The perfect shocks for King Springs

[paulie71]

Am keen to put the old trusty King Springs into my cabrio to give it a better stance on the road and get rid of the raised look at the front.

Any ideas on the types of shocks that would suit these springs? They are the standard KVFL & KVRL 11 mofdels that are about 20% stiifer and about 30mm lower all road.

Any ideas gratefully received.

[gtimk5]

Hi, be careful, the cabrio's have much heavier springs than a standard Mk1 due to the extra weight. I fitted normal lowered Kings to the front of my daughters and they definately were'nt up to the task!
Konis or Bilsteins are good.
Cheers, Andrew

[Jarred]

I know a few people that have Gabriel shockys' (I think that's what they're called) with lowered Kings. Ebay or supercheaps may have em. they also happen to be the cheapest option. Konis and Blisteins start to kost a bit more.

[aliasmk2]

yes I would recomend Bilstien or Koni
you have a choice of about 2 or3 shocks in each of the brands
Spax is also a good one for golfs, they are UK made

With the king springs, there were a couple of companies offering a combined deal with Biltsien shocks to suit BMWs & they were indicating that they were a good combination together

Ian

[gtimk5]

You get what you pay for, I spose...
Gabriel are more of a stock replacement although at first they are slightly harder.
Just make sure you get cabrio items!!!!

[paulie71]

Thanks guys for the advice.

gtimk5 noted your warning around the use of kings on the front. Had a look at King's catalogue and they show the KVFL/RL-11 for the golf, with VAGcat showing many spring variants for cabrio.

Cheers
Paul

[gtimk5]

Not warning you against Kings Paul.
I competed on them with Bilsteins for 5 years in all types of motorsport and achieved fantastic results, as soft as they were. I ran revalved Bilstein shocks and whiteline swaybars as well as the original rear GTI sway bar. My motorsport was to a budget here unlike a lot of others.
Try 6th outright in Rally Tasmania!
Just make sure that the springs listed are for a cabrio.
I eventually went full circuit racing and changed to coilovers, Kings again where the lap times fell on the circuit but in road rallies, it was a little stiff.
Dont be afraid to ask any questions here mate, we are all here to help out!!!
Andrew

[Peter Jones]

Both of my '79 Golfs have King springs and Gabriel shocks.

White had them fitted about 2 years ago and is just about right with this combo. I don't expect the shocks to last forever though, especially with track days. On the road it feels well planted and not too hard, they're about as stiff as you'd want them. After fitting them we jumped in the car and headed to Sydney which bedded them in nicely.

I fitted Red up with the same combo earlier this year but haven't done nearly as many miles. By comparison Red is much stiffer and quite bouncy. The springs had a note on the box saying they were using a new type of steel. I suspect the springs just need some more miles on them to settle them down.

Pete

[paulie71]

Thanks for the advice all.

Cheers

Paul