Pete's Polo gets Koni'd...

[Bullet Fast]

So I bought some FSD Konis, Weitec -30mm springs, Cupra bushes, etc and threw it all together over the last week in my workshop. It's had a wheel alignment since as well, so everything is well and good now...

Couple of things:

The rear LCA bushes that came out were a two piece plastic outer and rotating rubber/plastic composite inner. Looked very OEM, is this a VAG fix for the original bush? It looked as if the original bushes had been replaced by a butcher at some stage, the bush bores needed to be cleaned up before the Cupra bushes went in.

I'm surprised at the feel of the Cupra bushes. I really expected an immediate improvement to turn in - ill get to that in a sec - but the mid corner stability, free of bush movement induced bump steer is quite nice. A solid improvement.

I'm also surprised at the supple (soft-ish) rate of the weitec springs. Considering they've dropped 30mm of ride height I expected a relatively harsh ride but its quite the opposite. Progressive is the wrong word, but conveys it conveys the feel. Plush is closer to the mark.

The FSD Konis are an interesting animal. I've owned Yellow sports previously and had good memories but was concerned the fairly robust damping settings would upset the car's poise on ****ty roads - of which Sydney has its more than fair share. Any combination of presumably uprated springs and firm dampers would translate into a car that skips sideways mid corner instead of maintaining road contact. As a number two car, and number four transport option after my sport bikes, this would be totally unacceptable. It was a compromise i made early and stuck to it! So whilst I haven't had a good drive yet, I can qualify the FSD action in combination with the springs above. I chose both accepting I wanted a reasonably comfortable, but rough road racey car.

So in combination they're not a bad compromise. Initial turn in seems to be compromised slightly by a lack of low speed compression damping but settles immediately with great accuracy. Mid corner damper performance is excellent, I suspect the variable rebound settings in the shock are working magic here. Slow and high speed bumps mid corner are eaten up nicely without major chassis disturbance. Balance front to rear is maintained. I suspect slight closer to neutral balance, which is good, I was slightly fearful of lift off snap oversteer in the GIAC tune before hand. The overall feel is of a car using all its travel and settling into each corner before biting hard. More Pug 205 GTI than Clubman, much more predictable than before and certainly faster on ****ty bitumen.

I would like a sharper turn in, the car still takes a little more wheel effort to turn in than I'd like, but without upping spring rates or damper settings I don't think it'll happen. The cars track is too narrow and roll centre & COG look to be too high to get away with any more of a compromise in that direction.

Noise transmission through the cabin is improved for 80% of road conditions, but put power down over square edges and it comes right back through the body of the car rather unpleasantly. I suspect the dog bone bush could have something to do with this. Speaking of which...

I put a superpro dog bone bush in. A little for vibration as many forum members have noted and slightly more direct shift, power transmission etc.

It looks nicer lowered a little. My fiancé said, "it looks less faggy now" - she's a tough girl!

I do have two problems to sort out now. First is I hurt an ABS sensor on the install. This dash is throwing ABS, ESP and tyre pressure warnings. It's the wrong time of the year to be chasing a mechanic for work but it'll be sorted in the short term. Might have the wheels off in the next few days and have another look.

I have a very mysterious flutter through the brake pedal, barely noticeable, on under light braking? Anyone want to hazard a guess? I dont expect this is from a switched off ABS controller, but I'll have a look when I'm looking for the wire problem.

Hope this helps someone

Thanks to JMAC for the patience and perseverance with my bush order.

Pete

[flashpixx]

Thanks for the write up Pete. Keen to see some pix pls. This sounds like just the set up I'm looking for. I might PM you with some more questions. cheers

[noone]

Sounds like it had non standard suspension before?

I think for our cars aftermarket springs are relatively soft with the shocks doing most of the work.

Sways can make a big difference to the performance aspect, but as comfort is high on your list, i would probably leave it as is and acknowledge its not going to be racey.

Enjoy...

