drop the front....the rear end is way too high anyway....


seriously....sounds like you need some new rear springs.

 

Yeah, how many miles you got on that thing?
You must going 60mph over speed bumps and have 3 300lb guys in the back to have the rear end scrape (if your suspension isn't shot)

 

I was considering lowering the car, but I drive on many uneven PA roads and driveways, so it's probably best for me to stay at the stock height. I've been catching something on the bottom even with only 2 of my god-children (6 & 4) in the back seat, so it's not an overload situation. I catch mostly when starting up an incline. I've been driving over the same spot for 10+ years, and my Passat is the only car I've owned that catches there. Today I was looking at the car and realized that there's a noticeable difference in the height from front to back. Is it normal for the back end to sit noticeably lower than the front?

 

I'd say it sounds like you need new springs and probably shocks if the springs are bad. How many miles are on your car?

If you've got bad springs and want to lower the car a bit without sacrificing ride, you could always consider Neuspeeds Softsports. They'll drop you about an inch but the ride will feel very close to stock. If you just want to maintain stock height, I've got a set of OEM springs from my 99 1.8T that I'd be willing to sell you for cheap. They've only got 7k miles on them. I'll be in the Philly area later this month so if you're in that part of PA, I can bring them and save you some dough on shipping too.

 

No it is not normal on a newer car,but some springs do sag over time. Do you have a
sound system in the car. That can add a lot of weight.
You can change over to the 1BE springs. They will only lower the car about 3/8-1/2".
You can go with a higher spring code for less lowering. They also carry weight much
better than the stock springs do. Much less sagging when loaded.
A pic of the car would help.

 

OK, here's some pics. The car has about 67,000 mi on it. I have maybe 15 - 20 pounds total of stereo stuff right over the rear wheels, but nothing heavy at all. Maybe the 1BE springs are a viable option if they will sag less. I could be ok with a 1/2" or less drop. Let me know what you thiink based on the pics.

 

My 98 had that problem, I bought it used from a Volvo Dealer up here in Wichita, KS (Gorges Volvo) I had the car for about a year before I notice that it was wearing the back tires out on the inside edges. I had VW try to fix this problem when I had my timing chain replaced but they said my rear beam was bent! Gorges Volvo had a shop replace the rear end on my car for FREE, since my spare tire(full size) also showed wear like the ones on the car which I've never had to use. They installed a updated version which required different break lines a such which I paid the difference for since I optied for the new one vs a completly free old version replacement. So my point is, I wonder if the older rear ends were prone to being bent (failures) so they revised it later down the road without doing any recalls on it. Make sure your rear camber isn't off or slanted.

 

Maybe you should take those bodies out of your trunk.... oke:

 

Keep in mind that if you upgrade your suspension to let's say some sofsports and some neuspeed bilsteins, The shocks will be much stiffer and you will probably bottom out less. But as I read back over your post that doesn't seem to be your problem. I don't know why you would catch with stock suspension on inclines. My suspension (H&R Sports) doesn't even catch on inclines in the back.

 

Soundguy, it's probably your mud-guards that are catching and making those scraping noises. Check and see if you have scrape marks on it.

 

Yeah I was about to say something about the splash guards. The suspesion does not seem to sit wierd, the front looks to be as low as the front.

 

My 1BE was not lower than that in the back,the front was a little lower than yours, but not much.

 

It does appear that your wheel gap is bigger in the front than it is in the rear, but your car appears to be sitting level so not really sure what you've got going on there. I'm wondering if the springs in the front were replaced once already and haven't compressed over time as much as the rears.

 

Soundguy, it's probably your mud-guards that are catching and making those scraping noises. Check and see if you have scrape marks on it.

I've scraped the bottoms of my rear flaps. I've scraped them pulling out of driveways that have a sharp dropoff. The first time it happened, I was :shock: . If it happens at the same spot consistently, have someone stand by and actually see what's happening (although it's a good excuse to upgrade your suspension :wink: ).

 

Um, the picture looks perfectly normal.

Your rear isn't sagging at all, the wheel well in the rear just isn't cut out as large, the wheel gap IS smaller.

If you're in fact bottoming out in the rear, then more than likely your shocks are blown. Replace them.

 

Thanks for all of your input. I forgot to mention that I scrape when going slow over those certain places. I don't want to find out what might happen if I went over them fast. :shock: I think my shocks are fine, because the car doesn't seem to have any excess bounce back there. I guess it's time to replace the springs!