Coilover decision - adjustable damping, do I really need it?

[WhiteGTI]

So...I've gathered the shortlist of coilovers that I will consider. These are as follows, in no order:

1.)  Bilstein B14 'PSS' - NON ADJUSTABLE
2.)  Eibach Pro Street S - NON ADJUSTABLE
3.)  Koni Coilover Kit - ADJUSTABLE DAMPING
4.)  KW Variant 1's - NON ADJUSTABLE
5.)  KW Variant 2's - ADJUSTABLE DAMPING
6.)  H&R PCS - ADJUSTABLE DAMPING
7.)  FK Konigsport Silverline X - ADJUSTABLE DAMPING

From those that have experience of coilovers...do I really need the adjustable damping aspect, or is it merely a bragging point in the pub..?! Is it a useful feature that I would make use of?

I will be doing the occasional track day, but it will mostly be road driving.

Also, if anyone has experience of the above coilovers, please feel free to share your opinion on them...! In particular, the Koni's, H&R, and the FK's - as write-ups on these are quite rare for the GTI.

Thanks all,
Chris. 

[joesgti]

if you live on a track youd make use of it 

it depends on how much you wanna spend. you can spend a stupid amout and get the best of the best susspension for a hardcore track slag, or spend 500-600 on eibachs which would also handle awesome on a track.

[Hurdy]

Adjustable damping is worth it if you want to be able to have a more supple ride on the road and then a rock hard suspension for those special track days.

[tony_danza]

I don't know if this will help, but I'll try.

I've got the Eibachs, before I got the Autotech ARBs they were a really plush ride and more than happily handled a track day on their own.. Now I've got the ARBs the frequency seems all to cock and the front end in particular is a bit chattery on the road. Ideally I'd like some adjustment to dial this out, then stiffen it back up for the track to try and get a compromise... rather than having to change the ARB settings to achieve the same thing.

Depends what you want from it, what you're planning to do and what you're prepared to put up with.

What's the price on the KW V2 and H&R versions, is it much difference or a lot?

[Hurdy]

Suprised at that TD

Mine seem fine and I've got the ARB's on their hardest setting.

[tony_danza]

Hmm... Interesting Hurdy, mine are on the middle - maybe I should just stop being a lazy git and get under the car to change them?

[illyun]

I have Bilsteins and I can adjust the ride -  i.e. soft or hard - on a scale of 1 to 10.  Is this what you mean by damping?  There is the rebound rate also - not sure if its different - but this is preset to an 'optimal' level by Bilstein.  You can change the spring rate on the K3s though

[gazbutS3]

sometimes to much adjustability can be a bad thing, people fiddle when they don't really know what there doing and makes things worse or even dangerous. See it all the time on the sports bikes, alot of them have adjustable ride height, rebound damping, compression damping etc front and rear and people mess and make things worse.

IMO for road use and the occasional track day fixed damping is fine, if your planning to get heavily into trackdays etc the adjustment can be handy, and maybe as things wear, down the line, the adjustment can be used to compensate for this

[tony_danza]

^^^ agreed, if my issues are as simple as just using soft and hard on the ARB cos the frequency on medium is a bit odd, then I'm more than happy to keep using my non-adjustables. I'd love a set of Bilsteins/KW3's, but I won't go out of my way to get some until this lot reach end of life.

I know nowt about set up and agree people can have too much. I was given 3 rough tips I stick to as a novice:

Run it soft in the wet, you need to "feel" it going.

Run it hard in the dry, you'll bottle out before the car does.

Run it in the middle with a touch more ride height at the 'ring. Unless you're running super stiff race set ups, it'll bottom out like hell if you're too low and the last thing you need is a snappy ARB on some bizarre camber corner.

[GTIjames]

one thing i would say about the bilsteins is that they are so easy to use just turn wheel to lock and crawl under car and turn the dial, its ok having the ability to dampen them but if you have to jack the car up or take of wheels then it gets a bit of a hassle if you have not got those facilities and i doubt you will use them that often.

though out of your list mate, from what I have read the KW2 look pretty spot  on, in  terms of ride and reliability, or go for the bilstein non adjustable but get them fitted at a place which knows what they are doing and can do traditional alining and corner weighting which will give you best ride.

 

[WhiteGTI]

Many thanks to all of those whom replied and gave me advice, it is much appreciated, and I have taken it all onboard!

I see the value of both routes really. It would be nice to adjust the damping, but at the same time, I reckon that it would be pretty easy to mess up. Furthermore, as the car won't be living on a racetrack I doubt I'd change the damping too much for road use anyway.

Just had a lengthy conversation with Julian at Balance Motorsport, and he said that I should without doubt go for the Bilsteins. He said that their monotube design is far superior to the twintube design of the likes of KW (bar their clubsport range) and Eibach. He said that I wouldn't miss the adjustability of the B16's, and that a well adjusted B16 would be very very similar to the B14 anyway.

Can't wait, but it's going to be a long few months before I order some!

Thanks again,
Chris.