EDIT: I've been informed that Koni are no longer doing their coilover kit for Mk1's, so there goes that option. [:^(] I honestly dont know which ones to buy. My budget is around 600. Road driving: 80% Track Driving: 20% (increasing more towards track driving next year) From the 'fast road' orientated posts I've been reading over the past month, most have said they would like to buy a set of KW V2's next but as you can see from my budget, the KW's are 255 dearer. FK Konigsports - tried and rusted. KW V2's - dogs danglies? Other? I suppose you could add next to them in the same order, Road and Race orientated, maybe? Personally I'm leaning more towards the Koni's... not anymore I'm not, no longer avaliable. Are the KW's really worth the that amount of money, will they last and perform better than slightly cheaper kits? Or might I be happy with the Konigsports... Please post your vote based on my circumstances ( ) and not what you would buy yourself please. Comments greatly appreciated, especially the Mk1 trackday people. Cheers, James. Just to add, I believe that the new FK Konigsports are on-car adjustable for the rears, whereas the KW V2's are not?
From what I've heard "around the paddock" Fk's are a bag of manphat are far as serious handling goes and are better suited to making cars very very low. We've used Leda coilovers on the front of our Mk1 racecars and Koni adjustables with custom high poundage springs on the back. You might have to stretch your budget a little for a similar set-up (600 will just about cover the two front shocks and springs to your own spec) but IMHO there are no better coilovers available for older golfs. The Daddy
I was thinking the same about the FK's, more of a show coilover for the large height reduction. The Koni coilover kit only goes 60mm lower at the front and 50mm at the rear which I'd imagine is for reliability and and certain tolerances for the model to create the best handling characteristics they can. That is a good point you've made about the Leda's, just buying two front units with moderate fast road springs. Do you use Eibach/Faulkener springs, or other? Then I suppose I could have the Koni/(custom) Eibach setup for the rear (couple of hundred tops). With Leda being a racing suspension manufacturer, wont the units need to be rebuilt more frequently than having to replace inserts on other coilover units?
I honestly can't remember who made the springs for us, but Leda put us in touch with them, good guys, we messed up the first lot me ordered and they took them back off us even though they we're useless and gave us correct ones. TBH for a fast road/track day car Leda will have some good springs for you, no need to go custom (IMHO). I don't think you'll need to have them rebuilt all that often, the build quality is mental, I'd love to have a close-up pic to show you next to a fast road set, we've done three seasons on ours and they work/look all brand new. Leda will also re-valve most types of shocks to match you front if you're replacing worn items, might be cheaper than buying new Koni's for the back. As a rule of thumb, for the best handling characteristics you should lower until the wishbones are parallel with the ground.
Do the Leda ones you have look like this? Do you know if the bodies are stainless or do you know what level of protection they have? Have you ever used the car you mention on wet salty roads over a period of time, or it is solely dry/wet track use only? (might explain the very clean condition after three seasons)
I have FK highsports on my mk3, its only for road use but GVK has used the FK Konigsports on his mk2 & was happy with them but they did rust Whatever you do spray Castrol White Grease for motorbike chains on them after fitting, its kept mine like new 2yr's later!! The Gwent groupbuy should be starting soon FK Konigsports = 500 Cheers David
Cheers David. Another option and the cheapest option of the lot would be adjustable Koni dampers with Eibach springs - 350, which would keep the wishbones parallel but of course, I wont be able to slam () it. Any more opinions?
kws have got a composite springheight adjuster nut on them which wont corrode. afterall whats the point in spending out a bit more money for coilovers, and not being able to use them as intended. KW s get my vote
Who is it that uses (or once used) adjustable Koni's and Eibach (possibly custom rates) springs on their Mk2 for track work and every day driving? Any comments from anyone with regards to a setup like this?
I think they would certainly be inferior to the KW's (even though they do own Weitec now) but I cant see them being 'as good' or on par with them (600 vs 855). Putting the Weitec's next to the Konigsports (a fair comparison in terms of price), you obviously get zinc coated bodies on the Weitec's but at a guess you will have to take the rears off to adjust the damping? From a different thread regarding coilovers for Mk1's someone mentioned that the latest FK Konigsports offer on-car adjustable rears. What inserts do the Weitec's use? I only know of a couple of people using the Weitec's in the UK but they are only using them for the styling/slammed looked, so there is no information on how they would perform and last with abuse... unless you have some info Ray? I really dont want to spend a stupid amount on suspension, nor buy the wrong ones. Tricky.
They look like them, but not exactly the same, the Mk1 isn't road legal so it's never subjected to salty roads, but picks up some spray on the trailer, but it probably only does 500 miles a year.
So that would explain why they are in such a good condition after all that long then! The Koni/Eibach I think would be a good combination (as well as being kinder on the pocket) due to the fact I think it will keep the suspension settings/roll centre optimal? With this I could get some springs made from Keith R's contact as they will already have the spec of a standard Mk1 springs... Then I might save up and replace the fronts with a Leda setup and like wise with the rear in the future. Any comments on the above? I think I might actually be getting a secondhand set of Konigsports for not a lot of money which I have just seen come up for sale. Might give them a whirl.
One thing to add, you've not driven the car at all yet, so you can only go by other peoples experiences on how the car will be with each of these kits on Handling is a very subjective thing, some like a loose rear end, some hate/are scared of it, some people can put up with 300+ lb springs on a road car, some can't. IMO you don't want nothing to fancy *race kit* for a start, get something simple and road biased, it'll be plenty good enough for you to learn with. Put it like this, mad20v's mk1 before he went mental with it and stripped/caged it had a set of Koni T/A non coil overs with Eibach springs and was still one of the quickest cars on track. I hope you don't take this post as being patronising James, it's not meant to be Edited by: GVK
I have Weitecs on my MK1, they are great quality, fit really well and are adjustable for height and damping while on the car. The Mk1 is now just a weekend car when it is dry !!! It was my daily driver for 7 years. So not had any coilover corrosion problems. It does get some stick out on the open road and for me gives a very good level of grip and is not twitchy at all, I also have bonrath top mounts, eibach anti roll bars (single best mod for MK1), Autocavan lower front strut brace and poly bushes all round. The Weitecs are however very hard and would not be my choice for everyday driving, I have the dampers on the softest setting :-)
I'd tend to agree with gary on this. I'm now running Avo coilovers revalved to race spec with 350lb front and 400lb rear springs along with solid front topmounts. I have developed this setup to do what i require of the car, but for most people who use the car on the road even occasionally would hate it and on anything other than a billard table smooth A road it's hopeless on the road, but it comes into it's own on track. I started with some cheap gmax shocks and raceland cheapo springs, which were great on the road but of course never what i wanted on track, then converted the shocks to coilover springing so i could set my rideheight and play about with spring weight, which was fine until i started on the really stiff springs, which the shocks couldn't damp. Hence i ended up with the Avo coilies. I know people sl*g off Avo, but for a budget coilover i've found them to be fine. They revalved the shocks to race spec to cope with the higher poundage springs i wanted and supplied the springs to my spec at no extra charge. One of the front shocks did start to leak after about 10months (prob 12 trackdays) but they rebuilt both the front shocks with no fuss under warranty. Which i think is fair enough. For you, if you're going to use the car mostly on the road with just the occasional trackday, i'd go for the Koni adjustable shocks with the eibach springs. Jommanjo's bro was using this on his trackday mk1 golf and it was fine. If you want, you can always get some stiffer springs made up later to fit the konis and as long as you don't go silly with the weights then i'm sure the koni shocks would cope. Failing that you'll always be able to sell that setup later to go towards some coilies.
