tigeo
Autocross Champion
- Location
- Richmond, VA area
So after a week, here are my thoughts on the latest round of chassis/suspension/mount bits I added to my Sportwagen.
Current setup is H&R Sport springs, Bilstein B8s, Euro Sport camber mounts (added), H&R 25mm RSB w/Moog end links, 034 r. subframe inserts, Tyrolsport f. deadset kit (added), H&R 27mm FSB (added), 034 adjustable FSB end links (added), Superpro aluminum LCAs (added), 034 Density Line engine/trans mounts, and finally 034 dogbone pucks/upper + lower inserts + billet pendulum arm (added). It’s a lot of stuff!
Car is at -2 camber and +7.25 caster now. Unfortunately I don’t have the before alignment numbers but going off the specs for the Eurosport camber mounts (adds -0.8 camber) and Superpro LCAs (adds +1 caster and -0.5 camber) – so should have been at just under -1 up front with the lowering springs only which makes sense.
I have no tire rub on 18x8.5 et 43s on 235/40 Conti Extreme Contact Sports with 10mm spacers up front and 15mm spacers out back. I have done the “fender screw mod”. The Contis run small and my Michelin PS4 all seasons mounted on APR 18x8.5 et 45 wheels will likely rub up front so I’ll have to play around when I put them on this winter and possibly not run spacers. I plan on picking up some 17x9 Apex wheels to mount some 245 or 255/40/17 200tw tires on for track use and I think I’ll be ok w/r to rubbing without spacers.
The car is very “tight” feeling overall now. The stock LCA bushings are softer than you realize, the LCAs with poly bushings really firm up the ride in general and almost give the feeling of stiffer springs/dampers. Bigger hits are more abrupt feeling now and you get more “buzz” from small road imperfections. I would think simply replacing your LCA bushings with the solid rubber “RS3” ones from BFI or the poly ones would be a nice upgrade but if you are removing the LCAs, you may as well get some improved suspension geo!
The camber/caster change makes the turn in during aggressive driving much sharper and more direct feeling.
FSB has reduced body roll even further than previous and has not done what many say and introduced understeer vs. just having the RSB. The car feels v. neutral overall in hard cornering to me.
Dogbone bits added have removed any semblance of movement during take off (DSG). The counter is you do get more NVH (duh) that is higher with the AC on. When you let off the brake and clutch engages, you do get a short-lived strong vibration through the cabin. Some say this subsides over time, time will tell as it’s only been a few weeks. My guess is if you removed the upper insert this would be reduced significantly as some movement in that rubber mounts would be induced. Like all these mods, NVH is typically the trade off for firming things up/removing movement in the drivetrain.
No noises/creek/pops at all. When I leave my driveway I have to turn sharply at the bottom to come out sideways so I don’t scrape the front. Before I had an occasional creak/noise as the chassis flexed but now, zero.
My BBK f. rotors touch the ends of the LCAs at full lock. I’ve spent some time looking at this and it’s just a combination of the thicker aluminum LCAs and 34mm wide rotors. I am going to try to Dremel the ends down a bit when I get some time. I don’t think you will have an issue with any of the OE larger brake options that have thinner rotors. I just don’t go to full lock is about it. It was tight before even on the stock LCAs with the p. side dust shield scraping at times so no surprise here.
My wife has ridden in it a few times and not said anything related to it being uncomfortable, harsh, noisy etc. beyond what it was before the changes but it is at a point now where I wouldn’t want to introduce anymore NVH to the car since it is my daily.
Current setup is H&R Sport springs, Bilstein B8s, Euro Sport camber mounts (added), H&R 25mm RSB w/Moog end links, 034 r. subframe inserts, Tyrolsport f. deadset kit (added), H&R 27mm FSB (added), 034 adjustable FSB end links (added), Superpro aluminum LCAs (added), 034 Density Line engine/trans mounts, and finally 034 dogbone pucks/upper + lower inserts + billet pendulum arm (added). It’s a lot of stuff!
Car is at -2 camber and +7.25 caster now. Unfortunately I don’t have the before alignment numbers but going off the specs for the Eurosport camber mounts (adds -0.8 camber) and Superpro LCAs (adds +1 caster and -0.5 camber) – so should have been at just under -1 up front with the lowering springs only which makes sense.
I have no tire rub on 18x8.5 et 43s on 235/40 Conti Extreme Contact Sports with 10mm spacers up front and 15mm spacers out back. I have done the “fender screw mod”. The Contis run small and my Michelin PS4 all seasons mounted on APR 18x8.5 et 45 wheels will likely rub up front so I’ll have to play around when I put them on this winter and possibly not run spacers. I plan on picking up some 17x9 Apex wheels to mount some 245 or 255/40/17 200tw tires on for track use and I think I’ll be ok w/r to rubbing without spacers.
The car is very “tight” feeling overall now. The stock LCA bushings are softer than you realize, the LCAs with poly bushings really firm up the ride in general and almost give the feeling of stiffer springs/dampers. Bigger hits are more abrupt feeling now and you get more “buzz” from small road imperfections. I would think simply replacing your LCA bushings with the solid rubber “RS3” ones from BFI or the poly ones would be a nice upgrade but if you are removing the LCAs, you may as well get some improved suspension geo!
The camber/caster change makes the turn in during aggressive driving much sharper and more direct feeling.
FSB has reduced body roll even further than previous and has not done what many say and introduced understeer vs. just having the RSB. The car feels v. neutral overall in hard cornering to me.
Dogbone bits added have removed any semblance of movement during take off (DSG). The counter is you do get more NVH (duh) that is higher with the AC on. When you let off the brake and clutch engages, you do get a short-lived strong vibration through the cabin. Some say this subsides over time, time will tell as it’s only been a few weeks. My guess is if you removed the upper insert this would be reduced significantly as some movement in that rubber mounts would be induced. Like all these mods, NVH is typically the trade off for firming things up/removing movement in the drivetrain.
No noises/creek/pops at all. When I leave my driveway I have to turn sharply at the bottom to come out sideways so I don’t scrape the front. Before I had an occasional creak/noise as the chassis flexed but now, zero.
My BBK f. rotors touch the ends of the LCAs at full lock. I’ve spent some time looking at this and it’s just a combination of the thicker aluminum LCAs and 34mm wide rotors. I am going to try to Dremel the ends down a bit when I get some time. I don’t think you will have an issue with any of the OE larger brake options that have thinner rotors. I just don’t go to full lock is about it. It was tight before even on the stock LCAs with the p. side dust shield scraping at times so no surprise here.
My wife has ridden in it a few times and not said anything related to it being uncomfortable, harsh, noisy etc. beyond what it was before the changes but it is at a point now where I wouldn’t want to introduce anymore NVH to the car since it is my daily.