Dynamic / Adaptive chassis control (DCC / ACC)

[WhiteJames]

The iPhone WLAN control module controls the KW DDC coilovers in lieu of the hardware installed in the DCC Golf. I'd imagine that adding the iPhone control WLAN module box would have to be at the expense of disconnecting the in-car DCC function (prob. with VAGCOM). It may involve routing some of the wiring ... best to speak with Erik at evlmotorsport.com.au KW importer for KW Germany's take on whether this can be done. The iPhone application does allow for greater adjustment towards or soft hard. What's the go with the standard KW DDC coilover ... are they not hard enough in Sport or Soft enough in Comfort?
Cheers.
WJ

[Xciteu]

The iPhone WLAN control module controls the KW DDC coilovers in lieu of the hardware installed in the DCC Golf. I'd imagine that adding the iPhone control WLAN module box would have to be at the expense of disconnecting the in-car DCC function (prob. with VAGCOM). It may involve routing some of the wiring ... best to speak with Erik at evlmotorsport.com.au KW importer for KW Germany's take on whether this can be done. The iPhone application does allow for greater adjustment to towards or soft hard. What's the go with the standard KW DDC coilover ... are they not hard enough in Sport or Soft enough in Comfort?
Cheers.
WJ

Very much hard enough in sport mode! In fact,in sport mode with the KW DDC the steering feels even heavier AGAIN. In comfort mode,it definitely feels softer,but nothing like comfort mode with standard suspension. In standard form,comfort mode,felt like you were gliding or coasting over rough roads.

[russ83]

I just did this same drive yesterday in my new mk6 GTI with Acc. Sport mode was excellent around My Victoria, comfort mode excellent for the traffic I encountered through the single laned bottle neck roadworks area.

Very pleased with ACC, a good option well bought.

[WhiteJames]

One slight omission in the above list - Bathurst City ride comfort from Orginal (OE) Golf GTI Springs to Volkswagen Driver Gear Sport Springs:

• The Original Golf GTI springs in Bathurst CBD had the DCC in Comfort with me wanting to go down to 17 inch wheels/tyres to further eliminate the brittle & fidgety ride - even in Comfort DCC mode. The DG Sport Springs have improved the Bathurst City ride comfort, no longer necessitating DCC Comfort mode or a desire for smaller better riding 17 inch wheels/tyres. The DG Sport allowed for use of the harder DCC Normal mode with improved ride comfort and 18 inch wheels/tyres now provide enough comfort in Bathurst City - a remarkable improvement in this area with the DG Sport Springs.

Cheers
WJ

---------- Post added at 08:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:20 PM ----------

H&R Sway Bars:

H&R Sway Bars are the bees knees for fine tuning the Golf chassis with ease. I believe that a set of small H&R (26mm/22mm) set on front soft and rear hard would further improve my DCC Golf GTI in terms of control and tuning out the slight understeer and working the tyre with greater effectiveness (i.e. camber roll). Drawbacks for me are how much harder they will work the electronic DCC dampers in terms of life, one wheel ride comfort, the front bar front end tightness on rough roads with skitishness & skipping on one wheel bumps and rear end inside wheel lift, and lastly wet conditions. Had the H&R bars on the MKV, still love them though. Just not convinced about putting them on atm as DCC electronic suspension helps contain body roll and pitch. H&R would work a treat on the non-DCC Golf GTI as the DG Sport Spring lower and stiffer set-up doesn't seem to utilise the rear sway bar to the same extent as the higher and softer Original (OE) Golf GTI springs.

