Standard suspension

[KIPVW 0]

You are more than welcome to come over and try mine, Chris :-)

[Butterfly 0]

or mine :)

[jamiehamy 0]

I went back to standard height and don't regret it for a minute - although there is slighly more roll on tight twisties, the car is overall so much better, soaks up bump and undulations beautifully as well as getting through deeper snow:) I've got Koni T/As all round which help stiffen it up a bit. Redborbet drove mine and seemed quite impressed with the handling for standard height. The Koni's are beginning to get a bit flaky, will likely go for Bilstein next as always fancied them.

 

I know it sounds obvious, but when you do it, do it all at once them get it setup once. If you do it in stages, you'll have to get the alignment done several times or risk chewing through tyres/sliding off road all the time!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The handling isn't really an issue on the standard rolling stock, it's more the ride height people don't like :D

 

On the standard 15s, the standard suspension works well, but when you add heavier wheels and brakes (17s, 312s etc), you start to feel it. Mainly in the damping.

 

So the way forward is either very good coilovers not slammed, or decent fixed struts if the standard height is unappealing.

Edited September 6, 2012 by Kevin Bacon

[jamiehamy 0]

I don't follow - wheels and brakes are unsprung. I know the lighter the better (from experience witH my g60), but surely improved damping wouldn't fix this, just put a sticking plaster on it to try make it feel better?

 

The handling is really an issue on the standard rolling stock, it's more the ride height people don't like :D

 

On the standard 15s, the standard suspension works well, but when you add heavier wheels and brakes (17s, 312s etc), you start to feel it. Mainly in the damping.

 

So the way forward is either very good coilovers not slammed, or decent fixed struts if the standard height is unappealing.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The standard setup is a little under-damped in my opinion, hence it can feel wallowy on undulations and roll a bit on turn in. The spring rates feel about right for our roads though.

Increasing unsprung weight highlights weak damping even more. VW will have chosen the wheels and brakes before the suspension, then tuned the springs and dampers around those and the car's weight.

[jamiehamy 0]

I do find at lower speeds or tight bits there is too much roll. The Koni's help by stiffeneing them, but can only go so far then ride gets harsh. ARBs are on the horizon, but not decided whether I should go for both and keep handling similar ( i only really want less roll) or just rear and make it less nose heavy - don't want it being tail happy tho. Anyway, nuff from me - sorry for going a bit off topic Chris!

[captainredeye 0]

I found the stock suspension got better the quicker you went in a straight line but didnt like the roll and twitchy rear end when taking any kind of corners, I went for kw v1's in the end have them set to almost maximum travel and find them near spot on although a little softer on the dampening and I wouldn't say a word against them.

[KIPVW 0]

I spent quite some time reading about suspension and talking to my petrol head friend as there was no internet as such back in the late 90's and i decided on koni Ta's with the standard springs to retain the look i wanted IE Standard :) ultimately i wanted to fit eibach roll bars too which i was told would help immensely but not really suitable for concours so couldn't really go there.

 

Would have loved to have tried that combo though.

 

Gone back completely to standard now even with VW dampers and it feels pretty good to be honest, it'll never be any use on a track but on country roads it feels superb and reasuring :)

[ChrisL 15]

No worries. Personally the look of your car rocks my world and the RS wheels are the bomb. But there's more and more owners rolling into the factory look.

 

Certainly try and get a ride in a standard car though.

 

Thanks James, that's the problem. Ideally I need 2 corrados, 1 standard the other mine!

 

You are more than welcome to come over and try mine, Chris :-)

 

or mine :)

 

Thanks I may well take you up on the offer.

 

Well looks like a decision is made on how my car will be, got a good deal on some wheels today so looks like it will stay OEM+ for the time being and just get a complete underbody makeover!

 

Thanks for all the help with the suspension, it may come in useful someday. And thanks for the email Paul, I can get all the rear beam parts from it now.

[scorrado123 10]

Wanna swap with my standard set up ??

[C5 OEM 0]

Glad your getting rid of those rs`s.... they are so scene...lol

[OSV 0]

Glad your getting rid of those rs`s.... they are so scene...lol

 

 

Behave yourself Mr Butler

[C5 OEM 0]

Behave yourself Mr Butler

 

 

lol, only kidding..... I love my rs`s....

[Yandards 0]

It's the later VRs (M chassis year) and the last production year of the 4 cylinder powered cars that got the higher suspension.

 

The reason was the VW fitted 'lateral force comensating' springs to improve ride quality.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The snippets of information you furnish the forum with Yan never cease to amaze me :D

[daleyboy 0]

"Lateral force compensating " thats a good one, does that just mean harder ??

 

It may have been easier just to make the front roll bar 2mm thicker and to stiffen up that useless bar in the rear beam................

[davidwort 0]

"Lateral force compensating " thats a good one, does that just mean harder ??

 

It may have been easier just to make the front roll bar 2mm thicker and to stiffen up that useless bar in the rear beam................

 

the top coils on the springs changed diameter and thickness and the spring top plates changed too, what were originally mk3 golf parts changed to passat parts, I guess they managed to 'tune' the suspension to decrease vibration a little but maintain the handling.

[_Matt_ 26]

I'm dragging up an old thread as I try and work out whether I want to stay stock or go mild lowering and sell off my wheels (speedline 16s, bbs 16s nothing as nice RSs). Chris - cheers for the text the otherday on the front spings. 

I live rural and did feel I slightly ruined my last corrado by lowering it. Yes it looked nice but I lost the supple ride that ultimately made it rattle less and it was quicker down a country lane on stock suspension. I had eibachs and bilsteins last time, eventually switched out the eibachs to H&R which improved the ride on harsh bumps. All bushes were new on the old car, but it was never as good a it was on stock suspension to drive.

Yandards post interested me as I had heard similar elsewhere: rear springs were changed on later cars to increase height. I thought it was something to do with pedestrain crash safety but maybe not. Anyway I like the way early cars sit and mine being a L/94 and I guess early at that as I have the old style 5 pin MAF and was just researching to see if I could find out what would identify the rear springs as being the "lower" stock version? 

I looked at parts diagrams and only see two springs listed for the Corrado 1H55 1111 5K https://www.autodoc.co.uk/spares-search?keyword=1H55 1111 5K&supplier[1]=32 and 191511115F https://www.autodoc.co.uk/spares-search?keyword=191511115F&supplier[1]=32. The part 191 is of course mk2 era and relates to the early G60 and 16v. As those cars are the ones that "sit" right out the box I'm wondering if anyone has tried those rear springs on a VR6? I can't work out if the front is also higher on a VR6 vs the early cars. Probably not a consideration most have thought about but perhaps some posters have in this thread.

Looking at specs for those two springs it seems the 191.. springs are 309mm long vs the 1H55.. springs are 338mm long so may well be onto something however  can't find any similar difference in spring height on the front springs for either early or late corrados to match that difference on the rear5..11115F191511115F191511115F

I might buy a set and try them for size. For me a vr6 set at the same height as say an early Corrado https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/1991-volkswagen-corrado-g60-1 with factory comfort and damping would be perfect.

My current corrado does seem to sit slightly lower at the back vs my last one however it could just be the colour difference decieving my eyes. Neither of mine sit as nicely as that collecting cars g60 though.