Noone's Polo

[Evaded Motorsport]

No dramas man, those things happen, hope you get it sorted.

[noone]

Well, its been a while, but I have to be quick.

Off the selling train, back on the modding parth...

New bushes and front strut mounts on the way to be coupled with KW V1's.
Looking to improve my stance
May be changing the rubber

Talking to some tuners about alternative tunes to get the most out of my current mods.

Update due next week once coilovers are in.

[Spec83]

I'm loving the coilovers and sure you will too... but as others have said the V1's don't go as low in the rear as they do in the front... You can always get shorter coils made up I suppose

[hazrd]

Couldnt help yourself could ya

Glad you changed your mind!

[Spec83]

It's funny... I tried to sell mine ~6mths ago and had a few low-ballers that offered me $10k (who I told to go f%*& themselves)... after that I ended up doing a whole heaps of mods that I wanted to do for 4+ years!!

The Polo and I's relationship is well back on track and I could never contemplate parting with her now

[noone]

but as others have said the V1's don't go as low in the rear as they do in the front... You can always get shorter coils made up I suppose

Been low, willing to compromise for comfort...

[Buller_Scott]

but as others have said the V1's don't go as low in the rear as they do in the front... You can always get shorter coils made up I suppose

would that positive rake be intentional, for handling purposes?

[noone]

Sorry mate, not sure I follow.

Rake (Castor) would not really be affected by lowering... Would it?

Castor is good, adjustable tophats are the way to get it...

[Buller_Scott]

Sorry mate, not sure I follow.

Rake (Castor) would not really be affected by lowering... Would it?

Castor is good, adjustable tophats are the way to get it...

hey ben, hows things?

i probably have my terminologies wrong, but "rake" as in whatever lowering one does to their pog, the back wheel lowering does not exceed the front wheels... if that makes sense?

e.g. supersport (as seen on orange tuning and dpm, i think) offer a suspension kit that has 55mm lowering in the front, and 50mm in the rear, as well as a 50mm front / 35mm rear kit...

i've read that lowering more in the front than in the rear has the effect of "decreasing" understeer (to a point, before you're overloading the front suspension by having too much forward rake).

[MeTsU]

Buller_Scott is refering to the actual car's body rake. A positive rake is indeed good for aiding in reducing under-steer.

I prefer to steer from the rear - the style I prefer from motor racing.

[Evaded Motorsport]

Depends on lots of things, Roll Angles, weight distribution etc. I haven't bothered measuring them on the polo yet. Can give you an idea in a week or two hopefully.

[noone]

Interesting...

I think that if you go too low on the front, the angle of the control arm goes too close to horizontal (or below horizontal) which can make things messy...

What I've found is that being low on the front makes the car feel lumpy, but its bee a while. With steep driveways, etc, I can't go dubber low on the front without removing the front lip...

Once its all in (hopefully tomorrow) I will have more playing to do!

[Evaded Motorsport]

Having the lower control arms below horizontal can cause issues with bump steer.

[noone]

May 1 Update: Things are going well.

I ordered KW's in late March as the price with currency conversion was great. At the time I also decided to order a few extra bits to ensure the installation was not held up and that normal wear / tear parts were replaced as I have had issues in this area previously.

Suspension with new bushes and a few extras went in last Wednesday.

When I first started driving the Polo, I was shocked at how similar it felt to the previous setup. There was less noise as the Poly bushes had been replaced with the Seat solid rubber ones and a broken bearing was replaced. The springs felt stiff and rigid. I reminded myself that the installation was only a day old and the car had been sitting on its springs only an hour.

Of course it was raining in Sydney for the following few days, making propper testing inappropriate. I decided to replace my Spigot rings with some I'd found from ebay UK, the ones I had looked a little flogged and I'm always happy to spend $10 on something that I can chose to use or put in the parts box for a rainy day. Rather than wait patiently for the suspension to settle, I've adjusted the front so there is about 20mm between the wheel arch and the top of the tyre on the front, the back is set at about 15mm between. This is not as low as the AP's were, but I knew I would be giving up a little drop as the KW's have more travel. The mechanic had put my front sway on the hard setting, which was not helping my evaluation.

As the days went on and I was able to go back over some roads I knew well, I could start to feel the difference in the setup, the springs felt to provide more immediate cushioning whilst the dampers compression / rebound feels more compliant over rough surfaces. My partener who can feel a little queezy with my driving style remarked that she felt my car was now more comfortable than her Peugeot 206 GTI, albeit on old suspension that could be replaced.

On Sunday I went for a little flog through some national park / gorge areas to see how it handled under pressure. For this driving, its worth noting my sways are both whiteline, both set to soft, my tyres are Marangoni Zeta Linea's (front 27 psi, rear 25 psi) 215/40/17.
The balance of comfort and performance with the tyres on mid pressure setting (I used to like my Kumho's with a few more for grip) was kind on coarse roads, a little more forgiving on bad roads and soft on good roads.

If anyone has read the White James reviews of various setups for the MkV platform, I will be attempting to write something more detailed later on when I have had more time to consider the changes and get close to the driving limits (of course in a controlled environment).

On the tyres: I have been discounting the Marangoni's for performance when I had my AP's in, the tyre pressure was 34, 32 (Low for me) to improve the comfort on bad roads. With the low pressure they were poor. Wet grip was poor. Since coupling with the KW's and adding a bit of pressure, they are holding up much better. I still have concerns around these tyres in the wet and find myself driving cautiously in the wet as they seem to loose traction far too easily.
As I bought these tyres preloved and worn on the outer edge with some rubbing and low pressure use, I can't say my opinion is that great. I remember the Kuhmo's having more grip, but that was on heavier rims, different width, different offset for the rims, so its hardly apples for apples.

I have a few creaks in the dash that will need to be resolved soon, some are going to be easy and I have a feeling some I am going to have to learn to accept.

Whats next: ECU work.
I'm looking to engage DNA in a trial and hopefully purchase of their Stage 2+ tune to see what it can do for me. I'm not confident that the APR stage 1 V2 tune is doing all it can with my mods and with Dave offering a full refund if I'm not happy, I cant loose.

Watch this space...

[kangfu]

And so the Polo is revived. Glad to see you didnt get rid of it