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Golf R Estate/Variant Springs & Shocks

bagsnatcher

New member
Location
Chicago
Folks,

I have a Sportwagen 4Motion and am a little underwhelmed by handling characteristics (leans more toward wagen than sport).

I drove a Golf R estate/variant in Europe and enjoyed the ride & handling tremendously.

The R estate/variant springs, shocks & sway bar should mount right up - the catch is, I can't find the correct part numbers.

Your thoughts on this matter?
 

MeltedSolid

Autocross Newbie
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Car(s)
'15 Golf, e36 328i
It might be cheaper to go with aftermarket suspension, and the effect will be even more pronounced. Otherwise you might want to browse for used R estate suspension, which will be your cheapest option.
 

bagsnatcher

New member
Location
Chicago
Well, I would like to keep things OEM, or OEM+.

All the usual parts list places don't have a clear description of the Golf R estate/variant part numbers ...
 

tplociniak

Go Kart Newbie
Location
NEPA
Car(s)
2017 Alltrack SEL

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
Is there any way to visually distinguish between regular and sport springs/shocks, all OEM ?
 

Faceman

Autocross Newbie
Location
Long Island
Car(s)
'17 GSW 4Mo
Well, I would like to keep things OEM, or OEM+.

All the usual parts list places don't have a clear description of the Golf R estate/variant part numbers ...
The difference in the rear sway bars is very minimal. I changed mine out to a rear sway bar from 034 Motorsports and handling really improved.



As for springs, you can use regular R springs with TT rear spacers.



You'll have a tough time finding those exact struts here and the cost to import them will not be cheap. You're better of going aftermarket with something that won't give a large drop.



Koni adjustable struts and Eibach springs are going in by the end of the month.
 

TwinDad

Autocross Newbie
Location
Fort Lee, NJ
20190722_172019-1600x778.jpgI have the fwd sportwagen and I did gti front springs, S3 rears and a gti swaybar. Based on front and rear weights, you can probably do the same thing with R rear springs and maybe the TT spring pad and golf R swaybar. The handling is night and day for me vs stock. Car sits about 1" lower all around
 

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
I'm thinking about upgrading the swaybars on my TSI, but don't want to go too stiff (also not too expensive :)). Are the oem GTI swaybars at the softer end compared to the aftermarket options ?
 

MeltedSolid

Autocross Newbie
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Car(s)
'15 Golf, e36 328i
GTI sway bars are like slush compared to the aftermarket options, or so I've heard.
 

GeorgeTDI

Ready to race!
Location
EU
Car(s)
Golf Mk6 TDI
Well I like slush. But will they do the job ? :) TwinDad seems satisfied with them...
 

TwinDad

Autocross Newbie
Location
Fort Lee, NJ
Compared to the stock golf one, it's way better. Body roll is no where near as bad. I would say shock upgrade would be more important to me next over a larger rear sway bar
 

TwinDad

Autocross Newbie
Location
Fort Lee, NJ
TwinDad,

Did you do the Just the GTI rear or the GTI front and rear bars?

-Jonathan

I did just the gti rear. Not even PP. I calculated the torsional stiffness difference on some calculator and the standard gti bar is like 50% stiffer than the stock golf. The PP bar was maybe 12% more than gti base. I don't remember that one offhand.
I also went with S3 rear springs though which are stiffer than golf R. I haven't been able to verify the exact ratings in lbs/in. but golf is 175, sportwagen is 195, gti is 230 and R is 245. The S3 spring is shorter by 1-1/2" over the R spring and only sat a tiny bit lower. It also has one less coil wind. That clearly points to a stiffer spring. I asked everywhere I could, and a guy on Facebook with an S3 verified that they were stiffer when he was talking with Neuspeed about spring options, but he can't remember the numbers. So I'm sure that is also helping me feel the difference. The ride is still very good, But on bad dips at speed, I feel the rear shocks are beyond their limit. I would probably go to the B8 shocks next
 
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