Front B4 Passat Struts onto my 98 Jetta for Lift?

I have heard/read that this will work. I want some lift, and I need struts. Looking at the Bilstein TC struts for a 96 Passat and a 98 Jetta they look identical except the spring mount looks about 1.5" higher up the strut body. I think this will result in at least a 1.5" lift with my stock Jetta springs.
- Anybody have any good information about this?
- Will my Jetta springs fit the strut perch?
- Will my Jetta top mounts and bearings fit the B4 strut?

If you are curious, RockAuto has images of the Bilsteins for each car and you can see what I mean about how they compare.

THANKS

Actually the B4 struts / mounts / springs are going to be identical to the Mk3 struts / springs / mounts.

The only difference would be if the coils are designed to carry a bigger load. You will need to find the color stripes on your Mk3 coils and compare to the B4 coils, otherwise I don't think you're going to gain much from doing this swap. If you look up coils in the parts catalog you can figure out which are designed to for what.

For what it's worth the Mk2, Mk3 and B3/B4 all share the same suspension components. The only minor difference is the mounts from the Mk2/B3 cars are different than those from the 97 up Mk3 and B4 cars, but the newer (better) mounts will work with the earlier cars as long as you change to later springs.

Structurally the Mk2/Mk3/B3/B4 are very similar, that's one reason if you know how to work on one you basically can handle the work for the others too.

Six cylinder models are a little different but that is pretty much exclusive to front coils and not regarding struts themselves. In the rear it makes no difference.

Steve

I though the A3 stuff was physically shorter. I remember reading people wanting to lower their B4 would purposely use A3 stuff.

-Todd

Spring perch location is different...

Yes, spring mount looks lower on the Mk3 Jetta in the pictures, so if used on a Passat, it would sit lower....Or, Passat strut on a Mk3 Jetta should raise it....
98 Jetta:
http://www.rockauto.com/info/98/22-045010_1__ra_p.jpg
96 Passat:
http://www.rockauto.com/info/98/22-045768_1__ra_p.jpg

ToddA1 said:

I though the A3 stuff was physically shorter. I remember reading people wanting to lower their B4 would purposely use A3 stuff.

-Todd

Click to expand...

The Bilstein people have the strut housing measurements on their website, it's the housing length that's important, not the spring, the platforms all shared coil springs. I've been through the struts and although I can't put my hand on the measurements ATM IIRC there wasn't much difference.

rallywagon said:

Yes, spring mount looks lower on the Mk3 Jetta in the pictures, so if used on a Passat, it would sit lower....Or, Passat strut on a Mk3 Jetta should raise it....
98 Jetta:
http://www.rockauto.com/info/98/22-045010_1__ra_p.jpg
96 Passat:
http://www.rockauto.com/info/98/22-045768_1__ra_p.jpg

Click to expand...

I don't think it's safe to go by pictures from RA, I can see no discernible difference in the lower spring seat on the pair you listed and I would bet that they use a generic picture regardless of the actual item listing. I have noticed this with RA products, the picture is sometimes not even the correct item.

When I replaced the suspension on my B3V I swapped in Mk3 struts that had the same physical length as the ones removed from the B3V. The springs were probably comparable to what might have originally existed but since I was upgrading to the newer Plus suspension mounts I used coils marked for a Mk3 2.0L with AC and AT, and hence I got probably the same coils that would have been installed originally had that suspension been used. They're the same coils that I found on a B4 tdi donor in Omaha.

I mean if you want to try it go ahead, but I'm thinking you're not going to gain much unless you go with the coils from a VR6 car.

Further, this discussion is only about the front, it has no bearing on the rear suspension since the rear springs/struts are completely different between Passat and Mk3

Steve

Thanks for the discussion, Steve and Todd. I will keep you posted. I found a good deal on the Sachs Advantage for the B4, and I took the risk and ordered them. We will see how they differ. I agree that pictures are risky, but I see the same differences between the Sachs and Bilstein and Monroe models in pictures.

I am hoping the rear will be a little easier to lift with spacers or something fabricated. And, I will lift it to a height to match what I get when the front is set. I already replaced the rears with Bilstein HD a couple of years ago, but did not add any lift.

Scott

i would shy away from rockauto and their inventory. at one time i had parts from RA, not of my own choice, i quickly discerned id only use suspension parts, the other parts came from the bottom of the barrel, all parts, including suspension. it didnt take long to figure i didnt want to use even the suspension parts. i mean it was like put a whole new front and rear end on a car, how many parts from RA embarrasses me at this point, since. new tires and etc, get a professional alignment, these cars would have variances, like youd be driving on the highway, oh my mom is a granny, so 55-maybe 60 is speeding for her. she has complaints of car being unstable, steering being hard to handle, and variants. stay away from RA, use a reliable supplier. id fear for my life w/RA suspension parts, not to say brake parts. or whatever.