DIY: 2" Lift Kit for Under $40 - EASY!

http://www.metalnerd.com/cat09.htm

This is the link from MetalNerd's page. Will it work on an 09 Rabbit and 09 Jetta? The Site says that it is not for use with ESC...I do not know what year it started but both of my VWs have ESC standard. Realizing I would accept full liability, would these work on my cars?

I like what you did to your Golf...looks great...almost like a Subaru!

CMB430 said:

http://www.metalnerd.com/cat09.htm

This is the link from MetalNerd's page. Will it work on an 09 Rabbit and 09 Jetta? The Site says that it is not for use with ESC...I do not know what year it started but both of my VWs have ESC standard. Realizing I would accept full liability, would these work on my cars?

I like what you did to your Golf...looks great...almost like a Subaru!

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How do you know if it has ESC if you bought it used? I own a manual 2004 Jetta TDI Sedan and an manual 03 Jetta TDI wagon.

jcilforever said:

How do you know if it has ESC if you bought it used? I own a manual 2004 Jetta TDI Sedan and an manual 03 Jetta TDI wagon.

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ESP button on the dash below the center vents.

penclnck said:

ESP button on the dash below the center vents.

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Thanks

CMB430 said:

http://www.metalnerd.com/cat09.htm

This is the link from MetalNerd's page. Will it work on an 09 Rabbit and 09 Jetta? The Site says that it is not for use with ESC...I do not know what year it started but both of my VWs have ESC standard. Realizing I would accept full liability, would these work on my cars?

I like what you did to your Golf...looks great...almost like a Subaru!

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I hope you get a definitive answer, I've been looking to raise my '09 JSW TDI since new, but no one seems to have a way to do it. Is the Mk4 chassis / suspension that different from Mk5?

I asked the question through the Metalnerd site when I posted the comment here...nothing has come yet. I will give it a few days and try again.

MK 5 suspension is independent rear.

MK IV is solid axle.

Any updated reports on this project?

Lift kit

I am looking at VR6 springs from a GTI (99.5). Thought I would install them first to see what the ride height looks like and then decide on the bushing and pipe addition.

One question I have in looking at the pictures is why did the rear shock top need to be blocked out from the original mount? It seems that the spring bushing would give you enough height. Maybe the shock also needed to be blocked down to handle the extra height without increasing its own travel? Am I looking at the picture incorrectly?

As for the diy installation killing anyone, didn't Lotus drill holes in it's tube frames until they failed, then brought the frame back and see what failed and omitted the offending holes and sent them back out on the track for more testing? Auto makers aren't gods, just humans using trial and error to see what works. We all want to solve our own problems and should have the confidence to do so. Kudos to all those continuing in that spirit.

You don't want the shock over-extended. That top block was just to keep it at the correct overall length.

I completely agree with your last comment. OEMs are not perfect and they leave a lot of potential improvement and safe modification on the table.

lucamajuke; another member named rustwagen installed vr6 springs w/ the metalnerd 2" lift & koni reds with no regrets... search for his pix. I liked it.

On my el-cheapo "lumber lift" I did not alter the rear shock mount & have had no problems. Also a clarification, the front lumber I installed went between the spring & cup, which is far from ideal, but has worked just fine for the past year. I agree that keeping the correct overall length of any shock/strut is ideal, but mine are not topped out at all.

I recently acquired a set of passat springs. the fronts are big with a single yellow & two brown dots. I may/may not shim them after I compare them to the free length of the originals that are soon to be removed. I got the complete strut assys that came with all the rubber bushings, covers, and hardware. I will mix-n-match as nec'y to get them in there. "I suspect" the rear passat springs are too fat to fit in there, but those may not be a total loss...

I am about to tear the entire front suspension apart for new LCA bushings, a peloquin 80% kit, a new cv boot, springs & struts. just a bunch of maintainance slated for next week. will update upon completion & pix if lucky...

in a world where most people are bagging and slamming their cars why is everyone on the tdi forum always talking about raising them? is it for offroad application? Just extra ground clearance to protect the bottom?

archetypaul said:

in a world where most people are bagging and slamming their cars why is everyone on the tdi forum always talking about raising them? is it for offroad application? Just extra ground clearance to protect the bottom?

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Little of everything. The Diesel engine makes us go nutty in the head and makes us think we have trucks

archetypaul said:

in a world where most people are bagging and slamming their cars why is everyone on the tdi forum always talking about raising them? is it for offroad application? Just extra ground clearance to protect the bottom?

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Bagging and slamming a car is generally a really stupid thing to do. I originally joined this site because my car was too close to the ground for me. I don't like scraping the bottom of my car on stuff.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269310

manual_tranny said:

Bagging and slamming a car is generally a really stupid thing to do. I originally joined this site because my car was too close to the ground for me. I don't like scraping the bottom of my car on stuff.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=269310

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Different strokes for different folks.

Ya I'm kinda thinking of lowering my 03 like 1" for a nicer look with the 18's, but I kinda like the lifted look as well..

