Rear end riding low

My Passat is fully equipped for my commute and usage, but now the rear end is riding kind of low. This week I shopped at Costco mid week and added probably another 80 lb to the back seat of the car. After adding my shopping the rear mud flaps were dragging over speed bumps and exiting some parking lots.

I have permanently added a 65 lb group 31 battery on the left side of the trunk, a 46 lb ARB 37 quart fridge on the right side of the trunk, a full size spare tire on VW aluminum rim. I usually carry 20 lb worth of food and drinks in the fridge or in a tote in the trunk along with a 20-25 lb toolbox. This adds up to about 190 additional pounds in the trunk most of the time.

I’m looking for ideas to fix this, mainly to compensate for the permanent weight of the fridge, battery, and spare tire. The V6 cars had a battery in the trunk, so I want to check with VW and see if they used different rear coils that might be stiffer. I also considered finding a coil spacer to raise the rear maybe 1/2”. I don’t want to do something like airbags that require constant fiddling and maintenance. I would assume those who tow a camper might have a similar issue. Thoughts? Thanks.

I often carry 150 lbs of tools in the trunk of my 2013 Passat (stock suspension), and the rear end sags nowhere near what you describe. I doubt an additional 40 lbs would bog down a normal rear end to the extent of yours. You should probably be looking at spring replacement.

Although, if you carry 20 lbs of food and drink daily, I'd also have to ask, what is the combined weight of all passengers? That could certainly factor in.

I believe there are OEM spacer pads that you can install in place of the stock spacer pads that will give you a little lift. The rear suspension is nearly identical to a Mk5 so anything you find for that should work on the Passat.

Any compression of the springs will affect the ride and handling so be prepared.

Combined weight of passengers is me at 330 lb, this is my commuter car that I don’t drive outside of work use. The car has 31K on it, so I wouldn’t think springs would be worn out but who knows. I commute to Phx for 2-4 days a week, the 20 lb of food and drinks is mostly bottled water with the remainder containers of leftovers in glass tupperware to feed me for a few days while I stay in AirBnb rooms. I’m a big dude at 6’5” and 330 lb, but I don’t really eat more than the average person.

Thanks for the tip on the MKV parts. When the car is sitting “empty” in my driveway the rear end looks low, I haven’t taken the time to do any measurements from the jacking points to the ground.

My 2015 measures 19" to the bottom of the chrome strip in the middle of the car with the trunk empty!

I'm suggesting that the OP is asking for unusual trunk usage. I'm also guessing that most of these 190 pounds are well aft of the rear axle thereby increasing the fulcrum effect meaning those 190 # could be the equivalent of double that. Effectively adding two extra people's weight well back in the trunk. No ordinary passenger vehicle is made to do that!

I measured my car this morning, at the jack points the rear end is 1/8” higher than the front with the battery, spare tire, and fridge in place.

Jetta Pilot is correct, most of the weight is aft of the rear axle, but there isn’t anything I can really do about that. The fridge only fits one way, the spare tire is in the tire well, and the battery is in the OE location for the V6 cars on the left side of the trunk. I don’t think my usage is that far out of normal, three 50 lb suitcases could weigh more than what I’ve added permanently. I don’t have any complaints with how the car rides when loaded down, just the scraping.

I was at a VW store today and asked the parts guy to look into different springs. VW had four different part numbers for the Passat, each has a weight range of 1, 2, 3, or 4 in the details. According to my vin my car should have weight range 3 springs from the factory. I’m not certain which way the scale goes, but all of the springs are available for about $130 each. I have a V6 vin somewhere, I will eventually have VW run that vin and see which springs those use.

I went to dinner with my folks last night, their driveway is steep and with three of us in the car (~720 lb of passengers plus my trunk weight) the rear mud flap on the passenger side drug hard even though I came in slow. Coming in earlier by myself there was no drag.

I put a hitch on my passat to use a bike carrier, it was bottoming out on all kinds of driveways. I put sumo springs on the back and it really help prevent the bottoming out. Easy to install. Something to consider.

Do you have a link to the sumo springs?

I personally think you have something bigger going on. Here is my 13 pulling a nearly 1000 pound diesel tractor home. Engine is in the front and I’m pretty sure I was over the recommended 200 pound tongue weight. My “fulcrum point” would obviously be even further back than yours and the car didn’t seem to sag at all. Drove about 150 miles like this and honestly didn’t even really know it was back there. Before this car went back to mother VW it hauled nearly everything I ever needed. 20 bags of mulch, a trailer full of landscaping bricks, tractors, arcade machines. Yes, my hitch would drag in driveways, but only because it’s a crap design and below and behind the bumper. Never once did a mud flap drag on anything.

Wow. Image is huge. Sorry, couldn’t figure out how to shrink it and the forum uploaded wouldn’t let me upload it so had to go off site. Regardless, I towed everything with that car and it never sagged as bad as you describe.

Sumo link

Here's a link for the Sumo springs:
https://www.etrailer.com/p-CSS-1125R.html?hhyear=2015&hhmake=Volkswagen&hhmodel=Passat

Every reviewer seems happy with the product. I plugged in a 2015 Passat and was told they don't have a confirmed fitment. I do think the 2015 suspension is similar to the 2012 to 2014, which works.

I’ll upload a photo of my car sagging later. Mine does have VW plastic mud flaps to drag, they are pretty low.

Thanks for the link on the Sumo springs. I think a spacer on the top of the coils would work as well. The VW springs cost about $120 each, so if I could figure out their numbering system the cost would be similar.

I never did fix this issue, here is a picture of my car sagging. I just upgraded the battery and added a little more weight.

air lift 1000 bags also will do wonders for saggy bottoms

have a set on our Alltrack.

740GLE said:

air lift 1000 bags also will do wonders for saggy bottoms

Click to expand...

The same goes for a pair of high heels.