Gordie's MK1 GTI

**sports racer** · 10-01-2016, 08:24 PM

How low is your car?

**Notso Swift** · 11-01-2016, 06:30 AM

More relevant is the camber (and camber change, be it bump or castor) The closer to vertical the better for transferring the force straight through.

Unless you are racing and hitting things they will be fine, the clubGTi failures (and it is not like thetre were 100's) were all on track cars, just inspect them as part of your normal (which in a Mk1 is regular!) service schedule

**Browneye** · 11-01-2016, 07:10 AM

Originally Posted by Notso Swift

More relevant is the camber (and camber change, be it bump or castor) The closer to vertical the better for transferring the force straight through.

Unless you are racing and hitting things they will be fine, the clubGTi failures (and it is not like thetre were 100's) were all on track cars, just inspect them as part of your normal (which in a Mk1 is regular!) service schedule

I thought the main problem was that failure was impossible to predict. Even upon inspection they can appear to be fine but really be on the verge of failure. I was under the impression that they required an X-ray to determine the extent of any microscopic cracking that can occur.

They are illegal for a reason, which is why I would never use them, and would avoid driving next to or in close proximity to someone who was using bolt in ball joint extenders.

**sports racer** · 11-01-2016, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by sports racer

How low is your car?

Are the ball joint extenders needed on this car?

**roccodingo** · 11-01-2016, 03:30 PM

Biggest hassle is the basic design of the extender itself, the 17 mm spigot dia is what locates and carries the load, the larger dia is to incorporate the female socket for the 17mm ball joint shaft ( hence larger outside diameter on that section). So to machine it up you get the smaller spigot protruding from the round larger dia with a radius in the corner ( standard practice ) however once the 4140 is heat treated it creates an area of higher stress concentration in the radius for micro cracking to emanate from, add the stresses from use. With attempting to weld it there is first the issue with welding thru heat treatment, underbead cracking and residual stress from the welding op itself. Better option if you have to use them is to just bolt them up and perform a regular inspection as mentioned. Magnetic particle inspection is the procedure you need use for checking the extenders, or at the very least dye penetrant inspection.

**Peter Jones** · 11-01-2016, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by roccodingo

Biggest hassle is the basic design of the extender itself, the 17 mm spigot dia is what locates and carries the load, the larger dia is to incorporate the female socket for the 17mm ball joint shaft ( hence larger outside diameter on that section). So to machine it up you get the smaller spigot protruding from the round larger dia with a radius in the corner ( standard practice ) however once the 4140 is heat treated it creates an area of higher stress concentration in the radius for micro cracking to emanate from, add the stresses from use. With attempting to weld it there is first the issue with welding thru heat treatment, underbead cracking and residual stress from the welding op itself. Better option if you have to use them is to just bolt them up and perform a regular inspection as mentioned. Magnetic particle inspection is the procedure you need use for checking the extenders, or at the very least dye penetrant inspection.

Yep. I use them them on the racecar, but mine are 19mm and have a big radius. They were part of a batch done by one of the experts over at CGTI. No issues so far and I've jumped it off plenty of ripple strips.

Regular inspection is key. Mine get checked after every raceday, so every 50km or so. That's a bit of an overhead for a street car.

**16v_kid** · 15-01-2016, 09:56 PM

Thanks for all the info guys! Will keep an eye on them on a regular bases, so far so good! Front left top mount is making an annoying sound so think ill be installing a pair of Ground Control adjustable camber tops. These silver project top mounts didn't last long, I need 4000km on the car since I got it..not sure how many km ex owner did with the silver project top mounts.

Here's a pic of a few weeks ago with George's mk1 - fun night having a few runs on the hwy!