Strut oddness perhaps?

[jhax]

Hey kids, im in the process of re-clutching the ol' girl and I noticed something rather interesting. While the wheels are in the air the tops of the strut housings (upon which the black plastic caps sit) moves down roughly two inches to become "flush" with the strut housings. When the wheels are on the ground, the weight of the car pushes the rubber spring housing becomes flush with the bottom of the strust housing on the body. Is this normal? I can grab the top of the strut and move it within the housing a substantial amount while the wheel is in the air.

[vanbcguy]

Yup, that's how VW suspension works. Weird eh?

[jhax]

Very. Perhaps they designed it so a top mounted strut bar could be placed there with ease?

[TylerDurden]

I'm guessing they assumed the front end would never get airborne, what with the weight of the engine and all.

The rears, of course have rubber retaining bushings to handle the suspension drop or body lift.

[bajacalal]

Yes, your struts are fixed to the body by nothing other than the force of gravity of the earth... though the caps fastened to the tops of the strut mounts limit their downward travel. The first time I discovered this I thought "really, VW, how cheap of you..." but that's how it is on the mk2 and up.

[ftm1776]

Here's my thread on this weirdness........""shocking"" when first discovered !!!!!
I posted in the IDI section.

http://www.vwdiesel.net/forum/index.php/topic,34911.msg330934.html#msg330934

[smutts]

The european mk2 golfs, if driven hard, pick up the inside rear wheels. So only use three wheels to go round corners. Perhaps the thinking of the fronts was, if the inside fronts picked up, it wouldn't matter as you would most likely be dead in the next second as you examined the scenery upside down and sideways at 100mph. 

[air-cooled or diesel]

it doesnt really bother anything; perhaps in the extreme, if the front wheels do become airborne the top caps keep suspension in order and the weight of the wheels and suspension can slam top of strut mount, shouldnt be a problem. all the weight is going down to the top rubber mounts below strut mount. its going to be really difficult to get the wheels airborne.

[jhax]

So it turns out that my strut bushings were absolutely shot. I was trying to explain to the alignment guy that that's how they were. Then I got new ones, put it this way, with the old ones on, I could not rub my hand palm down flat on the tire  without scraping the back of my hand on the wheel well. Now I can!

[air-cooled or diesel]

i replace mine when i rebuild suspension; like every 6yrs.about $20 a side