Cheers.
WJ

[WhiteJames]

Here are the two main New South Wales RTA guideline documents that relate to suspension modifications. Generally ... nothing has really changed for light motor vehicle modifications. For owner certified upgrades/modifications ... the onus could be up to you to show that upgrades are within the ambit of the technicall guidelines. Only a recent change of the 5cm rule when lowering or lifting a motor vehicle has changed ... this relates moreso to 4WD's than passenger cars as passenger cars generally cannot go any lower or higher than 1/3rd of OE spring travel (110mm on GTI apparently). The RTA article 3.5 on Suspension covers any suspension modifications in detail as opposed to the other two guidelines. Most changes in the RTA legislation and rules are centred around heavily modified vehicles and owner/builder kit & replica motor vehicles ... which does not include about 99% of Volkswagen Golf owners. Having your TUV certification handy will not guarantee anything, but it otherwise generally help re: required OE manufacturer specs for load, travel, rebound, camber change at full compression & rebound, etc. My Volkswagen geniune lowering OEM Driver Sport springs are all within manufacturer's spec and do not appear to breach any RTA guideliness either.

3.5.2 Certification of suspension modifications

Certification of suspensionm odifications shall be treated as follows:

Minor modifications can be treated as "owner certified".
These are modifications which do not affect the basic geometry or load carrying members
of the suspension.

Examples are:

. additional or uprated anti roll bars;
. uprated shock absorbers and/or springs;
. altered vehicle ride height by no more than one third of the
manufacturer's suspension travel in the direction of the ride height
change;
. fitting of suspension assemblies which were options from the original
manufacturer for the particular make/model.

See WJ Suspension Thread for links to RTA guidelines:

WHITE JAMES: Suspension & Wheel Reviews - Page 22 - VW GTI Forum / VW Rabbit Forum / VW R32 Forum / VW Golf Forum - Golfmkv.com

Cheers
WJ

[WhiteJames]

In respect to Eibach Prokit -v- Eibach Sportline springs: Eibach Swaybars similar in size to small H&R sway bars (Eibach 26mm/23mm) are designed to work with the softer and higher Prokit Spring on soft/soft, For lower and harder Sportline Springs, swaybars are to be set on hard/hard - according to Eibach.com website.

I ran Eibach Prokit progressive rates springs + small H&R bars (26mm/22mm) on soft/soft initially and can confirm that the sway bars work well with the spring rate in the softer Eibach Prokit Spring as Eibach.com website advises.

Setting the rear H&R swaybar to hard position at times, on longer constant radius high speed corners (80kph & above), induced a bit of heave in the rear end.

Heave is when the sway bar yaw or slip overpowers the softer rear springs causing the rear end to heave up and down like pushing your foot down on the small boat in water - this reduces the fluency of the chassis during cornering, creating a bit of crudeness in the chassis ability to negotiate corners. Generally happens at higher speeds and is consistent with what Eibach state in their website.

I eliminated this heaving effect by swapping out the Eibach Prokit/Koni FSD combo for KW V3 coilovers, with higher spring rate front and rear, at the expense of losing chassis adjustability and foregiveness in the chassis tune (esp. in the wet), but gained fluency around longer higher speed corners with the stiffer KW springs, reducing the effect of the sway bar set on its harder setting.

The initial phase of heave, I believe, is twitch.

The standard Golf GTI with DCC has a bit of twitch in the chassis on longer and high speed contant radius corners, with the front and rear end twitching of chassis mid corner in creating front and rear sway bar slip against the springs/dampers. Imo the sway bars on the stock GTI are at the higher threshold of the standard OE original Golf GTI springs - this may also account for some of the restlessness & uneasiness on the highway at faster speeds, in addition to a higher OE damper to spring low speed compression/rebound rates.

The introduction of VW Driver Gear Sport springs has reduced or eliminated this twitching effect of the standard set-up (need more time in the new DG Sport set-up to be sure ... so will keep you posted in a longer-term review).

Wouldn't bother with the progressive rate strut springs after having the linear DG Sport springs ... stick with linear for best overall results imo. Progressive rate look good on paper, but are compromised on the street.

