Lowering Spring Set with Matched Dampers in Premium Aftermarket

A suspension part: springs and dampers designed together, because lowering springs on tired original dampers is how a car ends up riding badly and eating tyres.

We are an independent parts supplier. We are not Volkswagen, Audi, Seat or Skoda, and we are not appointed by any of them. Those are their trademarks and what we sell are parts that fit their cars. The useful thing about this group is that four badges share platforms and share parts, so the same component fits a Golf, an A3, a Leon and an Octavia and costs four different amounts at four different counters. We list it once, at one price, and tell you which platform it belongs to.

Specification and fitment

• Fits: Golf Mk5 Mk6 Mk7 Mk8, Passat B6 B7 B8, A3 8P 8V 8Y, A4 B8 B9, Leon 1P 5F KL, Octavia 1Z 5E NX, and the other group cars on the same platforms
• Platform: chosen above, and on suspension the platform is the part number. An MQB Golf arm and an MQB Octavia arm are the same arm. This part is shared across the group. The Volkswagen, the Audi, the Seat and the Skoda all take it, it is the same component in four different boxes, and the price here is the same whichever badge is on your car. Choose your badge above for your records, not because it changes anything.
• Engine: not engine dependent, though the spring rates differ between a 1.0 TSI and a 2.0 TDI on the same platform. This group changes specification mid production and does it on a platform basis rather than a model year basis, so two cars registered the same week can take different parts. Send us the VIN with the order and we check the part against the build data before anything is dispatched. It takes two minutes and it is the difference between a part that fits and a return.
• Production dates: 2003 to 2022 depending on platform
• Quality: a well regarded aftermarket brand that is not the original supplier. Cheaper, generally good, and we say where the differences are rather than pretending there are none
• Part number: cross referenced to the group part number for your VIN and confirmed before dispatch. We do not print one number against a listing that covers several supersessions, because on this group the supersessions are the whole point
• The failure this addresses: wandering at motorway speed, a knock over broken surfaces, a creak on full lock, uneven inner edge tyre wear, or a rear spring that has snapped into the tyre
• Labour time: forty minutes to three hours a side, plus a four wheel geometry afterwards on anything that affects alignment
• Coding: none required. Fit it and drive
• Also needed: single use bolts and nuts, which most suspension positions here use, and a four wheel geometry afterwards
• Torque: torque the bush bolts at ride height with the wheels on the ground. Tightening them with the suspension hanging preloads the rubber and tears it within a year, and it is the commonest mistake in the job
• Interval: not scheduled. Suspension is a wear item and the MOT usually tells you first
• Weight: approximately 16.4 kilograms
• Warranty: three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first
• One part, four badges: this is where the shared platform saves the most money, because the same arm costs one price in an Audi box and another in a Skoda box and is the same arm
• Rear springs: on several of these platforms they snap inward into the tyre. If one has gone the other is the same age and the same road
• Always in pairs: one new arm and one worn gives a car that pulls and a tyre that wears on one edge
• Ride height torque: the single most important line on this page

What arrives

• the part or pair as described
• single use bolts and nuts
• instructions with torque figures and the ride height note

Fitting

Forty minutes to three hours a side. Torque the bush bolts at ride height with the wheels on the ground rather than with the suspension hanging, and then book a four wheel geometry, because changing an arm moves the camber and the toe.

Which version to buy

This page is the clearest demonstration of why buying on platform beats buying on badge. The front arm on an MQB Golf, A3, Leon and Octavia is one part and four counters will quote four prices. On tier, buy OE supplier dampers because the cheap ones are genuinely worse and you will feel it, and premium aftermarket arms and links because they are genuinely fine.