Lift for TDI Sportwagen (for oversize tires)

sporkacus said:

What size are your "over sized tires"? Just trying to get an idea of the range I should be looking at without having to enlarge the wheel well.

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225/55R17

They look really good and so long as i didnt hit any big bumps or really work out the suspension while turning i never knew they were larger except a slight rub on the outside of the wheel well every now and then (i had to bend/roll the body sheet metal back into place a few times on both front fenders but nothing major). However now the front is starting to sag more than it use to and they will rub inside the wheel well slightly if i hit a big enough bump without turning the wheels. I am kind of afraid to try and pull the fully loaded camper without the new springs at this point as it really makes the back end sag.

Cheers!
J

Nice! That tire is 2" taller than my stock tire. The tiggy lift springs should help out a lot.

Does it matter which year of Tiguan struts and springs you swap to with the MK6 Golf?

So I installed the new rear springs earlier this week...
Used the H&R 29037.1 lifter springs.

After a few days of driving with a normal load in the back of the car... I am seeing just around a .5 inch lift.

The fronts are slated to go on Monday. One thing to note, the new tig lifter springs were actually about half an inch shorter than my OEM jsw springs. However they are much stiffer. The back end is not nearly as bouncy and actually takes quite a bit to get it to move. Really these springs seem more like a towing spring to me which is no problem as that is exactly what I have planned

After further reading, I have decided to not put on the new H&R lifter springs on the front and instead am going with a slightly used set of FWD OEM tig springs. Reports say they will lift the front, but not as much as the lifter springs. And with the full set of lifter springs the front actually raises more than the back making the car appear to sag in the back. So... On Monday we shall see if these OEM tig springs give me a lift and keep the car fairly level from front to back

Cheers!
J

monster truckster

I just got my H&R Tiguan lift springs installed yesterdy. I'm loving the stance, even though it's not balanced:

Front stock 26 3/8", with Tig' lifts 28 3/4" - 2 3/8" lift.
Rear stock 26 1/4", with Tig' lifts 27 1/8" - 7/8" lift.

I know they'll settle a little bit, but I hope not too much. Others have stated the stock front struts top out on potholes/bumps. It's louder when I hit bumps, but I'm thinking the stock springs were topping out the struts on the ****ty roads around here, too; it doesn't feel any worse. Car pulls a little to the right; I just scheduled an alignment for next Friday, and I put about 500 miles a week on the car, so that should shake everything out.

I took some pics, but they're really fuzzy - hard to hold the tape measure and take a picture at the same time. If people want fuzzy pics, let me know and I'll post.

Now I just wish it was AWD...

heya Ben - yes please post your pics! or PM me if you don't want to broadcast

msantram said:

heya Ben - yes please post your pics! or PM me if you don't want to broadcast

Click to expand...

(sorry they're fuzzy)

Front stock:


Front w/ lift springs:


Rear stock:


Rear w/ lift springs:

Now we need a full side shot.

My old Golfzilla (Golf-guan? Golf-reg?) with a 2-inch lift kit:

looks good ben!

frugality - goguan or goureg FTW!

too bad you didn't put Godzilla stickers on it!

frugality said:

Now we need a full side shot.

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As requested:


Yes, the front is a tad higher than the back. I don't care. Next stop, alignment shop (Friday), then 205/60R16s, though I'm considering 205/65R16s. The 60s will be 0.8" larger (overall diameter) whereas the 65s would be 1.6" larger. I'll go one size at a time. Maybe next set of snows I'll do the 65s.

What about MPG?

Thanks for all the great info in this thread! have been checking this out for about 4 months.

I finally pulled the trigger this last week on upgrading my JSW with the Tiguan raising springs 29037-1.

So far so good. The ride and height is as described here so no need to report on that since its the same. Will be installing the sway bar Alpina mentioned this coming weekend.

My question though is about MPG. Any one notice a difference? First off, I have to admit, its been a while since I have been on a road trip so I cant really remember what my highway MPG is. Had the springs installed Friday, and Saturday headed to Houston (from Austin) and only got 30mpg. What kind of MPG were you getting on the highway? Did it change? 30 seems *awfully* low to me (VW Adverts 30city/40highway). I do know that in the city that is what I get - straight 30 pretty much every fill up.

NOTE: I also put on a Thule MOAB luggage rack before the road trip (it was empty for the trip) but the forums I have been reading concerning the rack only say that one might lose up to 4mpg at the absolute worst - most report 1-3. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

It's been a few weeks and a 2500 mile road trip... But here is what I ended up with...


With the 225/55R17 tires which already gave the car a 1" lift.
Tig lifter springs on the rear (were actually shorter than the stock JSW springs but much stiffer): 28 3/4"

Tig OEM 2wd on the front: 28 1/4".

