Re: lift kit for jetta

You can get heavy duty strut inserts to take more abuse, but honestly, are you really bottoming out that bad where this is an issue?

I just installed coilovers on a friends MK4 and we dropped over 2 1/2 inches and he has yet to bottom out on the pan. And thats taking Detroit roads into consideration. I cant see your stock suspension allowing the pan to touch ground... MiVE

Why, maybe you own the wrong car if you need more clearance from hitting things.

Jim B.

Thanks for all the info. From the responses, I get the impression that there's "nothing to worry about" in the line of ever dragging over anything in the road. The reason I'm worried is that the VW service guy, who during the "highway robbery 1st (and last) oil change" told me that you should be really careful as they'd had people who had hit things with their oilpan and it was around $400 for the part (didn't ask if that included labor). As far as the suggestion of finding a shorter oil pan, is there such a thing? Forgive me for "buying the wrong car", but I bought it for long commutes with better fuel economy. I also have a truck that does about 1/3 as good on fuel cost. Another reason, and one of the main reasons for wanting lift is based on Pencilnecks pointing out "learn where the road ends and the curb begins". I read on the TDI club site where some people said to always park back a foot or 2 from the curb since if you park with the nose over the curb, you might rip off some of the plastic underpinning when you back off the curb. I've felt this crunching when I first bought the car. Now I park a foot or 2 back.

In my defense, I let ****NOBODY***** else drive the car to avoid hearing "I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!!! I didn't know you shouldn't park over the curb" or I didn't know it was so close to the ground. Other than that, It's probably the best driving, easy-to-see-out-of, zip-in-and-out-of, head-turningest little bastard I ever could have plunked down money on.

I still wouldn't want to hit a deer with it.

But I might look for some rubber that could pick it up even 1/2" just to make me feel better.

clyde

Maybe he needs a Touareg - the VW that does what no other does :-).

If you do, remember the speedometer will be out of calibration.

As far as hitting a deer... 4 airbags (maybe more on the new A4s) and a 5 star safety rating... I wouldn't be overly worried, plus the brakes and steering responce is good on them.

Front air dam hittings - 3 company VW's at work (2 jettas and a Golf, all TDIs)... 3 cars with scratched dams... one ripped off at the corner (repaired now) - 4 years - 200+ K Kms of abuse in all for those cars (60+k,

I have replaced many of the oil pans on the current VWs. Yes, they are costly, and labor isn't cheap. But the main cause of the problem, 99% of the time, has been careless drivers running the cars off the road.

Using your brain before your right foot will help you avoid the problem

As for the parking curb problem, that will pull your front bumper cover loose, something I've also fixed WAY TO MANY TIMES. Lucky that boils down to 1 hour labor and under $10 for some hardware, so not to bad. Again, brain before right foot.

snipped-for-privacy@ZZpipel> Thanks for all the info. From the responses, I get the impression that