# trimming subframe: what bit ?



## Señor BigJuts (May 19, 2005)

with the weather being 70 today, i thought i'd go out and notch the frame as well as trim the subframe. 

I'm using a 1/4'' angle grinder for the subframe but what kind of bit is everyone using? I've been going at it with grinding stones and it seems to be only shaving hairs of metal off. At this rate i'd be here the entire afternoon to just get half of it done.

frame notch has started but my drill ran out of battery so this is all i got for now until it charges up.











and picture of car to hopefully be lower


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)




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## SMG8vT (Oct 8, 2004)

Uhh.. Time for a better drill. You'll be at that forever.


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## Señor BigJuts (May 19, 2005)

SMG8vT said:


> Uhh.. Time for a better drill. You'll be at that forever.


drill was fine. I charged it up for 30 minutes and it took out the frame notch no problem.

Just curious about the bit for the subframe.


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## ForVWLife (Nov 12, 2004)

a cutting wheel

and i hope you are welding in a piece where you are notching your frame there


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## Señor BigJuts (May 19, 2005)

ForVWLife said:


> a cutting wheel
> 
> and i hope you are welding in a piece where you are notching your frame there


Yeah thought about picking up a cutting wheel tomorrow. During the afternoon all i had was the cut off tool with the 3" cutting wheel or the angle grinder with grinding stones.

Notch has a piece of pipe welded in :thumbup:


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## 16v_HOR (Jul 21, 2005)

Angle grinder worked for me


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## Señor BigJuts (May 19, 2005)

16v_HOR said:


> Angle grinder worked for me


 yeah im sure you didnt use grinding stones though, they are pointless lol.
i'll use the angle grinder tomorrow with a cutting wheel and grinding pad. 60 grit possibly? maybe 30 to make things quick?


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## 16v_HOR (Jul 21, 2005)

Señor BigJuts said:


> yeah im sure you didnt use grinding stones though, they are pointless lol.
> i'll use the angle grinder tomorrow with a cutting wheel and grinding pad. 60 grit possibly? maybe 30 to make things quick?


Why all the different tools? If you're only trimming your subframe, you should be more than fine with an angle grinder and a can of undercoating. I have actually found that the grinding disc works best because of the odd space you have to work in there. A cutoff wheel is really thin compared to a grinding disc, which found made it more trouble to use than it was worth. You'll see once you get in there, you're going to have to hold the grinder almost parrallel with the control arm and go inbetween the axle and tie rod. The only way to do most of the trimming without really overworking/overspending (on tools you don't need) is to use the side or edge of the grinding disc to trim things away. Hope this clears things up a bit, it's just one of those things that will become obvious once you start doing the job. Good luck, and report back tomorrow with pics of said car on the ground :thumbup:


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## Señor BigJuts (May 19, 2005)

16v_HOR said:


> Why all the different tools? If you're only trimming your subframe, you should be more than fine with an angle grinder and a can of undercoating. I have actually found that the grinding disc works best because of the odd space you have to work in there. A cutoff wheel is really thin compared to a grinding disc, which found made it more trouble to use than it was worth. You'll see once you get in there, you're going to have to hold the grinder almost parrallel with the control arm and go inbetween the axle and tie rod. The only way to do most of the trimming without really overworking/overspending (on tools you don't need) is to use the side or edge of the grinding disc to trim things away. Hope this clears things up a bit, it's just one of those things that will become obvious once you start doing the job. Good luck, and report back tomorrow with pics of said car on the ground :thumbup:


thanks for the tip. I'll be picking up some grinding pads today cause my 60 grit is really worn out from previous projects. Subframe should be trimmed tomorrow (bad weather today) , and pics up as well. After jacking up the control arm yesterday i could see it was clearly stuck on the subframe, and driver side axle had the ring of death on it from hitting frame so much. :banghead:


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## mildsteven (Apr 9, 2006)

How low can you go before you need to trim the subframe? My drivers side is notched and sitting under 21.75 on 18's. Pas side is sitting 22.5 though. Tie rod and driveshaft are clear. Only thing i can think is holding up is the subframe. Its on supremes BTW

Im talking about a UK car so drivers side will be pas side for most of you.


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## no vtec 4me (Aug 1, 2006)

mildsteven said:


> How low can you go before you need to trim the subframe? My drivers side is notched and sitting under 21.75 on 18's. Pas side is sitting 22.5 though. Tie rod and driveshaft are clear. Only thing i can think is holding up is the subframe. Its on supremes BTW
> 
> Im talking about a UK car so drivers side will be pas side for most of you.


i trimmed my subframe at about 22", but obviously wheel and tire size come into play. You will 99% of the time need to trim it to lay frame anyway so id go ahead and get to cutting. Its super easy, i got a decent drop out of it as well


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## 16v_HOR (Jul 21, 2005)

mildsteven said:


> How low can you go before you need to trim the subframe? My drivers side is notched and sitting under 21.75 on 18's. Pas side is sitting 22.5 though. Tie rod and driveshaft are clear. Only thing i can think is holding up is the subframe. Its on supremes BTW
> 
> Im talking about a UK car so drivers side will be pas side for most of you.


That's where it usually gets caught up, and if you are on 18's you will need to trim in there to lay out for sure. It seems that a decent amount of people get away without doing any trimming on 17's, but there's no real "cutoff point" that I've noticed.


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## omarquez510 (Apr 5, 2009)

my best friend during my build.


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## 16v_HOR (Jul 21, 2005)

omarquez510 said:


> my best friend during my build.


Yeah, that would work too


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## jimothy cricket (Jul 9, 2008)

nice gti :thumbup:

I have to do this trimming as well. I'm just going to wait to get in there because it is hard to picture in your mindwhat everyone says about how to trim the frame. Whatevvs, I'll get it done.


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## omarquez510 (Apr 5, 2009)

Is everyone doing passenger side only? I cant tell if the driver side needs to be trimmed.


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## VR6OOM (Nov 8, 2002)

omarquez510 said:


> Is everyone doing passenger side only? I cant tell if the driver side needs to be trimmed.


yea I want to know too, bump


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## WS4 (Apr 22, 2008)

Both sides.


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## will6540 (Nov 15, 2009)

Ive searched. Where are the threads that show what to trim after a frame notch? I cant remeber if they are in the Air forums or the MK4 forums.


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