Not quite as much of a lift as I had hopped. Only about 1" all around. I will have to dig back to some old pics to get exact before measurements. Over all though the car rides great (feels like it is planted more, probably just rougher due to the stiffer springs), does feel slightly higher from the driver seat.

J

I haven't seen any change in mileage. I'm getting about 50 or so on my way to work, and about 40 on the way home. Work is 42 miles from home, and there's about a 1000 ft. average elevation change (downhill to work, uphill home).

Biggest thing I see that affects my mileage is my right foot.

After the spring change, the car pulled to the right, where it used to track dead straight with stock suspension. At the alignment shop, they switched front tires and adjusted the camber. Now it's dead straight again. FWIW, I need new tires soon - coincidence? I have ~34k on the car.

Final Tally - awesome

Thanks for the info on your MPG. Another person I talked to said they were also getting 40-50 so I dont know what the heck im doing!

Ive had the springs on for about two weeks and the sway bar for about a week. The ride with the springs was improved for sure, but I did have the drop out people had mentioned, if, for example, I hit a speed bump too fast or something. Definitely no big deal and something I can live with. The ride really, really improved though, once I put the sway bar on! What a difference. Rode like a sports car all of a sudden. Very nice!

Today, got the tires on - went with the Yokohama Geolander and after much gnashing of teeth, decided on 215/60 r17. And now, the ride is definitely more truck like. Its only been a few miles so ill have a better feel in a bit, but first impression was good, but the firm ride, now felt a little 'bumpier'. Leaving Friday for a 2600 mile epic journey that will definitely cover some dirt roads and a few water crossings so we will find out if it was all worth it soon enough.

Here a few pics. The first is a long distance zoom, but gives a good impression of the car height now. The other two are just the tires. You can see the fit is very 'close'. Nothing rubs though - not a blip. But all very close.... I dont like the closeness of the rear and now im thinking I need to eventually raise the rear a little bit more. It didnt seem like a big deal before I changed tires, but now.... And im about to load 10 days worth of family camping gear in it so again, we will see.

http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/richardd_x/slideshow/

Thanks for the update, richardd_x

Sway bar on the rear (or front)? - I'll re-read the thread so not sure why I'm typing this part out.

Yes, IMO it's a stiffer ride, bumps are more noticeable. Handling in the corners is night and day improvement with just the springs, so I'm interested in the sway bar now, too.

I just ordered Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus for all four corners, in 205/60R16. The stock 55R16 Turanzas are getting loud, and I'm hydroplaning. I'm hoping a touring tire with a bit more sidewall height will soften the ride a tad, and quiet things up again.

Good to know from you and others that I can run 215s next time around. Maybe 215/60R16 - BUT hopefully it'll be 70k miles before I'm worrying about it. The Turanzas are a 300 treadwear rating and the P7s are 700.

Update for those who care: changing from the stock 205/55R16 Turanzas to the 205/60R16 Pirelli P7s made a huge difference in ride quality. The bumps don't hit nearly as hard as they did with stock rubber.

When I first did the spring change, the front end hit really hard when going over "normal" bumps, as others had said. It's still kinda rough on very bad bumps, but it would've been rough on those bumps with stock springs (but still not quite as harsh as lift springs).

The lift springs tightened up the handling, and that didn't go away after going to the larger rubber, but the ride is much smoother. Dunno if I need that sway bar now.

ditto

my 2014 sportwagen is getting the same deal. we use the car for rock climbing, mountain biking, and other outdoor fun. Just added a towing package to haul a 5x7' camper!

I have a 09 sportwagon, and I'd like to have more rubber between rim and road, shall I just plan on a suspension lift to make it happen?



Sent from my rooted HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk 2 Pro

Wheels? Struts?

I've been following this thread for awhile--we just bought unimproved property on a gravel road, so thinking about modding the sportwagen to ride a little higher.
I'm approaching 100k miles, and second set of tires are shot, so I'm thinking it might be a good time to do wheels/tires/springs/struts all at once. A few questions:
I have the 17" OEM wheels--has anyone considered downsizing to 15" wheels? Allows for more sidewall, and more options on SUV type tires (70 series).
Are the Tiguan AWD springs (HR 29037.1) the only option for lifting? I'd like to lift the rear the same as the front, which this thread is telling me doesn't happen with these springs.
Finally, what about struts? Is everyone keeping their old struts with the spring change, or going with new/different ones?
Thanks, everyone, for the comments, pictures, etc. Great discussion!

