[zen]

thanks for the advice Stuart. i agree with you. i am not overly comfortable with having to do it, but i clearance one side all the way through. my fitments don't show 2mm clearancing cutting it. not sure how tight VW's tolerances are in this area of the years and models. the bolts are 6mm thick and the shock tower webbing 7mm. can't see 1 or 2mm of webbing making that much of a difference. i can bend that by hand.

i have the one side cut and will fit the spring plate up a final time to double check clearance. if i can get away with less on the other side, i certainly will. hoping that the cup brace will help make up some of the difference in lost material. very worst case i will replace shock towers with less clearancing if needed.

i am only thinking of having a piece of flat steel welded on the inside to make up for the lost webbing.

question...how much load are you guys starting the spring plate with? using the bottom of the spring plate and the bottom stop as the reference point, i am debating between the slightly above the stop that my previous setup was at (no preload) and one spline down from that making about 7-10mm below the stop.