[Smidge]

Nice write up! where'd all the gear come from? online order or a shop?

[flashpixx]

This place seems good: dpm performance/

[Buller_Scott]

Hi Pete,

Couple of curiosities:

1. Who did your wheel alignment? I've had MANY alignments in my time with the Polo, people can't seem to get it right - I've read posts on other forums of tyre shops setting one degree toe IN on RenaultSport cars, because "it's not a hi-po Holden, mate, it's just a hatchback".

2. Flutter from brake pedal - I had that (although more pronounced) after one of my first cruises - slightly warped discs, perhaps? I don't want to inundate you with my experiences as it seems that you know what you're talking about.

3. Ride - could it be that you've got Koni FSD + weitec combo? I had Weitec springs in my car before the coilies - it was sheight. Ride was all kinds of funky, it measured at different heights at each corner after settling, etc... could that be a factor?

Anyway, it would be interesting to see your insight - I doubt I've provided any myself. You seem to be wary of suspension enhancements for the right reasons (IMO), and it would be nice to see your efforts come to fruition as you seem performance biased, rather than simple, easy "let's get uprated coilover suspension and then dump them so low that our control arms are sticking upwards into the sky" suspension mods.

Scotty

[Bullet Fast]

The wheel alignment was done by Bob Jane down the road. It steers straight, turns in fine and steers neutrally mid corner. I've no reason to doubt the alignment. Although its something to note for the future.

I've driven it around for a few hours since the mods and the flutter is so inconsistent it's very difficult to pin point when it occurs. I doubt a rotor is bent, otherwise it'd be consistent at every application and pressure. Hey, maybe it'll go away!

No, the Koni's came from DPM. Be aware there is two sets of FSDs available for the GTI. There is now a firmer version available. The Weitecs came second hand from user on this forum. Unfortunately I didn't bother measuring ride heist before the mod, so measurements now would only indicated a base line. Springs aren't springs. Without a measuring rig (which I don't have - and am only moderately inclined to build) I couldn't tell you if the weitecs were progressive or linear, multistage or not, or even the spring rate. look progressive... I kinda wish I had measured them though. Very hard to tell what's happening with the car on the move without transducers and data logging. Someone should make an iPhone app for this. Trial and error works okay with a stop watch but does anyone care that much on a street car? Certainly another swap is worthwhile if someone can point to a significant better spring, maybe a higher rate linear front and rear set?

I've had a little bit to do with suspending bikes and read a fair bit. I'm cautious because I don't presume to know more than the kraut engineers that built the car. I'm only shifting the compromise made in the cost and complexity of the OEM dampers, something I've done on nearly every bike and car I've owned.

Hi Pete,

Couple of curiosities:

1. Who did your wheel alignment? I've had MANY alignments in my time with the Polo, people can't seem to get it right - I've read posts on other forums of tyre shops setting one degree toe IN on RenaultSport cars, because "it's not a hi-po Holden, mate, it's just a hatchback".

2. Flutter from brake pedal - I had that (although more pronounced) after one of my first cruises - slightly warped discs, perhaps? I don't want to inundate you with my experiences as it seems that you know what you're talking about.

3. Ride - could it be that you've got Koni FSD + weitec combo? I had Weitec springs in my car before the coilies - it was sheight. Ride was all kinds of funky, it measured at different heights at each corner after settling, etc... could that be a factor?

Anyway, it would be interesting to see your insight - I doubt I've provided any myself. You seem to be wary of suspension enhancements for the right reasons (IMO), and it would be nice to see your efforts come to fruition as you seem performance biased, rather than simple, easy "let's get uprated coilover suspension and then dump them so low that our control arms are sticking upwards into the sky" suspension mods.

Scotty

[Bullet Fast]

For what it's worth, the left front wheel speed sensor wire had been damaged during the install (my fault) which was repaired (thanks Matt at Camden GTI) and the brake pedal feedback was resolved immediately. Can only image this was something inside the ABS system having a hard time with one wheel sensor not reading.