SUSPENSION questions,,

Going to replace the suspension on our 2006 Jetta,,

(FRONT) I keep seeing things about the control arms and some type of adjustable headlight??? Thinking of just pushing bushings and replacing ball joints instead of buying complete arms,,

I am buying loaded strut kits (Monroe)

Is there anything else other than tie rod ends I should be replacing?

(REAR) What is best to replace and what is best left alone?

I am getting;
Shocks
Shock bumpers
Shock Bellows
Shock mounts (upper)
Coil spring cushions upper and lower

Am wondering about;
Lower Control arm bushings (are both ends the same bushing??)
Trailing arm bushings
Lateral Links (can bushings be purchased?)
Upper Control arms (can bushings be purchased?)

And I'll decide on sway bar stuff when I'm into it,, main thing is getting all the alignment parts done and getting it aligned again

I saw a rear subframe mount on IDIparts,,

I think that covers everything???


We love this car and have thought about getting a new car,,
but we just love this car,,,

we don't drive much since we work from home and I just want it to feel like new on the road.

We will also be doing our 98 Beetle TDI same stuff,,,


THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!

You didn't really allude to why other than you want to. How many miles on the car? Are you experiencing any actual drivabilaty problems? A lot of folks get this idea in there heads my car has X miles so the suspension must be worn out. I'm at 183K miles and my car suspension is just fine.

The Monroe's would be a down grade over OEM as are a lot of the after market parts out their. Also, there are Chinese knock offs out there that are branded as real OEM. If a part is branded as say Febi or Lemforder and made in China, it is probably Chinese garbage.

Well my main reasons are it's 12 years old this year,,

Rubber gets hard over time and the ride gets hard with it

Got some "squawks and groans" in it

And we're around 230,000 - 240,000 miles and our driveway is 1/4 mile of gravel so things are getting on that end,,

Also I have a dead shock that toasted a tire so I'm going to be in the suspension anyway on all 4 corners,,

Figured now is the best time since I don't want to get into this again in this cars life,,

So if the Monroe is a down grade what is a good shock?

What came on it from VW?

Not sure who provided the shocks for the Jetta, IDParts (supporting vendor) indicates that Optimal shocks provide the same valving as the OE shocks,
so that would be one option.

Other options would include upgrades to firmer/sport shocks, Koni FSD, STR, Sport, Bilsteins.

lee157 said:

Well my main reasons are it's 12 years old this year,,

Rubber gets hard over time and the ride gets hard with it

Got some "squawks and groans" in it

And we're around 230,000 - 240,000 miles and our driveway is 1/4 mile of gravel so things are getting on that end,,

Also I have a dead shock that toasted a tire so I'm going to be in the suspension anyway on all 4 corners,,

Figured now is the best time since I don't want to get into this again in this cars life,,

Click to expand...

O.K. Makes sense then.

tactdi said:

Other options would include upgrades to firmer/sport shocks, Koni FSD, STR, Sport, Bilsteins.

Click to expand...

Yeah definitely don't want stiffer,, just want smooth quiet ride

Not a sport driver just a grocery getter,,,

Koni STRs or even the FSD may work for you.

Call up the vendors who sell Koni's (or even Koni themselves), and ask what
they recommend as a small upgrade.

KONI FSD+Eibach springs. That's what I have and I'm happy with it. It lowers slightly the car (1") and it improves the stability and overall the comfort of the car:
https://www.tirerack.com/suspension/suspension.jsp?make=Koni&model=FSD+Damper+Set+%26+Springs&group=FSD+Damper+Set+%26+Springs&partNum=2150-4016&autoMake=Volkswagen&autoModel=Jetta+TDI+1.9L&autoYear=2006&autoModClar=With+TPMS

I have 210k miles on my Jetta and will have to do the springs and shocks soon. From reading on here the Monroe appear to be very good for the price by the people that installed them. In that we do not race or drive our car hard I think I will be happy with them.

lee157 said:

Going to replace the suspension on our 2006 Jetta,,

(FRONT) I keep seeing things about the control arms and some type of adjustable headlight??? Thinking of just pushing bushings and replacing ball joints instead of buying complete arms,,

Click to expand...

The adjustable headlight linkage/sensor is for bixenons. Don't worry about that.

Front control arms? Do you have a press to press out the front bushing and install the bushing? If not, consider fresh control arms.

The rear control arm bracket, also consider the S3-style, which its bushings don't have the additional slits for comfort (and promote tearing of the bushing). It only has the 2 holes, ie Meyle HD or Vaico HD.

I am buying loaded strut kits (Monroe)

Is there anything else other than tie rod ends I should be replacing?

Click to expand...

Add a ball joint to it also and endlink (that connects the sway bar to the strut).

