Official Raceland MKV coilover review... Short Version

[MaxVW]

i wanted to order some but they wont have any instock for 2-3 months

[nickbeezy]

ill sell you mine lol

[MaxVW]

how much and how used?
and why are you selling?

[golfIVever]

Quote, originally posted by MaxVW »

i wanted to order some but they wont have any instock for 2-3 months

I just confirmed as well. They had them on the site until earlier this morning. The guy at Raceland said 3 months min...

[BlackRab08]

Maybe someone here can shed some light on my problem with Racelands. I have them on my rabbit and can't stand them! Maybe Raceland sent the wrong springs with the kit; idk, but they are only a little bit stiffer than stock. I know I have the completely wrong tire size in the rear of my car for going low on coils, but with 2.5" of wheel gap in the rear, I should be able to go around a corner faster than 40 mph without rubbing, but no it rubs like a mo fo. Also, when I am out of the car there is about 3-3.25" of wheel gap in the rear, then when I sit in it, it sags down probably 3/4"-1". Has anyone had this kind of problem or is it in fact just me?

[fastgti69]

i heard the same today, i was on the site last night ready to order in cart... had to wait till friday payday to pay for them.. now they're gone. dang. i would love to buy some..

[CRUIZ2007]

Quote, originally posted by BlackRab08 »

Maybe someone here can shed some light on my problem with Racelands. I have them on my rabbit and can't stand them! Maybe Raceland sent the wrong springs with the kit; idk, but they are only a little bit stiffer than stock. I know I have the completely wrong tire size in the rear of my car for going low on coils, but with 2.5" of wheel gap in the rear, I should be able to go around a corner faster than 40 mph without rubbing, but no it rubs like a mo fo. Also, when I am out of the car there is about 3-3.25" of wheel gap in the rear, then when I sit in it, it sags down probably 3/4"-1". Has anyone had this kind of problem or is it in fact just me?

did you put the rear springs on the front and the front springs on the rear?

its an easy mistake to make considering Raceland shipped the springs backwards to save space while shipping


Modified by CRUIZ2007 at 11:43 PM 10-9-2009

[BlackRab08]

We actually did that putting the rear struts/springs in. When we went to do the fronts later, we found that the springs did sit quite right and finally realized the springs were installed on the wrong struts. Idk, maybe it's just me and it's a strange coincidence.

[blackgliguy]

Got out to Road America (Elkhart Lake, WI) yesterday and got some track time with my coils installed. Car felt great! I must say I am very impressed with Raceland product so far!
Just after tech inspection:

Heading out for my first lap:

Finishing my 1st lap around 125 mph!

Modified by blackgliguy at 1:15 PM 10-17-2009

[nickbeezy]

so today i found out that my coilovers have decided to take a sh!t on me. the sway bar endlink tab had snapped off the strut... anyone know if my car will be fine running with the front driver side endlink disconnected?
edit: i talked to the peaople at raceland and they will mail me a new strut tommorow so hopefully this wont happen again.

Modified by nickbeezy at 10:42 AM 10-19-2009


Modified by nickbeezy at 10:42 AM 10-19-2009

[blackgliguy]

Quote, originally posted by nickbeezy »

so today i found out that my coilovers have decided to take a sh!t on me. the sway bar endlink tab had snapped off the strut... anyone know if my car will be fine running with the front driver side endlink disconnected?

Your pictures are not showing up. It looks like you are trying to post them from your email. You need to host them at photobucket or some other location.

[nickbeezy]

thanks for the heads up. is it showing now?

[blackgliguy]

Quote, originally posted by nickbeezy »

thanks for the heads up. is it showing now?

Can see them now! Man that sucks. Glad to hear Raceland's customer service came through.

Any ideas why this busted off? Bad weld; improper alignment? How low did you have your collars turned down? It looks like your collars are seperated and you are cranked down pretty far?!? The bolt actually looks bent. I wonder if your sway bar was hitting and broke at the weakest point...that being the strut mount

Did you have any signs this was happening or did you just hear it hitting after it broke off?


Modified by blackgliguy at 2:35 PM 10-19-2009

[nickbeezy]

im not sure how this happened but i have been hearing sounds coming from that wheel well ever since i installed the coilover. my guess is that the sway bar was hitting somethings because i can see scratch marks on the inside by the fenderliner. i would always hear something clunking too whenever i would turn and then it progressed into a loud knocking sound after i had hit a freaking speed bump in the middle of the highway at 75 then the next morning i heard it snap as i turned left. . the collars were cranked all the way down untill it would hit the mounting point which pretty much stopped me from going any lower so idk. the bolt isnt bent it pivots around. im sending the strut back to raceland this week so that they can inspect it.

[blackgliguy]

Kind of scary. I have been having noise from my drivers side once and a while...only when I am turning and there is a slight body flex from a driveway of some sort.

I am going to have to take a look now.

[Cherb32]

I guess we cant turn them all the way down. Is this the overall downfall of these coils? Is there anyone else with their coils turned all the way down or starting to hear clunking noises when turning?