@Dadof5arrows
The JSW has larger rotors that prevent a 15in rim from fitting. If you can get your hands on just the back springs of the HR29037.1 and then the stock front springs off a non sport tig... You should be pretty even front to back. Although I have not seen the lifting set for just the backs or fronts. There is a towing spring option for just the rear, but its the same price as the HR29037.1 and I have not heard anyone say it actually lifted the rear. I kept my factory struts and shock (only 60k on them) on and have only topped the struts out a few times while going too fast over a speed bump with a load in the back of the car.

If you're not into lowering a car... This upgrade for sure makes your car more versatile and gives it a more solid feel vs oem. Lift it, put on larger tires to fill in the gap, and most people will never even know your car is lifted.

Cheers!
J

I second SomeJ's answers, 15" wheels not an option on JSW. To lift, H&R Tig' lift springs on rear, and stock Tig' springs on front will be an "even" lift - lift springs alone lift the front a tad more than the back. I kept stock JSW struts, too. Mine do top out, but the roads around here suck. Larger tires do make the lift look stock. I sometimes park next to a Subaru at work, and they have a very similar stance now, whereas stock springs made my car look dropped next to the Subies.

Although I have the H&R Tiguan lift springs on all 4 corners, I have a steering wheel vibration at 61-64 MPH that I'm contemplating having checked out. It feels like a warped rotor, but I don't feel it when I brake, so I'm afraid it might be suspension/CV related. IF that turns out to be the case, I may change my front springs to stock Tig springs...

I dunno, we'll see.

So what is the best option for getting this done, with out shock issues...

SomeJ:
I might have missed it, but can you upload some before/after pics?

I have been following this thread for a while and it looks like you hit the sweet spot with the lift springs in the rear and the tiguan 2wd springs in the front. I would love to see the pics before I pull the trigger!

Thanks!

Bump.....

stover954rr said:

SomeJ:
I might have missed it, but can you upload some before/after pics?

I have been following this thread for a while and it looks like you hit the sweet spot with the lift springs in the rear and the tiguan 2wd springs in the front. I would love to see the pics before I pull the trigger!

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Sorry for taking so long to get these posted. They are not very good. but the thing to see is that it doesn't really look like there is much of a difference even though the car is now 1 inch higher from before.

Before
After

I have probably a good 5k miles on now and the car still sits very level. I will work on getting the car cleaned up and post a new pic. Will also look around for the measurement pics I took of the before and after. I do recall though that the rear wheel well was 27 inches before and 28 inches right after the change.

I got curious while typing this up so ran out and did another quick measurement, with a bunch of work tools/stuff in the back it measure 27.5 inches with 28 inches on the front. So it is still pretty level with a load in the back. I have noticed I can put a whole lot more in the back before it starts to squat. Even when I hook my camper up it only drops about an inch at the hitch with about 80lb of tongue weight.

Here is a pic of the camper fully loaded with gear inside, hooked up to the car, with the back of the car full of coolers and other stuff. As you can see the car still appears to sit very level (pic was taken after the spring upgrades).

I will also try to get a pic with a measurement to the bottom of the kick panel so you can see what kind of clearance it has now.

Cheers and best of luck!!
J

asanelli said:

So what is the best option for getting this done, with out shock issues...

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I'm not 100% on this as I have not tried it yet, but if you are afraid of topping out the stock shocks and struts then I would look at getting a standard set from a tiguan.

I still run the stock shocks/struts and have yet to top out while at speed going down the road (wash board dirt roads have not been a problem at all). The only exception was when I hit a big speed bump while going a tad bit to fast with a load in the back of the car.

J

Thanks for sharing the pictures SomeJ.

Hoping to be done with our teardrop built this summer (and the main reason I upgraded my shocks and tiggy springs). Love the added height on these JSW!

FWIW I'm running Koni STR-T Struts/Shocks. HD Towing springs in the rear and Tiggy AWD non-sport springs in the front. With 17" wheels front height is 28 3/8, rear is 29 1/4.

I have not topped out or had any suspension/axle related issues as a result of the lift in 12K miles since installation. If I do though will look to Bilstein HD's or stock tiggy shocks/struts.

Thanks SomeJ!
What Tire size are those again? They look way beefier than stock.

What tire size are you running Schreibers?

stover954rr said:

Thanks SomeJ!
What Tire size are those again? They look way beefier than stock.

What tire size are you running Schreibers?

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225/55R17 is what I run. Way better ride quality over stock. Just a heads up, if you go the taller tire route, you will have to tweak the ecu. Somewhere I posted some ecu tweaks to fix the spedo and odo, managed to get down to about a 1-2% difference from actual, which is way better than it was stock. There were not a whole lot of options, think I just got lucky really. I will try to find that and dig it up for anyone who is wanting to try taller tires. (also your spare is no longer "full sized" and the compartment is too small for this size of tire.)

J

How many people running a lift are dsg...