Manufacturers spend lots of time and money for improving components of a car to satisfy their customers in many ways. It's a fact that not all the GTI owners want their cars to have a ground clearance of 7 or 8 centimeters (a clearance which is enough to hit a cigarette package of King Size). If you want more precise driving and cornering performance, sport suspension springs, stiffer and shorter shocks may be a good start for a healthy car suspension tuning. Most people tend to use their old shocks doing this, even their old suspension springs, buy cutting them.

For the sake of safety, NEVER cut your springs to get them to the desired ride height, just buy a new one or two pair according to your suspension system, thus you will have brand-new suspension springs which probably will meet your needs. Second: For a satisfying suspension tuning, it will be a good choice having shorter shocks to ensure your new, shorter springs work in harmony, if you can afford it.

 

Actually, it isn't that you should have shorter shocks; the car still bottoms out at the same point. Short springs usually end up with a higher spring rate; they are stiffer. Using them with your stock shocks with the stiffer springs results in an underdamped system- the car bounces too much. When replacing your springs with stiffer springs, you should shocks with increased damping.

 

The problems that people have with shorter ride heights is they lower the vehicle more than the manufacturer designed them to be. If you limit your drop to an inch or so the stock shocks aren't likely to bottom out. Better, handling and ride will still be good. Go over 1.5" drop and suspension geometery will suffer and you must install very stiff shocks (make it a big go-cart) which of course produces poor ride but will work on the autocross course.

 

Please Submit your tips! The editors of SE-R.net would like to make our set-up database as large as possible. If you have chassis set up data or reviews of parts that work well for you please submit them to me.
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seandalton
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