winter beater Golf R

[kep]

I've gotten sick of killing tires within 2-3 hours of track use. in effort to add some roll stiffness and a small amount of static camber, I've caved in and bought a set of lowering springs. However, my axle bolts have seemingly fused themselves to the hub and have yet to move after applying over 1000ft/lb and heat. Several tools have already exploded in effort to remove them, but eventually we will prevail.

https://youtube.com/shorts/bUK0c1Y51Xw?feature=share

 

[scrllock]

I've gotten sick of killing tires within 2-3 hours of track use. in effort to add some roll stiffness and a small amount of static camber, I've caved in and bought a set of lowering springs. However, my axle bolts have seemingly fused themselves to the hub and have yet to move after applying over 1000ft/lb and heat. Several tools have already exploded in effort to remove them, but eventually we will prevail.

https://youtube.com/shorts/bUK0c1Y51Xw?feature=share

I caved and bought a 3/4" breaker bar. 40" did the trick on mine. couldn't get them torqued with a smaller bar tbh.

 

[kep]

Most recent failure was using a 3/4" bar with a 3/4" to 1/2" drive adapter that the Snap-On guy insisted would be strong enough - it was not. 3/4" socket is on order.

 

[kep]

Finally got around breaking the axle bolt loose and swapping the springs in - a 3/4" socket+bar finally did the trick. Current ride height is 2 finger gap front, 1 finger rear. Ride quality is totally fine, slightly stiffer and quicker recovery from bumps.. Despite my Bilstein B6 shocks marketed for use with OEM springs only, the excess droop travel is not an issue with regards to keeping the springs preloaded. I'll post an actual thread once I get some seat time on them.

Lowest possible quality picture post install.

 

[JPB WORLDWIDE]

Finally got around breaking the axle bolt loose and swapping the springs in - a 3/4" socket+bar finally did the trick. Current ride height is 2 finger gap front, 1 finger rear. Ride quality is totally fine, slightly stiffer and quicker recovery from bumps.. Despite my Bilstein B6 shocks marketed for use with OEM springs only, the excess droop travel is not an issue with regards to keeping the springs preloaded. I'll post an actual thread once I get some seat time on them.

Lowest possible quality picture post install.
View attachment 288558

Dude - album cover stays on that photo. Lol.

 

[kep]

Dude - album cover stays on that photo. Lol.

Straight Outta Compton Moscow

 

[kep]

Finally got the car aligned and drove it for the first time in months. Alignment guy ended up giving me 1/16" rear toe out instead of in, which honestly might have been the right thing for this car, so I don't mind. I've taken it to a couple autocrosses on the new alignment+springs and the car handled as good as I could ask for while running v730s in the rain.

The APR springs are about as stiff as I think you'd want to go on a daily. I added a pair of cheap $10 rubber isolators on the rear dead coils to offset the slight reverse rake from the springs.

 

[19birel]

Running some toe out in the rear should make the back of the car a little more willing to rotate. As you said, probably not a bad thing!

 

[kep]

Running some toe out in the rear should make the back of the car a little more willing to rotate. As you said, probably not a bad thing!

Yep. On the stock springs, the car already had plenty of rotation on corner entry due to weight transfer, so I was slightly concerned it could end up too loose. The nice thing about about those rubber spacers I have in the rear is that it i ever find the car too loose, removing them should add a little more rear stability.

 

[scrllock]

How is the APR/B6 pairing?

 

[kep]

How is the APR/B6 pairing?

No complaints from me. I wish I had some dry weather autox or track time so I could give feedback there, but ride quality is good in my opinion. Time will tell if it helps improve the life of my tires, but so far I'd recommend it as a budget dual duty setup.

For context, my other car is a miata on 800/500 springs, so I'm more accustomed to a stiff ride than most.

 

[scrllock]

No bottoming out though? I looked at the springs and thought with the super minimal drop in front I could pair them with B6 front, B8 rear.

 

[kep]

As far as I'm aware, B6 and B8 are the same apart from B8 having an internal spacer to limit droop travel.

I might have bottomed on a local pothole, but that likely would have happened on stock springs too. If bottoming out is your concern, we can do some quick math to see:

Assuming 0.96/.64 motion ratios, the stock wheel rate is 200/100 and APR is 285/148 lbs/in
Given that APR lowers by 0.2/0.86", lets assume the stock car has 2" bump bump travel (just making up a number, I have no idea)
This would mean that stock requires 400/200 lbs to bottom and APR 513/168. My rear is slightly higher with the spacers, so assuming I only drop 0.5" my car would be 513/222

This doesn't account for bump stops, or the fact that i just randomly made up a number for bump travel, but I wouldn't be concerned with excessive bottoming relative to stock.

 

[JPB WORLDWIDE]

As far as I'm aware, B6 and B8 are the same apart from B8 having an internal spacer to limit droop travel.

I might have bottomed on a local pothole, but that likely would have happened on stock springs too. If bottoming out is your concern, we can do some quick math to see:

Assuming 0.96/.64 motion ratios, the stock wheel rate is 200/100 and APR is 285/148 lbs/in
Given that APR lowers by 0.2/0.86", lets assume the stock car has 2" bump bump travel (just making up a number, I have no idea)
This would mean that stock requires 400/200 lbs to bottom and APR 513/168. My rear is slightly higher with the spacers, so assuming I only drop 0.5" my car would be 513/222

This doesn't account for bump stops, or the fact that i just randomly made up a number for bump travel, but I wouldn't be concerned with excessive bottoming relative to stock.

Stop being so damn smart dude

 

[MrTSI]

I am looking at those same APR springs, but paired with Koni Yellows. Before reading the review on here with the B6s, I had reached out to Bilstein tech support who told me they had some doubts about whether the B6/B8 had sufficient rebound damping for the APR spring rates. This is consistent with Kep's remark about the APRs "springing back" more quickly. Not sure this qualifies as "underdamped" but it's consistent with pairing a much stiffer spring with a damper designed for stock-ish rates. The Koni Yellows will let me fine tune the rebound to my taste. It will give me some practice in dismantling the rear suspension Hopefully it won't be too stiff.