suspension upgrades

[g60bv 0]

hi, right i'm fed up with cracked teeth and bits of trim falling off, obviously i need to lower the car but still remain a comfortable ride. at the moment iv got new standard boge shocks all round with new bump stops and eibach springs, which i was told would be the most comfortable. please some one out there must know of a kit which would suit me , the tyres i'm running are toyo proxies 205 40 17, i understand these wont be helping the matter, koni coilovers any good or weitec? please help me.

[h100vw 0]

Weitec get my vote. I bought a kit for my C in 1999 and still run it now on my G60 Golf. I got the top adjustable kit. I don't think it is harsh but then I have 15s and 195/50. 17s do make the ride like 10% harder.

 

I don't rate Boge shocks for comfort. I had a kit on a MK1 years ago and it banged and crashed over the smallest of bumps.

 

I just fitted Eibachs and Bilstein shocks to my MK3 16V, the ride is nice even the wife doesn't complain, so it must be good! The shocks are just a touch too soft but I didn't want the expense of adjustables.

 

I would stick with your springs, as you already have them and get some adjustable shocks.

 

Gavin

[VR6 0]

Erm....wrong forum :)

 

 

......tuning and mods....

[Andy T 0]

I was after Bilstein front shocks and I was offered Boge instead - glad I didn't accept them now. Are they GAS shocks?

 

I used to have a weitec kit on the mk2, had the fixed damping kit first then the t/a kit, both are too hard!! Quality kit, great for racing but way too firm for road use, must be like 60% uprated or something. maybe you could try standard oil only shocks but just not Boge, find out what make they would be if you got the OE ones from VAG? Coilovers won't give you any more comfort.

 

Those eibachs you've got claim to retain ride quality but many ppl have said that they are too firm. I'm going for Boge 40mm lowering springs so I'll let you know, but they won't be going on now till the new year.

[dubster82 0]

Koni adjustables are said to be good, especially with eibachs, but apparently, better with H&R's :twisted:

[stevemac 0]

g60bv - the advice offered in the thread below is very valid :-

 

http://corrado.atx-hosting.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5810

 

You cannot run stiffened lowering springs with standard length shocks & expect to have a good ride quality. All lowered suspension systems must be stiffer than standard or else the suspension would "bottom out" over bumps in the road. Standard length shocks will not be strong enough to cope with the strength of lowering springs. Whoever gave you the advice of fitting standard length shocks in combination with Eibach lowering springs was, sadly, very incorrect.

 

The 2 suspension type options that you have are :-

 

1. Fit "matched" lowering springs & uprated (shorter & stiffer) shock absorbers.

2. Fit a coilover suspension system.

 

My advice for you would be to have a ride in somebody else's Corrado with either of these 2 types of suspension already fitted & see what you think. There is a rolling-road day at Dubsport (Manchester) in the middle of January - do you live anywhere near there ?? We are expecting at least 20 Corrados there, all with varying suspension systems. I'm sure some of the people there would be very happy to take you out for a run round.

[16VG60 0]

Top of the class for you Steve, whilst reading this thread i was readying myself to write a simillar response. Even now, with the wealth of information available, i still see owners making the fatal mistake of fitting standard long stroke dampers with shortened springs. The results of such combos are awful and i would prefer the OE "wheel barrow" look. Matched damper and spring kits are readily available and furthermore have dropped significantly in price with the introduction of coilover kits. In the early days of my ownership i used a Boge lowering kit with Jamex springs, which i found to be better than the kit items. This setup has since given way to Koni coilovers and in my opinion these are the pick of the bunch. I run 17" wheels and have dropped the ride height as much as i dare, with our roads, and still retain significantly better ride than with other options.

[Andy T 0]

The Eibach website states that its mild drop springs (25mm for the Corrado) are designed for use with standard shocks.

 

Corrado's have plently of suspension travel so lowering another 25mm is very unlikely to make the shock bottom out. VW lowered the golf GTI 16v 30mm and didn't shorten or particulary uprate the shocks!

 

I'm not suggesting that you should use old wom shocks or cheap ones, but at least use good quality GAS shocks (particularly Bilstein GAS 10% uprated shocks, these are used in Bistein's own 40mm lowering kits) or shortened uprated shocks.

 

Ideally I would have shortened shocks to suit my spring drop but in my experience they have damping rates which are usually far too hard to allow any ride comfort.

 

of course, poor quality soft springs would bottom out like hell with standard shocks, this is why yours Bilsteins are a bit on the hard side.

 

p.s I found the ride even on standard suspension really poor with 17's, hence the reason why I ditched them for 17's.

[Andy T 0]

Errr, I mean't 16's ! :oops:

[stevemac 0]

Andy T - my appologies - you obviously know far more about vehicle suspension systems than I do.. :wink:

[andycowuk 0]

i think i am right in saying this but etc etc...

