I've bought a 89 MkIII Turbo for my son and we are fixing it up to safe drivable condition. Previous owner had put shorter coil springs on the car but kept original struts--which were totally shot when we bought the car. I ordered replacement Tokieko (sp?) stock struts and we've put em on the car but they get very hot after driving around. Is this because we should be going with a shorter length strut to 'match' the shorter springs which have lowered the car? Don't know what kind of aftermarket springs are on the car (they're red) but they're short enough that we didn't need a spring compressor to get em off the car. Thanks in advance for any pertinent thoughts or advise.

Yup, sad as it is to say but it sounds like the last owner was a cheap bastard just like alot of other MKIII owners so check every bit of the car to try and reverse anything he "fixed". :disappoin I truely am suprised at the amount of people who will only buy aftermarket springs to lower the car, and not buy shocks, sway bars, or bushings to make it handle better which is the whole point of suspension upgrades. On the bright side atleast he didn't just cut the stock springs (I hope). It's not that aftermarket shocks are shorter, they only have a stiffer rebound/compression to generally match most all aftermarket springs. As I'm sure you already know the (slightly) higher spring of aftermarket springs means that the slow stock shocks will not be able to fluidly keep up with the motions of the stiffer suspension and will blow out shortly as they have already done. I believe the red springs are H&R but don't quote me on that, I know my old Eibach's were black, Arospeed (don't buy) is yellow, and Intrax are purple, there are a few other brands so I can't say for sure. You should have needed a spring compressor to remove them, I know I did for the Eibachs (no need for it with the TEIN coilovers though). Have they been cut? How low is the car? Anyway if you plan on keeping those springs then return the stock shocks you bought because they will only blow again. I had Tokico HP's with my old Eibach's and the combo was very good for around town driving, HP's are also very cheap (under $200 shipped all day on ebay). If you want more from a seperate shock then Bilsteins are good and more reliable, but more expensive. Good luck with the car, it's great to see a father/son working on the same car (especially a MKIII :biggrin: ).