My other German fling: Mk6 GTI

[asa572]

car yards do it all the time.

[Lucas_R]

My other German fling: Mk6 GTI

It's been a while since i updated this thread - ive got a few goodies on the way which should turn up next week:

- CTS catback exhaust
- Koni yellow Sport shocks all round (adjustable dampening)
- New strut tops, bearings and all bolts/hardware
- BFI 70 duro dogbone insert (to replace the Spulen 80 duro one which gives too much vibration)
- SPM 22mm rear swaybar
- Gloss black OEM mirror caps
- Twin reverse light conversion (same as i did on my R)
- Vacar replica Xenon headlights which have been on order forever
- R8 red ignition coil packs

Looks like its time to get my DIY on again.

[brad]

What setting are you running the konis on Lucas?

I have Eibach Diesel Estate springs on my petrol hatch. The Koni / Eibach combination is brilliant on the rear with half a turn off soft but up front it always feels like it's pogo-sticking when I hit a bump eg: undersprung & underdamped. I've tried half off soft through to 1.25 off soft.

[Lucas_R]

Still looking into the settings Brad - the suspension shop suggested to set them mid way and see how it feels and adjust from there if neccessary....not sure if thats a good suggestion or if they have no idea??

Been looking at a few threads from the USA with info on peoples settings...although everyone is different in their wants and needs and it also varies depending on what springs you are running of course (spring rate, fixed rate or variable rate springs) and also how low the car is.

I have the SPM springs which lowered the car approx 30mm at the front and about 25mm at the rear, but these springs have a pretty high spring rate.

The rear shocks are a bugger to adjust as you likely know as they need to be removed, but the fronts should be ok via the strut tops.

Ive used these Koni yellow sport struts on my old 200sx about 8yrs ago and found them quite good, so hopefully they will offer a similar feeling on the GTI.

[brad]

No, I wouldn't start at halfway ( esp on the rears) whenever I've done koni I always start at half off soft. Friends tell me you should start at full soft but I heard that was bad.

One thing that might be worth looking at is the length of the front bumpstops. It's sometimes worthwhile trimming 20-30mm off them.

[Lucas_R]

Ok ta - will keep that info in mind re the dampening. Just literally 5 mins ago ordered new (shorter) bump stops from ECS Tuning along with a few other bits and pieces.

[kaanage]

I have Eibach Diesel Estate springs on my petrol hatch. The Koni / Eibach combination is brilliant on the rear with half a turn off soft but up front it always feels like it's pogo-sticking when I hit a bump eg: undersprung & underdamped. I've tried half off soft through to 1.25 off soft.

If the diesel engine is quite a lot heavier than your petrol, then I'd expect it to be overdamped (jarring over bumps) rather than the pogoing effect you describe (see Damped Harmonic Oscillator) unless you have the damping set way less than optimal. Being rebound adjust only, if the damping was optimised for the spring rate being too high for your engine and you have the damping adjusted too low, then it have an odd jarring response from the bump and then a wobbly overshoot on rebound.

Have you tried firming it to maximum just for a short drive to see if the behaviour is better?

[Lucas_R]

Up to my old tricks again....playing with intakes to make a custom hybrid version.

The Unitronic intake is great but i was never 100% happy with the exposed air filter, even though it had a heat shroud fitted.

So now its got a carbon fibre enclosed shroud to keep the heat away and the boys in blue happy. A bit of bling too

[brad]

If the diesel engine is quite a lot heavier than your petrol, then I'd expect it to be overdamped (jarring over bumps) rather than the pogoing effect you describe (see Damped Harmonic Oscillator) unless you have the damping set way less than optimal. Being rebound adjust only, if the damping was optimised for the spring rate being too high for your engine and you have the damping adjusted too low, then it have an odd jarring response from the bump and then a wobbly overshoot on rebound.

Have you tried firming it to maximum just for a short drive to see if the behaviour is better?

Heavier springs need heavier damping - no? The Koni sports are the same partno no matter what engine combo you have but I'm happy to crank them up even more - I'll give it a shot.

[kivenage]

CTS

It's been a while since i updated this thread - ive got a few goodies on the way which should turn up next week:

- CTS catback exhaust
- Koni yellow Sport shocks all round (adjustable dampening)
- New strut tops, bearings and all bolts/hardware
- BFI 70 duro dogbone insert (to replace the Spulen 80 duro one which gives too much vibration)
- SPM 22mm rear swaybar
- Gloss black OEM mirror caps
- Twin reverse light conversion (same as i did on my R)
- Vacar replica Xenon headlights which have been on order forever
- R8 red ignition coil packs

Looks like its time to get my DIY on again.

hey lucas, glad to see that you've got more toys. i'd be interested in hearing what you think of the CTS catback (fitment, how they sound/drone), don't think i've seen a lot of Aust. examples of these installed?

i ended up replacing my spm springs for a set of STS coilovers as i couldn't un-see the slightly higher rear height.

[Lucas_R]

hey lucas, glad to see that you've got more toys. i'd be interested in hearing what you think of the CTS catback (fitment, how they sound/drone), don't think i've seen a lot of Aust. examples of these installed?

i ended up replacing my spm springs for a set of STS coilovers as i couldn't un-see the slightly higher rear height.

I will do a write up and some videos of the sound once ive installed the CTS catback. If its too loud for my liking, or droney - then ill get another resonator added into the down pipe (same resonator i used on my R which was excellent). Fitment looks good from all of the feedback i've found (feedback from USA forums) as i couldn't find much locally.

As for the springs, i admit that i would like the rear to sit another 10-15mm lower. I might look at getting the rear springs re-set 10-15mm lower as there's a place in my city that does this. How do you like the coilovers in comparison to the springs?

[Lucas_R]

My other German fling: Mk6 GTI

CTS catback arrived this morning along with the SPM rear swaybar and BFI dog bone insert. Koni sport shocks being collected by wifey as i type. Tonight will be spent in the shed me thinks....

The CTS catback looks gorgeous........can't wait to throw that on.

And new car being delivered tomorrow - got a new Mazda 3 SP25 Astina and this will be wifey's new car. The Astina is an excellent car and great bang for your buck at $33k drive-away. Comes fully loaded (sat nat, leather, rear camera, radar cruise control, very BMW/Audi style dash with soft touch plastics).

The GTI is now mine

[Ryan_R]

...and tomorrow will be spent uploading photos for us, right?


You've still got the R?

[kaanage]

Heavier springs need heavier damping - no? The Koni sports are the same partno no matter what engine combo you have but I'm happy to crank them up even more - I'll give it a shot.

The damping and spring rates need to match the suspended mass. The spring rate is constant but the damping rate varies with the speed of the motion so with a lighter mass, the lower inertia will be slowed by the same damping coefficient more quickly.

[Lucas_R]

My other German fling: Mk6 GTI

...and tomorrow will be spent uploading photos for us, right?


You've still got the R?

Yes ive taken a few pics of the exhaust and sway bar installation and will get some more in the morning. The exhaust sounds great and looks fantastic.

The R is gone to a new owner in Tasmania. I miss it but it was time to let it go and free up some cash as we are doing some house renovations. Selling the R allowed us to pay off the GTI and then buy a new Mazda SP25 and has free'd up $750 a fortnight in car loan payments.