in a while lowering parts, etc come up for Audi's on CL, etc.

Personally, unless you know the spring rates and free length, you'd probably be better off buying the sleeves and springs separately so you can ensure you get the right rates, lengths, etc.

slefain wrote:

skruffy wrote: I had a set of areospeed ebay universal coilovers on my miata for a while. They're good for lowering the car and messing with the ride height, but that's about it.

Well, my wagon will never be a G-machine, so my desire is mainly to get rid of the wheel well gap, and to lose some of the 4x4 look that the wagon has now. My main concern with the eBay coil kits are the coil are usually 350/450 linear rate springs. I'm thinking that's gonna be too harsh even for a heavy ass wagon.

Those rates should befine for the wagon. I ran stiffer rates in a 2000# civic. It wa a bit harsh, but not unbearable. Should be crisp, but not harsh in your boat.

I still say go with a normal lowerinbg spring though, or cut the stockers.

I see a lot of other recommendations but nobody has addressed issues/concerns with using these on a daily driver. I'm also considering these ebay sleeves for my DD but I'm just a little worried about durability. Any input?

I would just run those springs and see if you like them or not. They aren't really that bad.

As long as they are not soft enough crap white pot metal to jump threads then I gotta say... win. You can buy 2.5" diam springs anywhere to match your shocks so if you can get em cheaper w/o the springs do that. Most circle track places will sell you a good quality spring for $60 each in whatever length and/or rate you need.

went to coleman racing and looked at their 5" spring coilover sleeve kit. Looks like it could be a winner for E30 use? I've got to just get the right inner diameter threaded sleeves.

I'm tempted... tell me more!

$50 each corner for good quality parts and then find springs somewhere?

That sounds good. I may have to check that out for my E30 (if I don't sell it first) for the $2010 Challenge...

Hi, sorry for bringing up a older thread. This is my first post

Anyway Im looking into a adjustable kit for my 200o Lincoln LS. Im more into it for aesthetics and we do have a very small range of springs but nbone of them make that much of a difference at all and we dont have any adjustable coilover kits either.

Can anyone recommend a cheap kit like these? I have been eyeballing them for a while and people keep attempting to steer me away but low and behold I found this forum while searching google.

I know for what I want them for I cant go wrong but Im not sure about fitment. Do these really fit most cars? Im taking that the sleeves are almost always bigger than the shock/strut assembly anyway or they wouldn't suggest adding the O rings.

I cant find universal ones on ebay but my guess is that these cheaper kits mostly all cover the same cars and are really the same size?

Typically, a "universal" is a thread sleeve with a nut or two, and a top hat.

They only work for coil over shock/strut type setups. I do not recall if the LS uses this setup in the rear or if the spring has its own dedicated seats. You may be able to fabricate something for that using 5" coils and weight jackers but in all honesty, that is a LOT of hassle.

If you're just looking for aeesthetics, cut or clamp the springs. It's no worse than hacking together stuff from eBay. No better, but no worse.

I have been thinking about the clamps. At 20 bucks for the front and rear you cant go wrong but I was told they would reject me for inspection of they find them.

Also the rear shocks goes into a narrow shaft and some said that they will hit the under body when going over a bump.

Hopefully this diagram of the rear helps.