I did autotranny front springs and a 2" lift so I had a car that got great mileage but had the clearance of a subaru. Since subaru won't release a diesel in the US, and VW won't give the US a subaru like TDI.

More, Not Here TDI's.

Aquaticmind said:

I did autotranny front springs and a 2" lift so I had a car that got great mileage but had the clearance of a subaru. Since subaru won't release a diesel in the US, and VW won't give the US a subaru like TDI.

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I'm sure Subaru would love to sell the U.S. built Diesel Legacy Wagon in N.America, but it's engine won't pass the sniff test. Even in Europe they are complaning about it being too dirty.
VW could and should put the TDI in a more aggressive vehicle for this market, read a rumor that they are building a VW Pickup with the TDI...but also, not for here.
Guess we'll have to wait and see what TDI models Chysler/Fiat come up with, VW seems to have their heads so far up there butts that they need a wake up call from some competition.

longo said:

I'm sure Subaru would love to sell the U.S. built Diesel Legacy Wagon in N.America, but it's engine won't pass the sniff test. Even in Europe they are complaning about it being too dirty.
VW could and should put the TDI in a more aggressive vehicle for this market, read a rumor that they are building a VW Pickup with the TDI...but also, not for here.
Guess we'll have to wait and see what TDI models Chysler/Fiat come up with, VW seems to have their heads so far up there butts that they need a wake up call from some competition.

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We will see http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/suvs/112_0809_2010_subaru_forester_diesel/index.html but isn't this hyjacking a lift thread? It has more power but less fuel efficent.

Good Luck Clapping and Cheering

jcilforever said:

We will see http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/suvs/112_0809_2010_subaru_forester_diesel/index.html but isn't this hyjacking a lift thread? It has more power but less fuel efficent.

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The Subies ground clearance is a good goal to shoot for. Just not sure that a Jetta TDI would handle teetering down the road with 7 or 8 inches of clearance, but with only 4 inches under that fagile aluminum Jetta TDI oil pan, it would be great to have some extra room for bulging man hole covers, and frozen road kill.

The Subie Legacy wagon with the ERuo TDI would go head to head with the Jetta Wagon for power, mpg's and room. But, there's always that clearance thing.... seems the VW Jettas will always be an Autobahn Ohnly kind of car.

Rear bushing placement - unsprung weight?

I haven't looked at the mount yet but am considering the diy lift kit and wondering if the somewhat heavy cast iron bushing could be put on top of the spring to avoid adding any unsprung weight to the arm. Is the four or five pound weight enough to worry about?

Anyone have the necessary dimensions for a DIY or the actual dimensions from a MN kit?

In particular it seems I'd need to know the ID and OD for the front spacer, and the two (stepped) OD's for the rear.

I just got my hands on a lathe and I'm excited to turn these parts. I'll make sure to post photos and description of my lift which I plan to be:

Front:
1.5" spacers
Bilstein TC's
(VR6 springs possibly or eventually)


Rear:
2.0" spacers
1.0" strut mounts
Bilstein HD's
(wagon/towing springs possibly or eventually)

Thanks for any help on the dims! Rather only pull my car apart once. And if I sound like a newb for asking for dims it's coz I am! Not new to engineering but new to working on my suspension. Finally have a garage and a flat pad of concrete.

The fronts ID is the OD of the strut is all. As far as the OD of the front is around .5 inches thick and it has a grease zert on it as well so I think thickness doesn't matter as much as ID does (just as long as it isn't too thick or too thin). The rear spring lift will be the id of the rear coil spring with a ledge for the coil to site on. Same for the bottom part really. There is a step in the axle holder for the coil spring and it should be the ID of the coil spring and then you just have the ledge around it. nothing complicated. If you have a lathe and some good material to work with and some time on your hands then the hardest part would be the extension for the rear shock. Keep in mind I didn't breach any contract on the sizes as I didn't mention my actual measurements but I couldn't measure it even if I wanted to the way it is put in. But the way I told you how it is pretty straight forward.

I think a few people might even be interested in your kit if you made something work out and had them sign wavers or something. It would make the ESP poeple happy.

coalminer16 said:

...nothing complicated...But the way I told you how it is pretty straight forward.

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Thanks coalminer. I was just hoping to avoid crawling under my car and/or taking things apart to get the actual dims. Sounds from your reply like the MN waiver must say something about disclosing designs to others. Makes sense if he's trying to make a buck. Luckily this forum is all about sharing the love.

I'll make sure my design is more or less "open source".

Update:
I finally installed Passat springs up front w/ new monroe struts, the TT LCA bushings left outer cv joint boot. The rear got new monroe shocks & retained the 2x4 shim under the stock springs...

