Ess Three

Jeez...you pair of muppets should stop trying to score points off each other...eventually you will both realise that you are BOTH ending up looking very childish! Back to suspension: Dampers: Don't be fooled by the whole 'Koni make FK dampers' thing. Pirelli make tyres for other people too...using lower standard rubber and lesser developed tread designs than they use on their own branded tyres...so, do not assume that something that is made by someone else, is made to the same standard. A Cavialier SRI used to have Bilstein dampers...but fitting aftermarket dampers still improved them...so Bilstein dampers are not just Bilstein dampers...there are many versions built to many standards. Same with Konis. The things to consider are many: What is the material sleection like? What are the damping rates like? What are the seals like? Personally...and this is my own view...I don't believe that FKs are as well made or developed as Konis...but that's my view...Konis have rubber dust shielding around the tops of the dampers...to my knowlegde FKs do not...and I have burst too many 'lesser' dampers over the years of running in the NE of Scotland to risk not having full crud protection. They may well become so...but at the moment, FK stuff is definately still improving. Springs: BMW making springs? What are you smoking? BMW don't make springs...the springs will be made by one of the major spring compainies located worldwide....same with the dampers...as with every car company they will be made by one of the majors...Sachs, Bilstein, Boge etc. It doesn't matter who makes them...it's the spring to damper ratio that makes a car handle...not the stiffness of the springs. As long as the springs are quality and the dampers can be adjusted / are set to match the spring rate, the handling will increase. Anyone who has corner weighted a car will know what the differences are when changing springs...not a lot is the answer! To think that having one set of springs to cover many cars is a bad thing is naive...as long as the damping is right, the kit will be fine. This being said...this is where the personal choice comes in...personally again, I find the Konis somewhat firm around town...but incredible on the open road. Some kits are softer around town...some stiffer...it's up to you! At the end of the day...you pay your money and make your choice...and hopefully you'll not be dissapointed with it. But, set the car up badly and you've wasted your cash... You can end up with a better handling car by setting up the standard stuff more aggressively than standard, compared to someone who has not paid the required attention to setting up thier coilovers. As with everything there is no right and no wrong. Everyone likes their car set up differently...and everyones description of 'comfort' & 'handling' is different. Make your choice and enjoy your car. And you pair of muppets...give it a rest!

Jeez Skid...that's high milege. I only have 15,400 on my 1993 VR6....and a FVWSH to boot... :lol: I also doubt it will ever rack up any more miles in it's present state!

Really? Sorry...I'm not buying it... In two cars set up identically bar the rear track width, the wider rear track will give a cornering stability advantage over the narrower...it's simple physics. Everything else being eqial...power, weight etc...there's not much in it. The Golf has a slightly stiffer shell from what I remember...in the hands of equally skilled drivers...it would be a close call. Of course, both would get shown the door by an equally well set up Vento (assuming all other factors were equal) as the Vento has a stiffer shell again, better weight distribution etc. Pity the Vento fell out of the ugly tree hitting every branch on the way down!

Ooh...to have the power that you have Roddy. To be able to move posts with just one click! :D You like it don't you sir? Do you like it? Oohh...suits you!

Sorry to say, but if VW set the rev limit at 6800 (for example) then a well maintained VR6 will sit at 6800 all day long with no more risk of damage than sitting at 1500RPM. That's why VW set the rev limit in the first place. You will experience inreased wear...but on a well maintained engine, using quality oil and fuel, sitting just below the rev limit will not harm the engine. ...and this can be a good thing. The Corrado VR6 has an absolutely awful set of long geared gear ratios...so keeping the revs up will assist you in getting the engine back onto peak torque (or higher) as you rev to peak power in the next gear. Only on engines like chipped 1.8T's where they don't like to rev and produce silly torque low down is changing up early the faster way of getting from a to b. On the VR6 in either the Golf or Corrado, I have always found that changing up just before the rev limiter to be the fastest way of getting going. Perhaps not the most mechanically sympathetic...but the quickest!

Not always... Wear on the tyres can be catagorised in two ways...simple wear where the tyre is simply worn away, or tyre scrub, where the outside edge looks chunked or scored badly in it's wear profile. Lots of negative camber 1.5 degrees or more (the Corrados already run 1.2 degrees negative as standard) will wear the inside edge...but too much toe out will wear the outside edge, but it will look scrubbed....and the trye pressures can be spot on for this to occur. I always have my cars set up with 1.5 degrees of negative or more, and at least 5 minutes toe out per side, and slightly higher tyre pressures...a combination which gives great grip, but accelerated wear...which doesn't bother me on the roads I use, but could be a problem for those using motorways a lot. Perhaps you have this problem?

Really? So, if that were the case, that means that the 2001 TT 225 engine (BAM) and the 2001 S3 210 engine (AMK) are completely different entities - which incidentally they are not..they are identical bar the ECU mapping!..because as already stated above my 2001 S3 made about standard power (209 - 211 BHP depending on the dyno sheet you look at) on 95 unleaded...and less than 1 BHP difference swapping between 97 UL and Optiomax. Surely if your analargy were correct, I'd be making 225 on Optimax? I think people are missing the point of Optimax...it is not priumarily a high octane petrol...the main purpose of Optimax is to clean the engine internall by virtue of the additives...these detergants happen to give a higher octane rating...but the fact that the engine has less crap inside it is the main contributing factor to the engine running better.

Sorry, but I'll have to dissagree... Optimax does nothing to the timing...the timing is set by a binary number copntained in a load map in the ECU...this is a constant. The ECU may indeed back off the timing id detonation is detected due to using a lesser quality fuel...but it in itself cannot adjust the timing. I have dynod many cars...back to back on 95 unleaded, super plus and Optimax and the differences have been very small. Now, I've never dyno'd my own VR6 - so I may be talking out of my arse here - but on my 2.0 16V (ABF) engined Golf - which indicentally has a more advanced engine management system than mt Corrado VR6 - the change to 95 / 97 Super or optimax makes absolutely no difference! That is less than 1 repeatable BHP anywhere...going from any fuel to any fuel. So how a Corrado can make 10BHP of a difference is beyond me...although like I said...not impossiblr...I've just never seen it. Another example: Take a turbotharged car (1.8T) and dyno it on 95 / 97 Super and 98.6+ Optimax...how much difference with a standard ECU map? Less than 1 BHP. Take a performance map (APR 95 Octane 1.4 bar) and do the same for all fuels...the difference? Less than 1 BHP. Now select a dedicated Optimax map...one designed to run much more ignition advance...one specific for the high octane Optimax juice...one that is likely to hole pistons if used with 95 unleaded...how much of a gain over the 95 octane map? 5 ish BHP / 10 ish lb-ft. And these were gains on a well sorted S3 (also mine) running specific maps for the fuel... So forgive me when I say I'm sceptical about a 10BHP+ gain just from running Optimax. I appreciate that these examples are not Corrado VR6 specific...but nor is the Corrado VR6 playing by it's own dedicated set of rules! Let's not forget that rolling roads can be manipulated to show anything to want...unless you are actually doing the runs yourself...I would be very suspicious of a 10+ BHP gain from running optimax.

I should be able to pop along too Roddy....we'll see.