ECS tuning should have front suspension rebuild kits, from Vaico. I used their Stage III kit (which included the control arms) for my B6 Passat.

(REAR) What is best to replace and what is best left alone?

I am getting;
Shocks
Shock bumpers
Shock Bellows
Shock mounts (upper)
Coil spring cushions upper and lower

Am wondering about;
Lower Control arm bushings (are both ends the same bushing??)
Trailing arm bushings
Lateral Links (can bushings be purchased?)
Upper Control arms (can bushings be purchased?)

And I'll decide on sway bar stuff when I'm into it,, main thing is getting all the alignment parts done and getting it aligned again

I saw a rear subframe mount on IDIparts,,

I think that covers everything???


We love this car and have thought about getting a new car,,
but we just love this car,,,

we don't drive much since we work from home and I just want it to feel like new on the road.

We will also be doing our 98 Beetle TDI same stuff,,,


THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!

Click to expand...

Unless you're clunking in the rear, you shouldn't need to replace the bushings. Again, do you have a press? If no, get the components with the bushings already pressed in.

Also include rear sway bar bushing and endlinks.

GOOD INFORMATION 20IndigoBlue02!!!

So,,

Yes I have a press (we own an excavation company and have a pretty thorough shop)


***UPDATE***

Since posting I have the car in the shop and wheels off

The "Premium OEM" Shocks & Struts are Sachs Made in Mexico,,
So I think Monroe will be fine,, And they have a SALE right now,,
I'll get $60 back

The FRONT rubber looks eehhhh,,, mmmm,, may want to replace some of that,, at least the rear bushing on the control arms and I may let it go,,

The rest up front looks good and firm, not "dry rotted" still seems "cushy"


The REAR I was surprised looks like new and we pull a trailer now & then
So I don't see anything going in there other than a shock, bumper and boot

The upper shock mounts look great too,, no slop no nothing,, good and firm
So I'll probably run them again,,

Actually I was VERY impressed with everything so looks like I'll get out CHEAP and QUICK on this with no 2nd thoughts about it.

I will update as I go along.

THANKS!!

.

relumalutan said:

KONI FSD+Eibach springs. That's what I have and I'm happy with it. It lowers slightly the car (1") and it improves the stability and overall the comfort of the car:
https://www.tirerack.com/suspension...+TDI+1.9L&autoYear=2006&autoModClar=With+TPMS

Click to expand...

Yeah definitely don't want lower,, getting older and grumpy so a low car aint my liking these days,,

Besides I "Buff" the bottom of it enough already,,
Would be cool if it were 4 wheel drive with some 30" tires on it,,,

so,,,

.

UPDATE

So I got my Monroe struts & shocks,,

The nuts for the strut tower bolts were LOOSE,, not properly riveted in place one actually fell out before I even got a wrench on it then the other two popped out as I was backing the bolts out to fix it,,
3 of 3 on the first one,,
so I crimped them in PROPERLY since the guy they paid did not,,,

Once past that issue I did the other one and had no issue installing that one,,

BTW,, I made a 3424 spreader tool with a 5/16" allen driver socket that I ground flat on two side then rounded two corners so I could twist it in place
Got the socket for $5 at Menards Made in USA,,
Funny the 8mm socket was $6 (8mm and 5/16" are basically the same)


Initially I took the rear wheels off to inspect the control arms in the rear and all the bushings looked great,,,
TONIGHT however I noticed the passenger rear coil spring was looking different than the drivers side,,

The first 3"-4" of the coil on the bottom was BROKE OFF
Not sure what the reason was for that
I bought 2 new springs and the 4 rubber seats tonight online,,, so it will be a week or so until I'm done again,,
Was easy enough getting the spring out anyway,,

That was NOT something I would normally look for on a car,, maybe on one of my work trucks but not a Jetta!

.

Last update,,,

Car is like a NEW CAR now,,

BOTH rear coils were BROKEN,,
The drivers side had the bottom first half circle broken off but was sitting square
The passenger side had 3/4 circle broken off same place and was sitting odd.

So with 4 new colis and 4 new shocks it rides like it never has before
Had one tire replaced that was coming apart (not a Michelin fan here, 3rd time)
All 4 tires balanced too,,
Put the 4 rubber pads in with the rear coils too,,

The coil springs are identified by a series of colored dots on the spring mine were
1 white
2 orange

So the Monroe shocks at least for now have me very happy.

.

My experience with Monroe is they get too soft in just 20-25k miles. They're great when they're brand new. I went with Koni FSD all around. They're OK, but maybe too harsh at times. The odd thing is they'll let the suspension bottom out on certain types of large bumps at lower speeds. I keep thinking I should have tried Bilstein HD.