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With the Golf 5 GTI being so strong, driving the car just becomes so much more fun. The problem comes in that you get comfortable with the power the car delivers and you start pushing it harder and harder. You want to see what the car will do in the corners. How fast can you enter a corner maintain speed and how fast can you exit.
The Golf has been a lot of fun, but one day I pushed it just a little bit too hard. I entered a sweeping bend on my way to work at the same speed I usually do but this day I pushed the car really hard through the bend. The back end of the car stepped out and I just caught it in time. I almost spun the car out. Like my late boss used to say it was a CBM moment(Clammy ball moment).
Luckily I didn’t damage anything on the car but it got me thinking. What is the use you have the power but you can’t use it?
Getting new rubber for the rims
I took the car in for a new set of tires, as the tires on the car were not far from being categorized as a slick. When the tire shop took the rims of the car they called me. The rims were badly bent and they said I will have to get the rims fixed otherwise I will waste the new tires. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of getting the rims fixed. To tell you the honest truth I was tired of the standard Golf 5 GTI rims. I ordered a set of Vossen 4 spoke rims. They were nice and light and I have always been a fan of open spoke rims. They are easy to clean and just looks nice.
I fitted a new set of Yokohama A-drive R1 tires to go with the new rims. I think the rims complemented the car really well. 19″ rims may have complimented the car better but with all the power the car was making it just would not be a good idea to have 19″ on the car. The per tire price on the 19″ was a lot more than the 18″.
Next step, suspension
The Golf still had its original stocks and springs. I was in two minds about what route to take with the suspension. The one option was to get KONI dampening adjustable sport shocks with a nice set of proper lowering springs. The issue was I did not want to do the change to just lower the car. I wanted to get a proper suspension setup in it so I can set the height and the damping to my liking. This will give options to play with to get the car as stable on the road as I could.
I went with option 2 and ordered a set of KONI coil-overs for the Golf 5 GTI. The reason why I went with the KONI kit is you gain the stability of coil-overs while maintaining the driveability. I did not want to put a suspension in the car that I would need to wear a kidney belt. I needed the best of both worlds. This you get from the KONI kit.
This kit may have been more expensive than some of the other kits out there, but it was worth it.
The install
I took the car to Ferroli Motorsport to get the suspension installed. The supplier of the kit told me that he would recommend that I get the kit installed by someone that knows what they are doing and they could set the car up for me as well. The supplier told me that if I install the kit myself he would not be able to give me a guarantee on the parts.
Usually, when the people get the coil overs installed, they do it so that they could slam the car to the ground. So when I got my car back from Ferroli’s the car was a bit to low. I could barely get a finger in between the tire and the body. Getting to a speed bump was the worst. The tires would scrape on the body. I hated that. I took the car back and got them to lift the suspension just 10mm. This is all that is needed, after this adjustment there was no scraping and the car handles really well. It felt like the car was on rails. I could push the car really hard through corners now without the worry that it would let go.
Links to some other Coil over kits that is good!
H & R MK6 Golf / GTI Ultra Low Coilovers: Ultra Low for the extreme enthusiasts. Average lowering of 1.6″-3.1″F 2.0″-3.1″R for VWConclusion
If you are looking at putting the power down to the ground on your modified road car I would recommend fitting the KONI coil-over kit. It is pricey but worth it. The drive almost feels standard but you have some much more control of the car. This is really great upgrade for someone that loves to do some spirited driving on twisty roads.
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4 thoughts on “Will changing the suspension on my GTI help?”
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