I'm trying to establish what parts I should go for for upgrading my suspension and thus road handling. So thought I would seek your opions as monitoring the post's etc has left me a little unsure. My car is currently a standard mk2 8v gti 92 reg however in the future I will modify engine etc. It has original suspension parts and because of it's age I think it's time to replace the part's like bushes, ARB , shocks etc. I may occasionally take part in the future on a track day but for the most part fast road use aspect. Now because replacing certain parts like bushes means stripping the lot off Im going to do the whole lot or as much as poss in one go to make it cost effective etc. So Im thinking of:- 1) complete powerflex bush kit 2) Eibach Anti roll Bar's 3) Koni adjustable coilover's or FK's Now this isn't cheap but I don't want to fit part's at expense that arent that good but nor do I want to pour money down the drain. Do you think I should go for the above or can you recommend any alternatives? i.e. cheaper fixed height coilover's or koni adjustable dampers + Eibach spring's Or Boge etc. What do you think I should aim for? Any feedback is appreciated.
Think carefully about whether you really need coilovers. Great for slamming your car for shows of for altering ride height for the track but if you're just driving around town etc then do you really need to alter the ride height at all? Does a fixed drop kit give the lowering you want (more importantly, is the ride/handling any good?). Similalry, those coilovers with damping adjustments - do you really need that? Can be great for the track or for fine tuning, maybe for different road surfaces etc but if the ride quality is good on a fixed kit then maybe that will be good enough. Bear in mind that your car has no damping or height adjustment as it is - I assume (bad I know) that what you want is better handling without sacrificing all the ride comfort with decent lowering for looks. You could find all those criteria on a fixed drop kit (just depends how much of each you want, and how much you want to alter, whether you opt for coilovers).
1) complete powerflex bush kit : Ive done this and it transforms the car, a lot tighter but it can give you more road noise, wishbone and rear beam bushes mainly. 2) Eibach Anti roll Bar's : haven`t done this yet but it`s THE mod for decent handling apparently. 3) Koni adjustable coilover's or FK's : I went for the Koini`s, had Koni t/a`s and Eibach springs on before the coilovers and the main difference is the drop, lower than 40mm on strutas and springs and you won`t get the best handling in the world. Other thing is wheel alignment, I run 1.5 degrees neg camber (others run 2) and zero toe, good for the road and much better turn in.
definitly do the ARBs... i've fitted an eibach kit and i can't fault it.. made such a difference! coilovers are great IMO you can set the height to exactly what you want.. also i've found that the damping adjustment on my FKs helps alot too... for road use you can soften them right off and maintain comfort or you can run them quite stiff and shake your fillings out!