An upgrade sway bars f & r needs to take into consideration the quality of roadway driven on. The smoother the roadway - the bigger the sway bars; the rougher the roadway - the smaller the sway bar. Imo, adding sway-bars for me would be to work the tyres more effectively in all weather conditions & roadway texture, and dial out some inherent OE understeer, rather than for outright speed.

Cheers.
WJ

[WhiteJames]

In wrapping up the Volkswagen genuine lowering OEM Driver Gear Sport springs review, I have completed a Sydney (Cronulla) to Gold Coast return drive up and down the Pacific Highway. This comprises quite a variety of roadways that necessitated all three Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) modes. How do the DG Sport springs fare over a 10 hour 900km drive each way?

• The standard springs in the DCC equipped Golf GTI are softer relative to the damping rate. This does help push the GTI up once the cornering process commences ... the higher rebound rate of the damper relative to spring rate has the damper responding fairly quickly to limit understeer ... but it does create a feeling of restlessness and uneasiness, and doesn’t do much when larger and harder high compression bumps are struck as the damper only has the capacity to overwhelm the soft OE spring rate in the low speed compression. This creates a feeling of raggedness over larger & hard bumps, troughs and patchwork sections of the roadway.
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• The DG Sport springs with higher spring rate, esp. at the front (see my prev. Post), does create added understeer on corner entry. Once the GTI has been cajoled into the corner, the higher spring rate relative to rear spring rate (compared to VWR Springs) improves traction from apex onwards when powering out of corners. The higher relative front spring rate improves as speed rises, creating a really stable little hot-hatch. The higher relative front end DG Sport spring rate would also work better with those wishing to run rear-only aftermarket sway bars imo.
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• Driving from Cronulla through the City and up along the Pacific Hwy through to Hornsby, the standard springs just didn’t feel right to me. The damping rate on the OE standard GTI springs felt like wearing shoes one size too large or not having your shoelaces done up tight. Sloppiness, nervousness, uneasiness and restlessness come to mind when driving from the Harbour Bridge along the Pacific Hwy to Hornsby at 60kph. The DG Sport spring eliminate this tendency making for a reassuring nicely controlled nuggetty type of ride at lower speeds.
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• The 10 hour journey covering 900km felt shorter on the DG Sport Springs. I’ve done this drive a number of times on the standard OE GTI springs. The DG Sport springs make it easier on the driver, creating the feeling that the drive was 25% or a couple of hundred kilometres shorter. The real test is whether you’d want to do the same drive all over again the following day ... in this respect, the DG Sport are fine in terms of ride comfort on extended interstate journeys.
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• 50-100kph acceleration bursts on pitted, patchworks and rutted B’grade roadways, winding out the GTI in Sport mode, showed less raggedness and less influence from the roadway imperfections with less torque-steer under more strenuous loads.
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• On a tangent ... fuel economy was slightly better than all over drives with the standard OE springs. Could it be the slightly lower ride height of the DG Sport springs, as I wasn’t driving for economy on this trip? The Blue-Motion Golf comes with lower ride height to improve aerodynamics, amongst other fuel saving features. This drive was 6.6 litres northbound and 6.8 litres per 100km southbound for an average each way run of 6.7 litres. On standard OE springs, I couldn’t do any better than 6.85 litres.
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• At lower speeds of about 60kph, the mid-range sized bumps and troughs does have the DG Sport springs exhibiting a greater amount of vertical movement. It’s never harsh or jarring with DCC and the ride is still much better than the sports aftermarket progressive rate sprung coilovers.
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• Haven’t measured the ride height, but the rear seems to have settled down a bit more than the front. Level pics are difficult to take as the DG Sport springs are very sensitive to variations on the ground. It very rare to have the GTI on perfectly flat ground. Parked kerbside has different heights from left to right. Generally ... ride height is about Golf R ... perhaps slightly lower at the front and slightly higher at the rear when rear is un-laden.
