Shock and spring combos

[McDub]

looks good, bit hard to judge the wheel gap though with that shot and the 16's. Got any more pics?
So that's a 2" (50mm) drop, and you don't have problems with front sway bar hitting driveshaft at full lock and corning?
i thought it starts to become a problem after 35mm

My KYB AGX shocks arrived today
Didn't know shocks were slightly pre-loaded to fully extend, and the tape securing them had come off 3 of 4 of the struts and they were all extended. (it's ok for them to be stored fully extended isn't it?)
Fortunatly didn't come through the shipping box as it was long enough. Not the best packaged job, but i guess that's ebay for you, they only charged me US$135 shipping from the states which is pretty decent. Anyway already adjusted the knobs, front is 3 from 4, rears are 6 from 8. strange that the rears have more adjustments than the fronts, thought it'd be the opposite. (the higher number is stiffer i believe)

Just waiting on ECS to get their act together and ship off my springs and stage 2 front suspension refresh kit...

[dylan8]

looks good, bit hard to judge the wheel gap though with that shot and the 16's. Got any more pics?
So that's a 2" (50mm) drop, and you don't have problems with front sway bar hitting driveshaft at full lock and corning?
i thought it starts to become a problem after 35mm

My KYB AGX shocks arrived today
Didn't know shocks were slightly pre-loaded to fully extend, and the tape securing them had come off 3 of 4 of the struts and they were all extended. (it's ok for them to be stored fully extended isn't it?)
Fortunatly didn't come through the shipping box as it was long enough. Not the best packaged job, but i guess that's ebay for you, they only charged me US$135 shipping from the states which is pretty decent. Anyway already adjusted the knobs, front is 3 from 4, rears are 6 from 8. strange that the rears have more adjustments than the fronts, thought it'd be the opposite. (the higher number is stiffer i believe)

Just waiting on ECS to get their act together and ship off my springs and stage 2 front suspension refresh kit...

surely that previous photo isnt 2"? its no where near tyres being near guards on stock wheels (or have you got a smaller profile to standard?) its defiantly lower and tidy looking, but not that low

haha same happened to the shocks in my coilover package, they were pushing the box to a triangle shape. so hope its ok
hope it all goes well. you've been doing your research for sure!
and pics when you get it all done are a must!

[McDub]

surely that previous photo isnt 2"? its no where near tyres being near guards on stock wheels (or have you got a smaller profile to standard?) its defiantly lower and tidy looking, but not that low

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i think it's probably lower than you realise, that's why i wouldn't mind seeing another pic
you gotta remember that the stock wheels are et42 and only 6.5" wide, so they are quite recessed into the car, which I guess makes them look further away from the guards. and being only 16's sort of makes it hard to see where the rubber stops and the gap starts. If you click to enlarge pic you can see it a bit easier.
And if you look at the rear, the wheel does seem to have come forward like it does when you slam MKIV's.


And for sure, i'll get pics when i'm done. i was hoping to have everything installed by two weeks time before a planned trip up the blue mountains, but ecs seem to be taking their time so i'm not optimistic.

[dylan8]

yeah could be. I was looking at it in the mirror to try and compare.
I 2nd another pic! and get a tape measure out haha. photos never look as low as they actually are.

Say why there taking there time? i thought they were pretty quick?

[McDub]

Say why there taking there time? i thought they were pretty quick?

yeah normally pretty quick, but only if they have the items on the shelf.
but this time, my refresh kit has a standard "ships in 4-7 days", and so does my exhaust. and the 10mm spacers i'm getting for the rear were out of stock and had the ETA pusched back the 2nd july. I've emailed them asking can they send before the spacers come in, no reply yet, but fingers crossed.
ECS Tuning - Cart

My car's ecu is currently flashed back to stock at the moment, so within this next two weeks i also plan to get it re-flashed (Custom-Code this time), certainly gonna be a nice little transformation with all that
I'm also gonna get it dyno'd before exhaust, after exhaust (cos i reckon it's a bit blocked up from running rich with the last poor tune, so just want to see what effect it makes), and then after the custom-code tune.

here's my struts that arrived today, not the best looking things but quality seems ok.
boots on the rear struts seem super dodge though!
Do you re-use the stock dust boots for the fronts?

