Suspension options

[Neimad]

Because of the very un-GTI-like way I have to use my car (cruising 40 miles to work and back every day... I know, I know... ) I am currently looking at available options for making my car a little bit more comfortable on the roads I have to drive on.

Basically I drive a mixture of town, A, B and motorway and quite a lot of the roads are cracked, bumpy and generally in a bad state of repair (so much the same as where everyone else lives I would have thought).  At low speed through town the car is quite crashy and bumpy and on some of the cracked A and B roads I can feel the car "walking sideways" if I'm cornering.

Having searched through previous topics and spent a while lurking I've noticed that Koni FSD's seem to be an option.  So the question is, am I looking in the right direction here or should I just get a different car if I want a more compliant ride?  Also, if the Koni's will help, should I stick with the stock springs (since I'm not bothered about lowering the car) or would some different springs help too?


Thanks all

[Garth]

You're not the only one! I drive about 800 miles per week in my GTI and I have a similar problem. I would love to lower it a little for performance and looks, but just can't justify it as the ride is too crashy as standard and I don't want to make it any worse. I've never tried new ARB's but I might give them a try to improve the handling without giving a more harsh ride, however I understand these do have a very small negative effect on the ride comfort as well due to stiffening the chassis.

It's one of those trade-offs between sporty handling and comfort and I've never seen after market suspension improve the ride over standard (I'm willing and indeed hoping to be proved wrong here!).

I have the same on my 330i. The ride is superb on really smooth surfaces but is pretty crashy over bumps. The handling is amazing, so I guess it's something I'll have to live with on both cars.

[GTIjames]

i have some rather nice bilstein coilovers for sale at the moment http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17690.msg251839.html#new

would say one of the best options on the market for the mk5, fully adjustable in terms of ride height and also the spring rate and compression, so you can have a ride comfier than stock for a family day out or rock hard for a track day, great bit of kit and easy to adjust

let me know if your interested

cheers
james

[PDT]

I have sold, fitted and tested most options that are available.  My advice would be:

Fixed damping and ride height: Bilstein B12
Coilover with adjustable height: Eibach pro street kit


Both extremely comfortable, not crashy and give massive improvements over standard. I am sure people will have their own opinions but most wont have had the chance to actually test most kits. Some people will try an Ebay special £250 kit and think its great, until they do actually drive a car with a really good suspension setup fitted.