a better ride

[rbertnitro 0]

hi guys. Im looking for some ideas to change the feel of my totaly stock obd2.

First off im not wanting to get excited as far as budget goes and second im not wanting to create a track car/harsh ride.

Right so im 90% happy with the golfs ride and cornering at the moment,The main thing is im wanting to retain a good level of smoothness and nice ride comfort.Granted the roads around here are crap but the golf doesnt take even the most slight uneven surface with much finesse.its a bit crashy and the rear seems to be slightly worse it sometimes feels like im riding a bucking broncko lol

and the front and rear dont seem to ride in 'sync' if you know what i mean.

It could just be me in that ive only just come from driving a mk2 ibiza that could outhandle every car ive driven before.recent mot pass so i know theres no major issues with the suspension as it is.

Anyone got any ideas on stock alternatives to parts that will give me a nice responsive ride and be comfortable.Im telling myself i dont want coilys as most will make for a more harsh and bone rattle ride than it is now but if anyone knows of any that would fit the bill that would be great.

[Dragon Dave 1]

I would suggest fitting some Eibach Anti-roll bars. This will stiffen it a bit and make it roll less round the corners and it will handle much better but you will still have normal suspension so it won't be bang and crash like a lowered car.

My car has standard VR6 coil springs with Koni sport adjustable dampers and Eibach anti-roll bars and it handles very well and isn't as uncomfortable as a lowered car but it's stiffer than standard and therefore it's not as comfortable as standard.

The standard VR6 suspension is set up for comfort rather than sport. The Ibiza is probably set up to be more sporty.

The Standard VR6 has an 18mm ARB on the front and it doesn't have one on the back. The Eibach kit has 25mm ARB's for front and back so it makes quite a bit of difference to the handling of the car.

My last car had the same ARB's, Koni shocks but also had the Koni lowering springs and that was a nice car to drive. It handled very well and was comfortable for a lowered car but after driving it for a year I started to want a car with more suspension. A car with low suspension might be great on a track but not practical on the road.

I find this setup much more practical for the roads but it's still responsive. I think, if my old VR6 had a race around the track with my new VR6, the old one might win because it handled better round the corners (slightly) but the new car is the one I prefer driving because it has a more comfortable ride.

[rbertnitro 0]

thanks dave, so if im getting myself some 25mm arbs, with the rear one is there a need to get any special mounts/links and how do you get it to fit since the car doesnt have a rear bar as standard?

What would you say was a good tyre to use for a good quality street ride aswell, i was using 195/40/17 that i have and when i swapped to the stock 15in factory wheels n tyres it was noticably smoother and hardly any diffrence in terms of manouverability.

[Dragon Dave 1]

The Eibach ARB kit comes complete with mounting brackets and extra long bolts to fit the rear ARB to the rear beam. The kit doesn't come with any instructions but it's quite straightforward to fit. If you have any trouble, I'm sure some peeps on here could give you some pointers. I'm not a mechanic and I didn't fit mine but the rear one does look quite easy and doesn't take long to fit (20 mins) unlike the front which requires dropping the subframe, the front is quite a big job and you need to know what you are doing.

Another thing I have just thought of is your bushes. I don't know how old your car is but you mentioned that the front and rear don't feel like they are in 'sync'. On my old car which had done 100k when I got it, I replaced the bushes with Powerflex poly bushes and it mad a massive difference to the way the car felt to drive. It made it feel like it was new.

On my new VR6 (58K), it doesn't need the bushes replacing so I'm running on standard bushes but they feel good and the car drives like new. I would recomend replacing the bushes. Poly bushes will make the ride a bit harder too. If you are running standard suspension but you think you need to replace the bushes maybe replace them with standard. If I was going to replace my bushes on the new car I would go with Poly again.

My old car came with 17x8 alloys with 205/40/17. My new car came with standard BBS 15x6.5 with 205/50/15

I swapped the wheels on my new car for the 17's of my old car and it has made a noticeable difference to the ride. (Not for the better) It is slightly harder and not so smooth. The steering feels heavier when maneuvering at parking speeds (because the 17 inch wheels are heavier than the 15's) the car feels heavier when I'm pulling away and slower in the low revs ( upto 4k) but at 4k and above (when the engine makes peak torque) the car goes faster. This is because the overall diameter of the 205/40/17 is 10mm more than the 205/50/15, so I get slower launch and acceleration in the low revs but faster acceleration in the high revs and higher top speed. Your 195/40/17 will be 2mm more overall diameter than the standard, so it won't be so noticeable on the acceleration but the bigger wheels will still effect the comfort.

I'm going to get some new wheels soon. they will be super light weight 15x8's with 205/50/15 on them. I think this size wheel and tyre combo will be best. VW designed the car to have 15 inch wheels with 205/50 tyres. The tyres I have been running are Toyo T1R. I'm not sure if they are best but they work ok for me. They have good grip but they don't last very long. Another good one to try is BF Goodrich G Force Profiler. The grip is not quite as good as the Toyo but it's acceptable and they last 10 times as long as the Toyo's and are about the same price if not cheaper.

[Antihero1981 8]

lighter wheels make the most difference , and a good tyre.

i feel 17s handle better ,but then i am running 300bhp.I find 15s to small and get to much body roll when cornering

Upper and lower strut brace / Weitec springs

should keep you happy

[wardycatt 7]

Adjustable ride height allows you to set the car up to suit yourself. I've tinkered with my springs a few times, and it's sorted the handling out brilliantly. So whatever you get, make sure it's adjustable.

I've been able to customise mine to suit my driving needs - the previous owner had it slammed and used pishy tyres, which (although the car stuck to the road in the dry) seemed to make the car twitchy at times and the handling in the rain was downright dangerous.

I'm running 16s at the moment, with Hancook's on all four corners. The tyres are especially suited to wet weather, which is handy staying in rainly old Scotland. Don't under-estimate the importance of rubber! 8-)

p.s. it rains for about 200 days a year in Scotland / up north, so 'winter' tyres are suitable for use all year round. A 'V' shaped pattern tends to be more resistant to aquaplaning and the best advice is NEVER to scrimp or save on tyres - that £10 you save will come back to haunt you as you roll into a farmer's field one day!

[rbertnitro 0]

Thanks for all it input guys,lot of stuff to think about after xmas im going to get into sorting the handling.Havr to say the main challenge the past weeks has been learning the vr6 behavior in snow and ice conditions, its VERY diffrent to other cars ive had although its nose heavy it feels confident enough and stable going round icy corners and easy to counter small slidy bits and then im reaching a point where mid corner even at very slow speed if i give it even a few mm more on the steering it then lets loose and goes into an underseering slide,is this the way the vr6 is in ice and snow? seems there is this fine limit with the angle of the wheels where if you go a tiny fraction over it pushes on at the front and our away towards the kerb.Its like i have to preselect the amount of steering in advance of the corner.

Overall though it not so bad.

Wardycatt what type of Hankooks you got as i seen some for good prices recently?

[wardycatt 7]

Hankook 'Ventus' - I think they cost me about 90 quid each from black circles. They seem to offer good performace in the wet. I've not crashed this winter, which is a start.

You'd have been running about on your bare rims if you waited for my reply. Sorry about that!