Handling- rear stabiliser bar

[Johnbu]

What is the size of the standard rear stabiliser/sway bar on a GTI, if any?

I wanted to improve on the handling of the GTI, without going to extreme measures, nor I want to want to lower the car, as my other car cannot get up our driveway because it's been lowered.

I was thinking of upping the rear stabiliser bar on the GTI, specifically using the Whiteline 22mm non adjustable sway bar. any good/bad feedback.

Handling is good for a stock FWD car, is there anything else I should consider to improve handling.

[bazzle]

What do you think it is or is not doing that you think need improvement?
I would try adj tyre pressures 1st, advanced driving course 2nd, koni or bilstein shocks 3rd.....

Bazzle

[Von Richthofen]

Johnbu,

Check out http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/f15/...-18105-22.html (page 22)

Adzy fitted a 22mm Whiteline to his GTI

Regards, Barry

[Maverick]

Re: Handling- rear stabiliser bar

What is the size of the standard rear stabiliser/sway bar on a GTI, if any?

Seeing as you don't even know if the GTI has a stock you clearly haven't bothered to do any research as there is a wealth of information on this subject available.

I wanted to improve on the handling of the GTI, without going to extreme measures, nor I want to want to lower the car, as my other car cannot get up our driveway because it's been lowered.

As Bazzle said what do you want to fix? Why do you think you can make one change to the suspension and not alter it's handling in other areas? VW spent a hell of a lot of time and money to produce a suspension system that works and had the car win award after award so screwing around without knowing what you're doing or what you want to achieve will leave you with a car with at best compromised handling.

Handling is good for a stock FWD car, is there anything else I should consider to improve handling.

As Bazzle pointed out learning to drive and looking at areas like Tyre pressures should come first.


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[Johnbu]

Bazzle- Understeer.

while, not too bad, the GTI still understeers.

Tyre pressure has been adjusted/played around with. no advanced driving course will fix it.

Changing dampers at a cost of $1,500 vs $200 rear sway bar, I'll try the rear sway bar first.

Not saying dampers won't help it, but is much more costly.. in any event, the rear sway bar will complement the bilsteins.

Thanks Barry, but unfortunately page 22 of the post, doesn't show anything about the whiteline, I may

Maverick, so you're saying you can't improve on the GTI's handling in any way and that it's perfect from the factory????

[Tim]

Youre on the right path mate. Rear swaybar is best bang for buck mod you can do on a stock GTI. The 22mm bar is pretty conservative though. go BIG!

[Johnbu]

Tim, I agree. As a general rule, rear sway bar is the best minor mod for any FWD, I just wanted to make sure it also applies to the GTI.

22mm hollow bar stock.

Whiteline have 22mm non adjustable and 24mm adjustable...hmmm I'm not really a fan of adjustable it can be difficult to get them perfect.

[Tim]

That logic doesnt work well in my opinion.
What if the 22mm isnt a big enough upgrade? would you kick yaself for not being able to adjust it?

[Johnbu]

good point TIM.

I've noticed that H&R also do a 22mm non adjustable... H&R and Whiteline wouldn't sell a bad product...

anyway, I suppose that's why I posted the topic, to discuss and find more info.

[Von Richthofen]

Johnbu,

Sorry I had 22 on the brain. Try page 64 & 65 on the "What did you do to your Mk5 today?" thread.

Also, you may want to check out the following link TDI FAQ This page has a pretty good write up on suspension under section h.

BTW I am looking at the 22mm Whiteline for my TDI Jetta just to take a bit of the rear roll out of it.

Regards, Barry

[Maverick]

Maverick, so you're saying you can't improve on the GTI's handling in any way and that it's perfect from the factory????

I didn't say that, if you read what I wrote it's pretty clear that I said you should know what you want to achieve before you start messing around and as you didn't even know if the GTI had a rear sway bar some research would be a good place to start rather than tossing some parts on the car.

Be aware that you may have problems with the inside rear wheel lifting at low speed which may create problems with clearance on your driveway after fitting the bigger rear swaybar.

[Maverick]

I've noticed that H&R also do a 22mm non adjustable... H&R and Whiteline wouldn't sell a bad product...

Plenty of complaints about whiteline and excess movement and noise on the golfmkv forum, might even be some on here in the mark v section.

Plenty of threads with a heap of info, you just have to spend some time researching.

[Johnbu]

Thanks Barry,

for $254 installed, sounds like a winner.

Be aware that you may have problems with the inside rear wheel lifting at low speed which may create problems with clearance on your driveway after fitting the bigger rear swaybar.

inside rear wheel lifting???

The only clearance issues I've found with an rear sway bar, is when trying to drive over a kerb on an angle or a large rock in between the wheels as the wheels doesn't drive over it the kerb/rock. Effectively, you're on 3 wheels, the 4th wheel is dangling.

happened a couple of times in my current FWD with rear sway bar in the past 5 years.

[isaw]

I changed my springs and shocks (Koni FSD's and Eibach Prokits - Onsale from the states at the moment for under $1000 delivered!! Seriously a awesome investment) first, and while it improved the car's feel and corner speed it would still understeer.
A whiteline adjustable sway bar set to medium really helped with the feel of the car, but the ride was compromised a fair bit. also the noise! oHH THE NOISE!

My advice, get the adjustable, set it on medium and buy the H and R (?) Bushes that dont require lubing every 6 months. front wheel grip will be increased, body roll reduced and the tail even wants to 'drift' a little bit.

As Mav's said, know what you want out of the car first. I did 2 track days and learnt to drive it before I changed something.

[Johnbu]

thanks for the info isaw.

what noise are you referring to, the bushing?

does the fact it's adjustable contribute to the noise or is it the bushing?

wouldn't setting the 24mm adjustable to medium be somewhat similar to an non-adjustable 22mm.

I've had my whiteline (non-adjustable) rear sway bar on my Astra Turbo car for about 5 years (never lubed), no probs with noise or negatives that I noticed. only crisper turn in/reduced body roll/under steer.