I hope this wont turn out to be a common thing Im still waiting for my turn to buy these coils

[cardoza]

I had the same thing happen with my B&Gs, I had a buddy reinforce the **** out of them and haven't had any problems since. If it continues to happen I would look into ordering the FK endlinks from ECStuning. They're considerably shorter than the stockers.

[nickbeezy]

im thinking about buying those whiteline adjustable endlinks
hopefully this doesnt happen to anyone else. but i guess you get what you pay for and only time will tell. ive had these for almost 10000 miles. i still think they are a good buy if your looking to go somewwhat low real quick. but in the end i still say get some quality coils like b&g, H&R, or fks because they have been proven over time everyone doesnt run them for no reason and they do go pretty ****ing low
since im getting new struts im thinking about modifying them to go lower just like shadow gli.
BTW anyone have any ideas how to get the rear lower? i already took out like half the bumpstop.

the more i think of it... whenever you decide to go low and reach about 24 in. fender line you should always replace the endlink with one that is much shorter because it is putting alot of stress on that tab.


Modified by nickbeezy at 10:02 PM 10-19-2009

[blackgliguy]

Quote, originally posted by nickbeezy »

the more i think of it... whenever you decide to go low and reach about 24 in. fender line you should always replace the endlink with one that is much shorter because it is putting alot of stress on that tab.

I am 24.75 up front and 24.5 in the rear...I was looking at the whiteline endlinks last night as well. I am going to try and get under tonight to see what is going on with my driver's side.

[ACEdubs]

Quote, originally posted by cardoza »

I had the same thing happen with my B&Gs, I had a buddy reinforce the **** out of them and haven't had any problems since. If it continues to happen I would look into ordering the FK endlinks from ECStuning. They're considerably shorter than the stockers.

this is exactly why some coilover manufactures include shorter endlinks with their setups. The length of the stock endlinks put a hell of a lot of stress on the mounting tab. SNAP! Definitely go with adjustable or shorter endlinks!

[ShadowGLI]

Quote, originally posted by ACEdubs »

this is exactly why some coilover manufactures include shorter endlinks with their setups. The length of the stock endlinks put a hell of a lot of stress on the mounting tab. SNAP! Definitely go with adjustable or shorter endlinks!

Not exactly, Sway-bars (really anti-roll bars) are just additional springs. (In simple terms) The sway bar doesn't compress anything, the compression of the suspension causes a twist in the sway-bar which increases the spring rate at the wheel. Stiffer springs would allow less compression and therefore less deflection of the sway-bar, resulting in less stress on the mounts not more!

Some manufacturers give shorter endlinks because they have changed the mounting point of the end link in relation to the hub.

black = stock
red = Vmaxx (same distance between base and mount)
blue = FK's (notice the mount is 1" closer to the bottom)
yellow = KW's for MKIV, but use stock length swaybar links.

If you change the length of your end link you are potentially going to cause it to come into contact with either the control arm or the axle...

[undeadsole]

is that the case for all of the FK's with our MKV's?? even the siverline X's??

[ShadowGLI]

Quote, originally posted by undeadsole »

is that the case for all of the FK's with our MKV's?? even the siverline X's??

the moved mounting point? Yes... even with shortened endlinks my control arm is like 1/4" away from my control arm..haha..

[Nevaeh_Speed]

Still going storng since day one.

[darkstar869]

I have been on my racelands for over a year now.

[peculiarself]

Mang just find a nice guy with a vag. Don't spend 600 bucks just so u can play with you lights and roll up ur windows. Unless you plan on seriously tuning your car to fit weather conditions and such.

[XM_Rocks]

Quote, originally posted by peculiarself »

Mang just find a nice guy with a vag. Don't spend 600 bucks just so u can play with you lights and roll up ur windows. Unless you plan on seriously tuning your car to fit weather conditions and such.

$600???????

Vagcom costs $350 new and around $250 used.

Besides playing with your windows you can pull logs and diagnose/clear trouble codes.

Buy it used for $250 and when your done sell it for $200.

Now it only cost you $50!

[Nevaeh_Speed]

Quote, originally posted by XM_Rocks »

$600??????? Vagcom costs $350 new and around $250 used. Besides playing with your windows you can pull logs and diagnose/clear trouble codes. Buy it used for $250 and when your done sell it for $200. Now it only cost you $50!

I bought the pro kit years ago,a nd it was around $600, but I use that puppy at least twice a week. And I've made money money back 10 times over, and counting.

[99.5Rabbit]

Any new news

[fastGTI4u]

Quote, originally posted by 99.5Rabbit »

Any new news

Last I checked they are back in stock.

[oil1]

hell yea, just ordered mines...waited for the longest for these.had them on my mk3 and ordered when it was hottuning...and those racelands are still in tip top shape in the mk3, been 2yrs on the ol mk3

[VWRabbit305]

Does anyone know a site I can find these with free shipping?

[VWRabbit305]

How many inch drop are these??

[xgarage]

do you happy with Raceland so far? Anyone got the broken endlink like nickbeezy?

[WhiteWhiskey13]

mine are still fine after 6k miles