The passat springs were had cheap for $200 for the front pair still on their struts and the rears loose. If you pursue this avenue of lift, you will want some of the rubber parts that come from the strut assys from the passat, and skip the rears as those are too fat to fit w/o mods. (I intend to take a torch to them to bend the seating eyes over to one side to see if they will go in an offset manner) OR (I wanna try to install my old front springs in the rear first, which should/might achieve a leveling amount of lift w/o the wood shims currently employed)

the lift achieved is about as much as can be had w/o major reengineering to the car but it all fit in there w/ plenty of room for 205/75r15 dirt tires for max lift. the struts ride nearly topped out all the time. My 2000 tdi jetta compressed these spring/strut assys only an inch when I put the car down on its wheels. this implies that the required damping these passat springs are asking for does not exist in the jetta struts. Installing the rubber passat spring saddle onto the jetta spring cup was a last minute idea to properly hold that union together, the mismatch of those parts made this a good idea to this shadetree wrench hack.

I stay up in the air no matter what I run over.... like those annoying speed humps @ 40 is now a pleasure. The new LCA bushings add to the car's tightness, too. Alignment issues are nonexistant, but have yet to have a shop check it. I do feel the springs compress as these are not 1-ton truck springs that would overpower everything, just passat springs from a brother vw.... Otherwise the handling is great, body roll is gone, but the brakes feel they have taken a dive...

I did not touch my brakes this time as they still have plenty of life left in them, BUT... "I think" that with the altered geometry of the car now up in the air has affected braking performance, or maybe my cocky ass is now blazing thru stuff that I now hafta stop faster now that I'm going faster... so that nothin' is wrong with nothin' and its all in my head. I dunno, Its just an observation about the "new" car I now have.
"WHEN" the brakes finally wear out, an upgrade is on order including steel braided lines...

the peloquin 80% kit does not go to this new of a car... so getting a full LSD into my car is gonna be expensive no matter what. Is finding a used trans updated w/ LSD a cheaper way to go??? if so, how would I easily confirm its actually there?? cuz when one wheel has no resistance, nothing is transmitted to the other end, so how to check w/o disassy??

I like my lift for what I paid, handling is improved greatly for a "baja jetta" project is concerned.

jcilforever said:

I just put Koni Reds, VR6 springs on my wagon front, and German towing springs on the back about 2 months ago and that gave me an extra 1" and 16" wheels will give me another 1" so total of 2"s with no out of spec mods

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The combo of the Bilstein HD's and stiffer springs are just right for a daily driver on the 03 Wagon, I did the same with the 04 sedan but used the OEM Wagon Springs and found it to have a little too much play. So I will be purchasing the same spring kit for the sedan.

jcilforever said:

16" wheels will give me another 1"

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No it wont. There are 15, 16, 17 and 18 inch wheels on MKIV VW's and they all have about the same outside diameter (about 24.9 to 25") with stock size tires.

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp?action=submit

I went with oversized snow tires 205/70/15 and I am going to be running 215/55/17 summers soon. Both of these tires have an OD of 26.3" which is a 1.4" increase in diameter. Divide that in half to get the radius and the oversize tires give me 0.7" of lift.

These tires look better on lifted cars so that the wheelgaps aren't as bad. They also give a nice reduction in rpm and makes it so the speedo shows actual speed. The downside is that the odometer reads incorrectly. The roughly 5.3% difference in revs per mile means I have to multiply odometer readings by 1.053 to get the true mileage. So if I've gone 10,000 miles indicated I've actually gone 10,530 miles. This is important to keep track of to make sure service intervals (like timing belts) are done in time. If someone went 100,000 miles on tires this size, they would be 5,300 miles over the TB interval.

TDICADDGUY said:

No it wont. There are 15, 16, 17 and 18 inch wheels on MKIV VW's and they all have about the same outside diameter (about 24.9 to 25") with stock size tires.

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp?action=submit

I went with oversized snow tires 205/70/15 and I am going to be running 215/55/17 summers soon. Both of these tires have an OD of 26.3" which is a 1.4" increase in diameter. Divide that in half to get the radius and the oversize tires give me 0.7" of lift.

These tires look better on lifted cars so that the wheelgaps aren't as bad. They also give a nice reduction in rpm and makes it so the speedo shows actual speed. The downside is that the odometer reads incorrectly. The roughly 5.3% difference in revs per mile means I have to multiply odometer readings by 1.053 to get the true mileage. So if I've gone 10,000 miles indicated I've actually gone 10,530 miles. This is important to keep track of to make sure service intervals (like timing belts) are done in time. If someone went 100,000 miles on tires this size, they would be 5,300 miles over the TB interval.

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You jump to conclusions and give your experience which your experience is good , but jumping to conclusions is not. I am planning on going with a 16" rim plus taller tire since the shocks and springs gave me extra room in the wheel well, you made the assumption that I was going with stock height and stock options

Thank you for your response and info I appreciate your experience, please next ime ask questions.

Thank You

Dude, jcil, have to say I thought the same exact thing as tdicadguy. You said that upgrading the wheel size by 1" would give you 1" of lift. It has nothing to do with the wheel size, really. Obviously as you know a taller tire is what is going to give you the lift, which, btw, you can do with 15" tires also.

If you plan on adding a full 2" of diameter to your tires (since of course you only raise the vehicle half the gain in tire height increase), do your research to avoid crazy rubbing in the fender wells. I think a guy made a chart of tested tire size increases and what fits and what doesn't, hopefully it's easy to find. But 2" larger diameter is a lot.