 

The kits you guys are all running control the compression and rebound by the same 'valve', at best on the t/a the compression is changed but the rebound is fixed.

 

The problem is that in order to get a good rebound dampening the compression dampening has to be very stiff in the first place. thus the bumpy ride. it is not much to do with the spring until you are concidering super hard ones in coilover kits.

 

feel free to correct me if im wrong....(like you need an invitation!!!)

[jedi-knight83 0]

I have driven 3 corrados in my life... al vr6's.

 

mine, standard suspension/wheels..........pretty wafty and soft

 

keyheywire, H&R springs and Koni T/A's standard wheels....... still very smooth, a little more bumpy than standard but not where near "crashy and rock hard" but much more level through corners

 

Jonnyboy, Koni springs and koni T/A's with 17" wheels and rubber band tyres.... most bumpy of the 3 but again i wouldnt have said it was really "crashy or too hard"..

 

i have come from a "go-kart" style crx though so thats what im comparing it to.

 

2p :D

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The H&R/Koni combo seems to win many friends. It's the perfect compromise between improved handling and ride comfort, in my opinion.

 

If anyone is considering getting these, I would strongly recommend you spend the extra tenner on adjustable rears, which are ride height and damping adjustable. By ride height adjustable, I mean 4 or 5 fixed heights and is purely to even off the front to rear height bias. It's not a threaded collar!

 

K

[Andy T 0]

Andy T - my appologies - you obviously know far more about vehicle suspension systems than I do.. :wink:

 

:?: I'm not saying i'm right and that everyone else is wrong, just merely expressing my opinion. I still have lots to learn about the 'black art' of suspension as we all do.

 

Err, you don't design vehicle suspension for a living do you?? :)

 

I used to be very much 'You MUST use shortened stiffened shocks with lowering springs ' but over the last couple of years I have seen that good results & reliability CAN be obtained from using good quality std. length GAS shocks with mild spring drops, so my opinion has changed a little. It's not that black & white.

 

 

 

i think i am right in saying this but etc etc...

 

The kits you guys are all running control the compression and rebound by the same 'valve', at best on the t/a the compression is changed but the rebound is fixed.

 

The problem is that in order to get a good rebound dampening the compression dampening has to be very stiff in the first place. thus the bumpy ride. it is not much to do with the spring until you are concidering super hard ones in coilover kits.

 

feel free to correct me if im wrong....(like you need an invitation!!!)

 

T/A kits are actually 'rebound' adjustable with fixed 'compression', well at least all the t/a's i've seen are.

 

The last t/a kit I owned had very firm compression, and the adjustable rebound ranged from medium to rock hard!

 

I ended up setting the rebound on fully soft, the car still handled extremely well, but stiffening up the rebound resulted in a unbalanced 'pogo stick' like ride and a bad back!

 

Adjustable rebound (IMHO) is a cheap way of getting less bodyroll in the corners......

 

p.s. a friend of mine has had Eibach 30mm springs with Bilstein gas shocks fitted to his mk2 GTI today, and is so far very pleased with the results.

[stevemac 0]

Andy T - Sorry mate, I was having a "bad day". Slightly sarcastic response was uncalled for.

 

In answer to your question - I'm a qualified vehicle technician (13 years Mercedes-Benz & 2 years VWUK) with a further 2 years working as an "Aftersales Manager". Although I am currently unemployed.. :(

 

You are correct - sometimes an acceptable ride quality can be achieved with lowering springs (30mm max drop) & standard shocks. However, based on experience, matching the springs & shocks gives a far better ride quality. As different drivers have different expectations regarding ride quality, I would always advise either matching the shocks & springs, fitting coilovers or even fitting a custom built system (as andycowuk has done). Here - http://corrado.atx-hosting.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4667

[Corvr6 0]

Try this post for more info,G60bv.

 

http://corrado.atx-hosting.co.uk/viewto ... sc&start=0

[Andy T 0]

Andy T - Sorry mate, I was having a "bad day". Slightly sarcastic response was uncalled for.

 

In answer to your question - I'm a qualified vehicle technician (13 years Mercedes-Benz & 2 years VWUK) with a further 2 years working as an "Aftersales Manager". Although I am currently unemployed.. :(

 

You are correct - sometimes an acceptable ride quality can be achieved with lowering springs (30mm max drop) & standard shocks. However, based on experience, matching the springs & shocks gives a far better ride quality. As different drivers have different expectations regarding ride quality, I would always advise either matching the shocks & springs, fitting coilovers or even fitting a custom built system (as andycowuk has done). Here - http://corrado.atx-hosting.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4667

 

No problem mate.

 

It would be nice if the kit manufacturers would state spring poundage & damping rates (compression & rebound, & rebound range for t/a's) on their kits.

 

Ok, most of us wouldn't understand the values but we would have at least some figures to compare between the different kits, at present it's all guesswork and peoples varying opinions & experiences.

 

Getting the right kit to suit your driving style can be an expensive gamble!