bottoming out

[bmor]

my MK3 Jetta has been bottoming out lately when I hit bumps at speed (alone in car) or under load (hefty buddy in passenger seat). Is the first likely culprit shocks, or springs, or?...
Thanks, Bernie.

[zukgod1]

Sorry I didn't see your post.. Slow reply here...

I would blame the struts however, you need to tell us how it's set up now.
Do you have lowered springs on it?
How many miles on the suspension?

[bmor]

220,000 km on body. Not lowered as far as I know. I've owned it for a year. I have pic's in the photo gallery. bmor images. Seems to handle alright. Is replacing struts hard for the average joe?

[zukgod1]

Sounds like it's time to change the struts.

Changing struts can be dangerous if you don't have the correct tools.
You need a strut/spring compressor and some air tools to remove the fasteners, you can use hand tools but it's way easier with air..

[Mr_Diesel]

What do you mean by bottoming out? Like you can hear the tires contact the car? There are shocks on the rear.

[bmor]

I'm not certain if it's tires making contact or not. I only know it's a nasty noise. Example; myself and 2 friends driving over a speed bump. 650 lbs of passengers going 10-15 km/hr was a nasty noise. Couple weeks later I'm alone in my car going home from work, probably going around 50 km/hr, the road dips and It happens again, not quite as bad as before but it happened. I increased my tire pressure to full load capacity after that, before it was at half load.:-|

[Mr_Diesel]

Interesting...

Grinding, clunking or what? Try to describe the sound. Does it come from the front or back of the car?

[bmor]

It sounds like the body is literally grinding the road. It hasn't happened for a month or so. I did the shock test, compressing the suspension by hand on all 4 corners, maybe 1 bounce on the rebound (rear). Not excessive bouncing, seems normal. But I must admit I'm not very knowledgable in automotive. I can't tell for sure where the noise originates, sounds like mid or rear I'd guess.

[twig]

it could be you have softer rear suspension. I have seen a few volkswagens around lately like that, sort of leaning back. I don't know if it's the design of the rear suspension or what.

check to see if you have less rear clearance than front clearance.
just shooting ideas

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