[KINEZ-0]

lol..my car isn't as low compared to the coilovers..i never got around to measuring the difference in height and after it settled etc..but im running stock 55 profile tyres..

the car rides so much better, im quite glad i dont have to worry about changing the sway bar just for it to look good..buuuttt, im some what thinking about getting the springs re set just a tad lower

heres photos for comparison from stock - to coilovers - to the springs



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[dylan8]

MY GAWD! i knew they came high but i dont think iv seen one like that, front looks higher then the back for once?
no wonder you got a 2" drop without changing the sway bar haha. i understand now... How many KM on the car when you had that pic.
I only got the suggested 40mm lower and i was wearing out drive shafts.

[McDub]

MY GAWD! i knew they came high but i dont think iv seen one like that, front looks higher then the back for once?
no wonder you got a 2" drop without changing the sway bar haha. i understand now... How many KM on the car when you had that pic.
I only got the suggested 40mm lower and i was wearing out drive shafts.

I reckon! I was thinking maybe it wasn't a gti, but there's an intercooler on the front...

this is my car atm, with stock suspension. i've got a feeling it has sagged a little bit, because i compared it next to a Golf SE last week, and my car was considerably lower.
But this pic is a little misleading because the road is slopped towards me which makes it sit a bit lower on the side the pic is taken (the other side would look bad)

I'll try get equivelant photos of before and after on level ground...

btw that last pic from KINEZ looks much lower than the original pic posted. looks very good in that pic
Don't forget when we say 2", or in my case it will be 1.5", this means the reduction from the standard height of one of the regular models.
the gti is a bit lower out of the factory, and yeah I gues it sags a bit

[KINEZ-0]

i understand now... How many KM on the car when you had that pic

.

i bought her at 140,XXX KM..the original owners were mature aged and looked after it quite well...maybe the maintenance made it HIGHER baha!

[dylan8]

I reckon! I was thinking maybe it wasn't a gti, but there's an intercooler on the front...

this is my car atm, with stock suspension. i've got a feeling it has sagged a little bit, because i compared it next to a Golf SE last week, and my car was considerably lower.
But this pic is a little misleading because the road is slopped towards me which makes it sit a bit lower on the side the pic is taken (the other side would look bad)

I'll try get equivelant photos of before and after on level ground...

btw that last pic from KINEZ looks much lower than the original pic posted. looks very good in that pic
Don't forget when we say 2", or in my case it will be 1.5", this means the reduction from the standard height of one of the regular models.
the gti is a bit lower out of the factory, and yeah I gues it sags a bit

agreed, i bet with your 18 wheel and tyre package they are bigger rolling diameter also with a stiff side wall. actually making your car higher. but should be closing up the wheel gap a bit?

[gavs]

here's my struts that arrived today, not the best looking things but quality seems ok.
boots on the rear struts seem super dodge though!
Do you re-use the stock dust boots for the fronts?

Yeah, re-use the stock front boots. You don't have to but it just makes things cleaner on the piston rod

[McDub]

got the new suspension put in today (along with stage 2 refresh kit)

feels great even with the KYB's on the hardest setting.
can't really test it out properly as the roads are wet

little concerned about the ride height though.
i've read that they need to settle, but i've read different opinions on wether or not this is true.

the H&R sport springs are supposed to lower the front 38mm, and the rear 35mm.
the gti sits probably 15-20mm lower than a new stock golf (non gti, so 2.0 etc)

i measured the guard heights before and after
fronts: both have dropped about 10mm
back right: has dropped about 8mm
back left: has only dropped 1-2mm!!!

(and yes i tried these measurements at different places, and the back left was always 6-7 mm higher than the back right)

will give it some time and just hope that this "settling in period" is not a myth...

[Speed]

Settle period is not a myth.
Can take a few weeks or more.

[gavs]

McDub, mine took almost 3 months untill I saw the full drop from my springs. Hope you Like a AGXs, otherwise I'm going to feel like a fool!

[McDub]

McDub, mine took almost 3 months untill I saw the full drop from my springs. Hope you Like a AGXs, otherwise I'm going to feel like a fool!

damn three months!
yeah loving the shocks, thanks for the reccomendation. no regrets whatsover with getting them.
i was planning on getting a whiteline swaybar next, but the car's so flat around corners as it is, there doesn't seem much need at the moment!

other than handling, one big thing i've noticed with my new suspension (and front refresh kit), is that the power transfer to the road is sooooo much better. no more big weight transfer to the back, and no more axle tramp, infact car doesn't want to spin the wheels in first any more whatsover (without abusing clutch that is) At first I was thinking my car had lost power again or something, but I think it's just the new setup.