[shane]

Hi,

Just about to get my hands on a 2002 Mk IV GTI. For the moment there are only 2 things I want to do:

(1) Get a Revo'd.

(2) Sort out the handling.

I'm already sorted on the Revo so I'm looking for some advice on the handling side of things. I want to sharpen everything up without sacrificing the ride (I know catch-22..) so I'm reluctant to go for uprated dampers.

At the moment I'm thinking Eibach lowering springs with an upper front strut brace and an uprated front anti-roll bar. Is anyone running a similar setup? Should I be looking at uprating the rear anti-roll bar too? What's the best anti-roll bar to get, I've read some stuff about the R32 one? Any recommendations for a strut brace?

Cheers in advance.

Shane

 

[robo-toda]

If you fit these springs to your standard dampers,they will be ok....for a while.Then you will need new dampers anyway.Springs and dampers are better as matched sets.

 

[shane]

Yea I know that the dampers will wear prematurely when lowering on standard dampers but to be honest part of the appeal of the car was the ride comfort - the reason for lowering would be 50% asthetic and 50% handling improvements - I'd like to find the best balance between responsive handling and ride comfort especially considering Irish roads are crap (full of potholes and rough surfaces).

Is anyone actaully running lowering springs on standard dampers?

 

[marriedblonde]

VW fitted the Eibach springs as the sports pack, dealer fitted option!!!

I had the eibachs on my 2001 1.8T for about 2.5years and 60K miles with out any problems. But if you can stretch to dampers as well I'd definatley recommend it.

J.

 

[nick b]

Which shocks do everyone recommend then??? And does anyone know a rough price????

Nick b

 

[blazedoobie]

i thought that rear arb would be the first step and certainly better in isolation than fitting the front arb on its own. But from what i can gather if you want to improve handling without sacrificing ride, fit uprated matching front and rear arb's at the same time. Go the eibach route which will allow you to lower as well should you choose to...

 

[Milkfloat]

I can give a huge thumbs up to a Rear ARB too. That was the biggest bang per buck in terms of handling.

 

[shane]

So assuming the car has the sports pack (which I suspect it does cause it has everything else) - the suggested route is to fit Eibach front and rear anti roll bars.... (and if it doesnt have the sports pack fit the Eibach lowering sprints too)

One other question - if I lower the car with Eibach springs will 18x225's still fit with no mods to the arch liners? I'd really like a set of BBS 18's

 

[shane]

Anyone know a precise way to work out the rolling radius of a wheel/tyre combination (apart from adding the wheel diameter & aspect ratio together)..... I used to have a link to a tool on the web that would work out the speedo differences when you changed from standard wheel/tyre combos to bigger wheel/tyre combos

just trying to figure out what the differences will be if I get some 17's or 18's

 

[GreenBeast]

you'll have plenty of room for 17/18/19" wheels and a drop of 35-40mm

whichever size wheel you go for the rolling diameter should stay the same. thus not affecting the speedo

 

[shane]

Quote: posted by GreenBeast on 02/09/2004 16:01:35

you'll have plenty of room for 17/18/19" wheels and a drop of 35-40mm

whichever size wheel you go for the rolling diameter should stay the same. thus not affecting the speedo

You sure? I know moving from 16x205x50's to 17x215x40's has a little or no difference in rolling diameter but if I was to get 17x225x40 there would be a bigger difference.

Surely I have to compensate by getting smaller sidewalls/aspect ratio's as I get bigger wheels? I'm just not sure what the correct combinations for each wheel size would be (e.g. 18x225x40 Vs 18x225x35 Vs 17x225x40 Vs 17x215x45, etc)?

 

[GreenBeast]

225/40/18 is correct

however i've just done the sums and managed to confuse even myself...the numbers show that my new rolling diameter should be 5cm larger but i just went out and compared my old wheels and new wheels and they appear the same. surely my eyes can't be missing 5cm!?!

here are the sums for anyone wishing to correct me

i had 175/80/14

14*25= 350mm

175*0.8= 140mm

350+140 = 490mm

now got 225/40/18

18*25= 450

225*0.4 = 90

450+90 = 540mm

 

[Giddy]

Quote: posted by shane on 02/09/2004 15:42:34

Anyone know a precise way to work out the rolling radius of a wheel/tyre combination (apart from adding the wheel diameter & aspect ratio together)..... I used to have a link to a tool on the web that would work out the speedo differences when you changed from standard wheel/tyre combos to bigger wheel/tyre combos

just trying to figure out what the differences will be if I get some 17's or 18's

http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html

HTH

 

[GreenBeast]

cheers for that. well i obviously can't do maths and i think i've figured out where i went wrong. Idiot!!!

mine came out 1 mm different.

 

[Cat1.4]

Quote: posted by shane on 02/09/2004 15:42:34

I used to have a link to a tool on the web that would work out the speedo differences when you changed from standard wheel/tyre combos to bigger wheel/tyre combos

There's a tool here with the speedo differences

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

 

[shane]

cheers for all the info guys

 

[SimonGTI]

Are the GTi Anniversary springs the same as the ones offered in the "sports pack"? - i.e. Eibach 30mm drop

Also friend at work has front and rear arbs and he finds now that the front end is too harsh over country lanes.

He is taking the front arb off and leaving the rear on. He says the front arb does improve things on even surfaces and no give up front is rather scary on uneven surfaces.