Comfort oriented lowering springs

[himanshu_j]

Hi, I am from India. I recently upsized to 16"ers with 205/50 rubber from earlier 185/60 R15s. The Polo here has a ground clearance of 158mm. Needless to say its now looking like my car is on stilts. But with an average Indian road looking like:

I cant afford to get H&R 30/55mm lowering springs which seem to be the most popular option. Ideally I wouldn't want to lower my ground clearance beyond 140mm. Eibach is the only brand I came across with ~25mm lowering.
Has anybody any experience with springs with lesser lowering? Or if there is a way to alter the stock springs?
I know this sounds nigh impossible but are there any springs which wouldn't stiffen the ride much?

[gavs]

Sorry dude but I think you will be sh*t outta luck with that one. A good spring manufacturer will increase the spring rate after shortening the spring to stop it bottoming out.

[himanshu_j]

Sorry dude but I think you will be sh*t outta luck with that one. A good spring manufacturer will increase the spring rate after shortening the spring to stop it bottoming out.

I guess that leaves me with only Eibach. A friend got Bilstein height adjustable suspension with spacers with 55mm lowering all round, having a hard time. Premature rattles etc

[VWindahouse]

What model polo do you have? Might be a silly suggestion but if you did't get the sports package from factory (i'm guessing you didn't with 15" rims) would getting the lowering springs from that kit help?

[gavs]

Eibach increase their spring rate on lowering springs too.

Are you sure you are after springs because bilstein do dampers and coilovers but use Eibach springs on their damper packages.

Eibach, kings, kw, weitec, H&R, they will all increase spring rate and on the rears, they will generally go progressive rate too. It's not so they destroy your comfort, it's so you don't wreck the car.

[himanshu_j]

What model polo do you have? Might be a silly suggestion but if you did't get the sports package from factory (i'm guessing you didn't with 15" rims) would getting the lowering springs from that kit help?

Mine is a Polo 1.6, that's a 77kW motor which came on the Mk4 Polo. The Trendline and comfortline variants here come with 14" steelies while the Highline gets 15" Riverdale's. I am currently running on 16" Borbet LS with 205/50 R16 rubber.

I suppose the springs from the Sport pack will be a good option. Guess I will have to keep my eyes peeled on the Classifieds section!

[himanshu_j]

Came across some standard GTi springs in the classifieds, all I want to know now is what happens if I use them on a car with max front axle load =<929kg? Since mine is a variant sold only in 3 countries, I am unable to source the necessary data. Not mentioned in the user manual either.

[VWindahouse]

The GTI in heavier than all the other engines other than the diesel I think.

[himanshu_j]

The GTI in heavier than all the other engines other than the diesel I think.

True that. So can I go in for the GTI springs irrespective of my front axle load? The spring rates will be different but is that a problem?

[VWindahouse]

Not really. If it was the other way around you may have problems.

Cheers.

[gavs]

Front end will be bouncy and the GTI springs are considerably stiffer compared to stock anyway....

[himanshu_j]

Not really. If it was the other way around you may have problems.

Cheers.

That's a relief. How about the springs on the TSI sports pack? Are those the same as the GTI springs? I am guessing they're not since front axle load is different.

Front end will be bouncy and the GTI springs are considerably stiffer compared to stock anyway....

When you say bouncy, do you mean soft?

[gavs]

Nope, the complete opposite my friend!

And you are correct, the front axle load is different, hence different springs. the rears are the same from memory though.

[ATYPIC]

Front end will be bouncy and the GTI springs are considerably stiffer compared to stock anyway....

Correct me if I'm wrong gavs, but lowering/sport spring rates are increased to account for the extra load in the front once the car is lowered, but if the front load is slightly lighter, and in this instance only by 1kg, why wouldn't ride quality be more stiff and less bouncy so to speak?

Take the theory of bike frame building for instance, be it carbon or steel.

Less weight + more strength = more stiffness.

The more stiffness applied to a lighter weight – offers in return – a greater sense of impact and less absorption.
If we apply the same theory in this case, wouldn't this mean less bouncy?

[gavs]

True, but the dampers in the 77tsi will not be matched to the springs, softer dampers with unmatched stiffer springs will result in dampers not being able to keep up with the springs. kaanage can correct if wrong here but the damper needs to be able to accelerate / decelerate as fast as the spring, otherwise things get uncomfortable.

yes, lowering springs increase the springrate but this is generally to stop bottoming out. And that is maximum axle load for the weight, the engine in the 77tsi vs the engine in the GTI is approx 50-60 kgs lighter. So, unmatched dampers + higher unmatched spring rate + stiffer springs = crap ride.

Trust me, I learned this the hard way on my Mk4 golf, hence why i bought fully adjustable dampers to match the springs because with the lowering springs alone, the ride was horrible. I think you will find the spring rates of the 77tsi sport pack will differ from the gti/66 tdi springs even though they are both lowering springs.