Suspension and Shock Absorbers

Hello everyone,

The shock absorbers on my car are round and need to be replaced. Lowering springs (35 - 40 mm) were installed by the previous owner. As far as I know, the shock absorbers are still the originals, which is also acceptable according to the inspection report. Now, the seller told me that it would be better to install shortened shock absorbers. What do you think about it, or what are the pros and cons of each variant?

Greetings
Thomas

Hi,

Up to a depth of 40mm, there should be no problems with normal dampers.
Only with larger animal losses are shortened dampers necessary.

When lowering, it is always recommended to install a complete suspension, so that the shock absorbers and (shortened) springs are matched. Shock absorbers that have not been shortened, when used in combination with short springs, essentially always operate under full load and therefore at their limit (or in the progressive range, if the shock absorbers are capable of doing so). I would always recommend installing other shock absorbers in this case. I'm currently working on bringing my 4B (apartment) closer to me, let's see what opportunities arise...

Hello, I also want to share my own perspective, as I have personal experience with this topic.

Brief Recap:

Initially, I only installed Eibach springs (40/35) on my Octavia and thought that they would work with my original shocks. This initially worked, but the only problem arose during highway driving and at high speeds. Since my shocks had already accumulated 130,000 km, they were slightly worn, which caused long body rolls to overload my suspension. My car took a relatively long time to dampen the vibrations. The disaster occurred when I was even driving with my undercarriage protection at almost 170 km/h, and I was then able to remove it at a gas station afterwards.

I quickly purchased Bilstein shock absorbers after that, and since then, the driving experience has been perfect.

Greetings
Schleppi