Any Functional Benefits to Springs/Dampers?

[1fastredsc]

As the title says, aside from aesthetics does anyone notice a functional improvement to aftermarket springs and dampers vs OEM? Better lap times or more cornering force?
Reason i ask is i have a hard time believing that these lowering kits would do much good without expensive accessories used to correct the alignment after the drop, both static and dynamic. Any thoughts?

 

[1Krautburner]

I have yet to install the suspension mods (springs, and a larger RSB) on my GTI, but all of the other 6 VWs I've owned have had either shocks/springs, or coilovers, and they have all handled noticeably better than stock, both on the street, and on the track.
None of them have been lowered enough to require camber kits, or adjustable control arms. As far as handling improvements go, these car respond best to lowering in the +/-1" range. Any lower than 1.25" or so starts to negatively affect suspension geometry.

 

[breaking badly]

With a well composed arrangement of suspension mods you can
entirely transform how your car feels, no doubt about it. To be
honest, poor arrangements can also affect handling. You did ask
about the benefits though:

Steering feel, turn in, high-speed stability - it's more about your
enjoyment than lap times. Despite this, there are some gains on
laptimes, brake distances etc., but you shouldn't expect wonders.
Most objective gains are made with better tires.

Milder drops (say, up to 1") won't affect geometry, in particular
not when you at the same time increase spring rates and damping
forces, which help to decrease wheel travel within resonable limits.

Two examples: Front camber stock is about -3/4° while with a
common amount of lowering it'll be -1°. That's not bad at all, but
helpful even instead. On rear stock camber is about -1 3/4° and
it'll increase to more than -2°, but since it's adjustable, you could
(and should) have it set back to stock easily. So, where's the issue?