New rear dampers and coil springs - but no damping!!!

[projectgingawar]

fitted my new rear dampers and the rear coil springs (h&r -20mm) to my ibiza ('97 gti 16v). all seemed to go well untill i noticed a knocking coming from the rear right shock. had a look and to my horror..this crazy s**t was happening! the left damper is fine and behaves as it should, but to me, this would mean that the right shock is riding purely on the spring with no damping whatsoever! anybody any ideas? the dampers are KYB OEM spec dampers and both shocks were assembled in the same manner (i.e reverse of disassembly of the old ones!)

 

[Black TDI Turbo]

I did the same on my mk3 cupra, bet you havn't fitted the little metal sleeve on the strut before fitting the top metal cap. i had the same all looked fine i stripped them and refitted, tried all sorts until i looked on the internet for answers, finally found i was missing the metal sleeve off my old struts, checked them and i had indeed missed it off, stripped and refitted and all was ok.

 

[projectgingawar]

i don't suppose you happen to have any pics of the offending item? Is it a metal tube around 2 ish inches long? If so did it need to go on the strut before fitting the metal top cap? Cheers for that mate

 

[Black TDI Turbo]

lol yeh the little metal sleeve look at the pic down the page shows the layout of the parts

http://forum.performancevwmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=40697

pic nearly at the bottom mate you can see the sleeve to the left of the pic

strut - plate - sleeve - rubber mount - washer - nut - rubber mount - washer - upside down washer - nut lol something like that anyways

 

[BrownCupra]

lol mate, youve defo missed a piece out from the underneath (wheel arch side)

 

[projectgingawar]

that's awsome fellas! cheers for a fast response! very much appreciated. it seems i put the metal sleeve on AFTER the top cap and then screwed the nut on the end to hold lot together.!

 

[projectgingawar]

sorted it! the metal tube was in the right place, but there is a small sping clip that sits in a groove near the top of the strut that connects the top cap to the strut, it wasn't in its groove so that then enabled the strut to move freely without moving the top cap. i'll post a pic up for future reference. i've also got a comedy "reverse germanic" stance as it's lowered at the back but standard at the front!

 

[Black TDI Turbo]

lol least you got it sorted mate

 

[BrownCupra]

Lol never mind mate... atleast its sorted! Shame about rear rake

 

[projectgingawar]

on the upside to the weird stance, cos the front is fairly soft and the rear is firmed up a bit the turn-in is incredible! the front just grips and back end just kind of skids round in a very controllable oversteer. i think the front and rear strut braces are helping too. i just hope that replacing the front springs with stiffer ones won't ruin what is now very good handling!