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• Sway Bars – on a grand touring trip, aftermarket sway bars aren’t required imo. Up to 8/10ths the standard GTI sway bars are fine and EDL/XDS helps steering into corners bob-cat style. Anymore than 8/10ths and a set of small aftermarket H&R sway bars would prove beneficial with the DG Sport springs. The higher relative front DG Sport spring (compared to VWR spring) with the larger German made front sway bars (H&R, Eibach, KW) would have a really deftly handling fwd esp. for high speed corners of grand touring. For driving on cruise control at 100kph on the open roadways, standard bars are fine with DG Sport springs providing added comfort for longer journeys.
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• In contrast to the old set-up on the previous MKV GTI ... the KW V3 on almost full soft settings ... the KW coilover were slightly underdamped in the low speed damping rates, getting progressively harder the harder and fast the KW coilover spring compressed. Rough concrete carriageways like that between Gosford and Newcastle was a killer on the KW V3 for ride comfort. The three Brunswick Bridges between Byron Bay and Tweed Heads showed the KW V3 to have supreme control with short and fast vertical movements over the Bridge joints. The DG Sport strut style spring on std DCC dampers are linear and do not provide the supreme control of the KW coilover kits, with vertical movements over the Bridges taking a tad longer with slower vertical movement, for improved ride comfort. Concrete roadways between Gosford and Newcastle on the DG Sport Springs provided much more comfort than the KW V3 on almost full soft. The KW V3 provided reasonable comfort for about 2/3rds the Sydney to Queensland journey, the DG Sport Springs were fabulous for 100% of the journey. In terms of comfort, pays to stick with a linear spring like the DG Sport.
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• On the way up I was running about 38psi tyre pressure. On the way down from Queensland, I ran about 40psi. It does make a difference to ride comfort on the DG Sport springs. 38psi provides an added comfort. 40psi and DCC in Sport mode has the DG Sport sprung GTI feeling that bit knobbly on the concrete sections of the roadway around Byron Bay and Newcastle. This suggests that the DG Sport springs are not overwhelming the standard DCC dampers.
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• A bit of trivia: The DG Sport springs for the MKV with EA888 motor (North America only) have less spring rate than the equivalent DG Sport MKV spring for the older EA113 motor. In other words, the EA888 weighs less than the EA113 motor. North America has the EA888 motor for the last 1-2 years of build for MKV GTI. AUS received the EA888 motor in the MK6 Golf GTI. Not only does the Golf R motor sit higher in the engine bay to accommodate the AWD gear, the EA113 appears to be also heavier.
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• The genuine Volkswagen lowering Driver Gear Sport springs are designed with spring rates in mind whereby a standard Golf TDI/GTI that is fully loaded over axles weights should be the same height as the equivalent Golf TDI/GTI on DG Sport springs. In other words, the short and lower DG Sport springs have to be harder to compensate for lower ride height, but will sink less under vehicle occupant weight. DG Sport springs are designed to meet the stringent Volkswagen OEM standard for an unloaded, partially loaded, and fully loaded Golf TDI/GTI. Not sure if this is the case with other makes of aftermarket springs.

Cheers.
WJ

[watevs]

Hi all, I am about to purchase a mk6. It pretty much doesn't have any options installed. Does ACC really make a big difference ? . Another question , how hard or costly is it to get satnav installed ? Thanks in advance

[watevs]

Noob question. If I change the suspension in the near future, ACC shouldn't be a big deal right?

[Guest001]

ACC (adaptive cruise) is great Have used it on the Bruce and going down to Surfers and found it good in the traffic as it keeps you a set distance from vehicle in front even if they cut in front of you.
As far as Satnav is concerned I have it cos it was in the vehicle when I bought it
Had I know it was so bad would have asked them to take it out Buy a Tom Tom or similar and save $2000 to spend on something worthwhile.

A personal opinion, but my Tomtom is updated every 3 months. The VW annually, if you are lucky with almost 2 year old maps and a very poor text to speech system.