Front Strut Brace

[Fizz]

Hey guys looking to fit a lower strut brace on my golf. Any of you have a OEM Part number? I was told the preface lift TT had one but i can't find anything regarding this.

[DUB 20V]

Hey guys looking to fit a lower strut brace on my golf. Any of you have a OEM Part number? I was told the preface lift TT had one but i can't find anything regarding this.

yes the tt one does fit, but it does need some modding,

i bought a neuspeed one its very good, looks hot

[ope126]

I'd be interested to know also...

[Fizz]

The Strut brace to get comes off the Audi S3

Upper strut brace 8L9 805 629 A
Lower brace 8N0 199 403 B
Bolts for lower brace N 104 679 01 (u need 2)
Captive nuts N 909 147 01 (u need 2)

Getting this ordered tomorrow and have just scored a neuspeed rear sway bar 4 $150 Now 2 get a front neuspeed sway bar Then the only thing left is urethane bushes and suspension is sorted

[ranton-inc]

dude.. your going to have throttle off oversteer something chronic after all that!!!

remember on that drive where you missed the corner and went straight ahead..

well this time youll throttle off and your arse will swing aorund liek a pendulum..

[ope126]

The Strut brace to get comes off the Audi S3

Upper strut brace 8L9 805 629 A
Lower brace 8N0 199 403 B
Bolts for lower brace N 104 679 01 (u need 2)
Captive nuts N 909 147 01 (u need 2)

Getting this ordered tomorrow and have just scored a neuspeed rear sway bar 4 $150 Now 2 get a front neuspeed sway bar Then the only thing left is urethane bushes and suspension is sorted

Thanks FIZZ, you have gone over and above there!

What nuts / bolts did you use to mount the upper strut brace?

I am getting these parts priced now also...

Glenn

[ope126]

dude.. your going to have throttle off oversteer something chronic after all that!!!

remember on that drive where you missed the corner and went straight ahead..

well this time youll throttle off and your arse will swing aorund liek a pendulum..

HitmanR32, I dont quite understand?

Are you saying the above mods are no good?
Do they upset the balance of a near factory Golf?

Please explain...


Glenn

[Fizz]

dude.. your going to have throttle off oversteer something chronic after all that!!!

remember on that drive where you missed the corner and went straight ahead..

well this time youll throttle off and your arse will swing aorund liek a pendulum..

What? with the sway bar or the lower strut brace?

I would have thought fitting front and rear sway bars would stabilise the car and u wouldn't get your springs/ shocks bunching up on the inner side taking a corner at high speed as this will keep everything nice and even

[Fizz]

Thanks FIZZ, you have gone over and above there!

What nuts / bolts did you use to mount the upper strut brace?

I am getting these parts priced now also...

Glenn

Just went 2 the hardware store and picked up some nuts, washers and bolts 4 the life of me i can't remember which ones i ended up with. Just make sure that they treated against rust and you use fish oil or something around the holes to prevent rusting.

[ranton-inc]

Heres a thing or two about MKIV golf handling

Put rear sway bar in you reduce traction at the rear there fore giving the front more control. this is a good thing as with a fwd you are driving with the front!.

HOWEVER

put to stiff and you will induce alot of oversteer which can be problematic and unexpected.. ie easing off the throttle mid corner!!! i ran a very harsh setup in my GTI but i learned to drive it and loved it! I ran ridiculously Stiff stiff stiff (custom built) bilstien shocks (this has they same effect as a sway bar in the rear of a MKIV FWD as they are a beam axle (non independant) setup in the rear!

My GTI was capable of Drifitng around a corner thru lifting off quickly mid corner and then driving it out thru using a lower gear and pulsing the throttle... (this was in the dry and required no hand break)

Now.. if you change the front you can improve turn in.. however if you go TOO stiff you will reduce traction from the front and increase your Understeer Problems!!! which is something you dont want in a FWD!.

Basically in a GTI for a handling set up

you want either extra stiff shocks for the rear. or a rear sway bar that is semi heavy! this will make you a little more suseptable to oversteer. but also reduce your understeer!

the front i left standard sways and had bilstein b6 sports in the front for shocks! this left it firm but spongey and allowed the front wheels to feel around and grip on to what they could get hold off instead of having to lug so much of the arse end around, due to the fact that pre sway bar the rear was gripping on to the ground surface!.

so really in a nut shell


Stiff Rear = Less Understeer, More Oversteer
Soft Rear = More Understeer, Little or No Oversteer

Stiff Front = Better Turn in, More Understeer
Soft Front = Good Turn in, Minimal Understeer

Also you need to do your engine Mounts. No i dont mean VF ones as they are God Aweful for engines with less than 5 cylinders

Buy oem Engine mounts that are stiffer..

for your gear box get a V6 4 motion Gear box top mount and for the lower one get a EIP Tuning Stiffend Rubber dogbone mount. or one of my Stiffend Rubber dogbone mounts they are even tighter than the EIP ones if you want.. and still dont let Vibration to destroy the quiet experience in your cab..

dont bother with Urethane bushes for your dog bone mounts as you will just drive your self crazy!

also

S3 upper Strut braces are good and offer positives..

and i proved last night that my Rear (upper) strut brace i installed in Glidns MKIV GTI 1.8t improved steering response.. it eliminated those annoying creaks when backign out of driveways etc and really gets the car cocking its rear wheels when reversing out of drives on angles!

[ope126]

Well said...

Thanks for that, duely noted!

[ranton-inc]

**** thats quit possibly one of the longest posts ive ever written

should be a how to guide imho based on personal experience

[NGOLF.U]

hitman, you know your sh*T. i have a very similar setup to what you had, i have also included front 12mm spacers to widen the front wheel track. little to no understeer on warm tyres.

[ranton-inc]

hitman, you know your sh*T. i have a very similar setup to what you had, i have also included front 12mm spacers to widen the front wheel track. little to no understeer on warm tyres.

hey man

the track also helps.. but to much i think is to much of a strain on wheel bearins etc..

I would personally reccomend having Mags with different offsets as opposed to spacers (its alot safer that way and stronger also)

Ie run ET35 on the Fronts and ET38 on the Rear obviously FWD altho i wouldnt run wider tyres at the front! thats a touch wanky and imho serves no purpose.. if your looking for the optimal handling Mag and Tyre size for a MKIV then you would want to run 17" x 7.5inch wide Rims with 225 45 17s this will keep your speedo accurate.. give you enough tyre wall flex to grip more than a 18" but not as wallowy as a 16"

also FYI Running Smaller Rims on a Dyno gives you Higher Power Readings.. i proved this by wearing 16s and putting down 130kw and then putting 18s on and putting down 126kw

Also the other thing is for track days.. i get my Wheel Alignment on the front wheels (in a fwd) toed out 1 or 2 Degrees total (ie if toe out =1 deg actual toe on LHS is toed out .5 deg and RHS is toed out .5 deg) and so on and so forth this is because coming out of a corner and accelerating the Front driven wheels pull them selves inwards so towing them out they pull inwards to a more neutral toe position which allows for better traction out of a corner and gives you a little better turn in.