Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 21:41:27 -0800 From: Jeff To: ClubGTI Subject: [clubgti] Hold your breath..........suspension pointers. I love seeing (i.e am jealous of) some of the slammed Mk2's at shows, with 17 inch tyres and the works, but they are not at their best in north Wales, chasing the RAC rally at night in the rain. Similarly my beloved 8V would look out of place on the show scene, and would be dusted off on the sprint. The stuff here is for somebody who wants to (like me) keep deeply upsetting people in the latest 16V hot hatch by monstering them along challenging roads in a car built 10 or 15 years ago. The Golf GTI has class and is a true classic. Lets remember that we can all 'enjoy the doorhandles' off the car, be that melting the tarmac at Santa Pod, annoying old people by subsonically sending them 'Firestarter' or humbling Mr Astra on the B6407. So if you dont agree with this, please dont think I'm unaware of other priorities, but I would ask that you dont just rubbish me either? Some of it is from a mail I sent out earlier (Hi Ivan!) Mk1's do benefut from strut braces, but primarily the lower one. the Mk2 has a front subframe design that, to this day, is held up as a fantastic example for lateral stiffness within the industry. The Mk1 was not so good and the brace really helps stiffen the wishbone mountings up. This helps the steering precision + reduces shake over impacts. The upper brace helps a bit, but the lower is the key one. Tyre sizes, I would recommend 15 inch maximum on a Mk1, in fact the 14 inch steels from the Mk2 are a good choice too (185/60). Mk2s look ace on 17 inch but to be honest 16's and even 15's work 'better' as all round solutions. (195/50 15 or 205/45 16). The reason being that longer shape of the contact patch promotes better centre feel and the ride is not too bad. My preference is for Bilstein dampers, I work with the company regularly and their quality is superb. Konis are a fine alternative though. The Bilsteins usually come in two flavours. Sport dampers are full length (for std springs) and, perversely, usually have higher settings. The Sprint type are for shorter springs and often are softer - This is to lessen the jarring that stiff springs and dampers can cause. To be contrary I've actually mixed Sport dampers and Eibach springs before now with good effect. The ride will suffer markedly vs std (esp 4 up or loaded) if you go this route though. Bad road performance also starts to degrade because of reduced wheel travels. If that would be a problem just fit the dampers and see the geom/bush stuff I've put down below. I would advise dropping a 'fast road' car by about 25mm. It will be important to retain the rear spring aid length as std and cut maybe 10 - 15mm from the front spring aids for this level of drop. Having said that, if smooth road response is your sole aim then a 30-35mm drop will be fine, but be sure to recover the geometry. My favoured (Mk2) settings are :- Front Toe : 0 to 10 minutes toe out Front Camber 0.5-0.75 degrees negative Rear toe : 10 to 25 minutes toe in Rear camber : 0.5-0.75 degrees negative. The rear stub axle is not really 'adjustable', without shimming the mounting face, tricky but feasible if its way out. - And be sure to sort out the brake regulator when you drop the car, or the rears will lock up early! With ARB's, well the Mk1 is a tad narrow and does have a slightly top heavy feel sometimes, lowering + stiffening it reduces this but ARB's obviously help further. If smooth dry road response and agility are most important then go for it, but maybe try the springs and dampers first, before going the whole route. Mk2's on Eibach springs don't exactly roll much (if you get the spring aid lengths right) , so for road use I wouldn't bother with tougher ARB's. Circuit cars on sticky tyres will obviously benefit from as little roll as possible though. Something that always seems to really help Mk1's and 2's is to replace the suspension mtgs and bushes. You may be really surprised how much difference this makes on its own. I would not advise poly bushes for an every day use car, instead go for genuine VW bits. Similarly, be sure your steering rack is not worn, causing rattling over broken surfaces and/or a vague centre response. Watch out for German and Swedish pattern bushes and spring aids though. some of them are superb, some of them (rear spring aids for instance, well two years ago anyway) are nothing like as good as the original. I buy most of my stuff for the Mk2 from G+S so this is not an attack on them, just a decent tip. Whatever you choose, enjoy it to the full!