Manning

So, anybody who has installed these things knows that the threaded sleeves fit kind of loose over the strut body and can rattle around a bit. Ground Control supplies rubber O rings to help control this, but they don't really hold the sleeves in place. Danno came up with the idea of grinding down PVC tubing to center the sleeves to keep them from rattling, but I got to thinking, why not just squeeze some high temp silicon in there and let it set up. That should keep things from rattling, right? And the weight of the car pretty much keeps the sleeves seated/centered, no?

Ian Carr

i have the ground control coil overs with 260 lbft springs and coni yellows in the stock strut housing. I tried to install the orings but they dont do the job. Mine clunk when i turn the wheel. I do not know if they really stay centered but mine do indeed clunk. You can try some silicon but i still just do not know what will happen.

Other than the clunk i am more than happy with them and they give the car a very aggressive but still street usable feal.

-Ian

Techno Duck

I bought my set used. The previous owner of the setup used some type of foam backed foil tape and wrapped it a few times around the strut body. The threaded sleeves slipped over the tape snug enough that they dont rattle around, but still loose enough you can twist them with your hand if you tried. The stuff had a label on the backside of it, but i cannot remember what it was. I seem to remember Dynamat for some reason, but dont take my word on that.

I still need to change my balljoints to the geometry correcting ones from Rennbay to make full use of the lowering ability. I have it about .25-.5 inches lower than stock, would like to go slightly lower, but im scared of destroying these stock ball joints.

LeftLaneGuy

Hey.. someone get me a measurment of the space.. I'll cut some aluminum 'shims' for in there... Did it many times on the Ground Control units on GTI's...
Hell, I might just get a set for my '44 just to make 'em..
-LLG

dgz924s

Duct tape wrapped around the strut then slide the collar on.

tifosiman

The weight of the car does keep the sleeves seated. The little rubber o-rings that came with mine were dryrotted in the package, so that when I went to fit them over the shock body they snapped. I cut a piece of mountain bike intertube to fit most of the area under the sleeve, stretched it on, then put the sleeve on. No rattles, works great.

Geo

I'll second the duct tape method. Kind of ghetto, but it works like a charm. On my car (my turbo G20) I did put some silicone on the top to seal up the tape.

xsboost90

what sleeves?

Manning

Yeah, I was think about inner tubes as well. Do they take up enough space in the sleeve to make the fit snug, or do they just cut down on the rattling. My other ideas were the foam tape thing, or large heat shink tubing.

tifosiman

I used some cheap, box-retaileresque (Wal-Mart/K-Mart/Huffy) 2.125 tubes that were fairly thick. The fit was nice and snug. Better quality latex tubes would be thinner. You could probably double up on those if need be.

Skip

The o-rings are sufficient to get them on the first time, but after removal or over time they do tend to become less useful. I've tried a few things and found that anything works as well as the next. The sleeves should stay pretty centered regardless of what you do because they sit in the taper of the lower spring perch - especially on the late models. Silicone works, but don't use liquid nails bonding glue or something more permanent unless you REALLY mean it. One of the easiest and least messy is that expaning hardening foam (not the fluffing insulation type) - with some, you get a small "straw" that you can direct down in there (this only work on the early ones - late clearance is too small).

Because of the inconsistency of the tubes, and varying layers of paint, it's unlikely we could develop a one-size-fits-all shim, but maybe (thoughts of a thin delrin layer). When the car is at rest, there's roughly 750lbs of force on each one - unlikely that they'll rattle. While not ideal, it seems to work well.

Manning

I don't know what causes them to rattle or clunk. I guess when the suspension unloads on one side the sleeve tips over a bit and makes a bit of noise.

2 wishes about this project though:

1) I wish the upper perch fit on Bilstein inserts. I know you aren't supposed to lower a car that rides on Bilstein HD inserts, but I have a set of (very hard to get in the US) Sports I would have liked to have used. This means I either have to go back to using Konis or have the hole in the upper perch milled to fit. I think I'll do the former

2) I wish I had been patient about ordering these things. I looked on Paragon's site, but being a moron, I couldn't figure out the then-new layout and could not find the kits with the search feature (the layout has changed yet again since I ordered these things). So, being impatient and since it was on a Sunday I ordered directly from Ground Control instead of waiting until Monday to call Chuck and order them. Wouldn't you know I figured out the new layout a day or two later. And wouldn't you know it took GC forever to send the kit.

While we are talking about suspension, didn't Weltmeister or somebody used to make poly bushings for the rear control arms? I'm talking rear as in back half of the car, not rear bushing on the front a-arms.

Skip

You need a louder exhaust One of the noises you may be hearing is the spring rub against the threaded sleeve. You can verify this by inspecting the threads above the lower perch. One of the way to abate this is to use a bicycle inner tube to protect the threads above the perch. I've also used paint spray can caps cut to fit and siliconed in place.

So, the upper perch won't fit over the Bilstein? That's odd - I'll check a spare I have here to see what'up.

So, is the new layout better, worse or stupid? I kinda know the dork that does that stuff, you know. Could smack him around a bit. There are a few changes in progress now. One is better more relevant categorization. The other is easier to understand kits and product grouping. But, with many things, we prefer to work personally with every suspension order to be sure you are getting what you need.

Absolutely. Check out this page: http://www.paragon-products.com/Pors...ings_s/310.htm

Good Luck!

Manning

Ha-ha, I have an early SFR exhaust. I would have to run an open exhaust to get much louder.

I love bicycle inner tubes. They come in handy for a ton of stuff. I am actually thinking about using them as boots over the springs to help protect the damper rod. They even come in handy as slings when you seperate your shoulder while mtn biking

I'll post a picture of what I mean later. The Bilsteins have that inverted design, so there is no way the hole in the upper seat could be big enough to slide over like on a shock with a exposed damper rod like a Koni or Sachs/Boge. But, there is a little section at the top of the shock where the upper seat could fit if the hole was a bit bigger. You'll see what I mean when I post the picture.

Better. It was the one you had up a few weeks ago that cornfused me. You had the suspension section, but then you only had links to the shocks/struts grouping and something else at the top of that frame. If I remember correctly the links where light colored, maybe gray, and I overlooked them for a couple days. Unfortunately by the time I saw them I had ordered the kit directly from GC.

Well, I saw that page. I see Racer's Edge metal bearings for the rear control (banana arm) arm mounts, and I see weltmeister poly bushings for the spring plate and t-bar mounts, but not poly bushings for the rear control arm. I know Welt used to make them, but haven't seen them in a while and don't really want to shell out $320 for the RE bearings.

Skip

lol - like me, you need pictures

Hmm, so you mean banana arm mounts that are not solid then? Nothing like that, sorry. That joint is too complex for anything other than rubber or sperical.