Ride height, handling, and mk1's - discussion

[gldgti]

right.

there seems to be a consensus about having your mk1 "too low" to handle well.

let me say that last night, i proved to myself that this is a myth.

i've driven mk1's since i learned to drive, and all of them handle well, no-matter what. BUT - each mk1 i've owned has always had suspension mods, and i've tried lots of things; to name but a few:

> standard struts with king springs
> standard struts with chopped king springs
> standard struts with chopped springs
> standard struts with spax springs
> uprated german struts with king, chopped king and spax springs
> koni struts with european springs
> biltein struts with euro springs
> hottuning coilovers.

and in addition to all of the above, i've tried them with and without aftermarket front mounted front swaybar, lower stress brace and rear swaybar too.

now, my gld used to hold enough corner speed to allow me to keep up with some quick cars on the open road through corners, and my current mk1 with a warmed 1600 never managed the sdame kind of corner speed as the old car did, until now.

the best combination of suspension i USED to have, was the spax springs, uprated struts and aftermarket swaybar. the car would roll over a little, but not much, and just gripped so hard. very even handling and would oversteer almost at will with the right hands on the steering wheel.

now, i have improved opn that with my ls, finally.

the LS is running hottunings, with aftermarket swaybar on the front. i've recently put in HD prothane bushings in hte front end, which seems to have allowed the coilovers to do their job properly - letting the wishbones move up and down with ease.

the car is low too - low enough that it "just" doesnt scrape with my 185/55/14's. the tyre's are just inside the arches at each corner.

now, i do appreciate the mechanics of suspension gemoetry, and i appreciate that the roll centre of the vehicle is now somewhat changed that the front wishbones are at such a steep andgle past horizontal. turn in is wonderful, and i'm running STOCK alignment - thats right, less than 0.5deg neg camber. there body roll is basically undetectable.... and this is now supposedly the end for handling - now, apparently, i should resign myself to driving slowly and not having a fast car around corners.... well, thats rubbish.

i can say that the car is now REAL fast. i mean, i was blown away by how composed, grippy and predictable the car is now.

thats my story. now, please reply if you have real, first hand experience to share.

please no one liner replies.

[Jarred]

Very interesting to hear.

have you ever had any time on the track? I wonder how this kinda of set up would take to the odd take day outing. thoughts?

[gldgti]

Very interesting to hear.

have you ever had any time on the track? I wonder how this kinda of set up would take to the odd take day outing. thoughts?

hope to make it to hte nationals supersprint...

[h100vw]

I have had plenty of MK1s all GTIs. The nicest to drive quick in all conditions was a std one with 13s on. It rolled around a lot but you couldn't unstick it.

My modified MK1 finished up with a Weitec TA kit, which lowered it 40mm and Neuspeed ARBs. I ran as much negative camber at the front as you could get and just got it aligned. The handling was great everywhere but in the wet it was a handful.

You couldn't go hard, it just felt really skittish. Could be due to the amount of diesel on the roundabouts in the UK. Or the high speeds that you would be travelling at, because of the 2 litre motor with BV head etc.

Gavin

[sports racer]

I've had 3 MK1's - a 1978 GLS 2 door, a 1978 LS 4 door and a 1981 GTI. The LS was the one that I did most of my suspension mods to. It has had all sorts of strange combos including Saab shocks on the back (way too stiff and did nothing for the handling but hey, you have to try).

Best combo was Bilstein shocks and cut down springs in the front and back, Mazda Capella 24mm front sway bar fitted to the back of the Golf (I welded in all the brackets to make it fit), some orange 22mm thick bar at the front, front lower brace (homemade) and decent tyres on 14 x 6 wheels. It was very fast through corners.

With this combo I could push the car to the limit through corners and the front end would very gently give way, so predictable that it was easy to catch just by backing off in the corner. It never gave me grief and I used to run the car very quickly down some of the mountain roads out the back of Canberra. Many times it left other so called "high performance" cars behind in the twisty bits.

So much fun that I really regret getting rid of it but the dreaded rust finally got it and I sold it for parts.

[GoLfMan]

im just rolling on stock cheese cutters and Hot tununing coilovers, my thing corners flat as and grips like its no tommorow

I had stock shocks with chopped king springs before that and it was a bit soft and wallowy for my liking

[hiho]

Im interested in some advice on sensible suspension upgrades for my newly aquired Mk 1 diesel. I dont really want to go lower. So what brand shock absorbers, springs, bushes, sway bars etc would you all reccommend?

[sports racer]

Best "bang for your bucks" is to fit a rear sway bar, at least 22mm thick. This single mod makes the most difference. Then a front lower brace (if you are handy with a welder or know someone who is it shouldn't cost more than $10 to make it). After that comes decent tyres on whatever wheels you want. With these simple mods the car should start to worry some of the local hotshots through the corners.

Next comes good but cheap shocks and springs, upper brace across the shock towers and a driving course to get the best out of the car.

Cheers

Paul