aloha_from_bradley
Autocross Champion
- Location
- AZ
EXTREMELY subjective...
I've pulled apart and put back the suspension on a MK7 more times than I can count. I know the torque specs by heart. Also have experience with a variety of different setups / product offerings.
Eibach is far and away the best solution for a lowering spring if you want to use the stock dampers. It also depends on whether you have a DCC car or not. I could literally write a dissertation on this, so I'm going to keep this fairly short & sweet...ish.
Having a damper and spring combination that accurately match for spring rate and strut tuning can't be out matched. Unless you are replacing your struts with something in the "sporty" category, something like what @tigeo has already recommended, you are going to have some odd driving behaviors similar to what's been mentioned above. Bouncy, stiff, crashy, etc. This is from having an overly stiff spring on a damper that wasn't designed for it. It's a very hard combo to achieve. I'd go as far as saying that any lowering spring on a stock damper, DCC or not, is near impossible to achieve a proper riding suspension.
Most people who state that they don't have an issue with their lowering spring / stock damper setup have never experienced a legit setup with properly matched spring / damper combinations. The difference is night and day, and the quality of rebound / compression is evident the moment you hit the first bump in the road. My recommendation would be to save your money and get a kit that was designed for the car, or pick up a set of sport dampers to match with your lowering springs. Bilstein makes some good offerings, but many of their struts don't have a shortened shock body, so they aren't suited for a lowering spring nor will they retain their warranty if you use a strut that's not designed to support a lowering spring (as if they would know if you sent one in for warranty, but that's a different discussion).
There's also the issue with improperly installed springs. Torque values not followed, 2x4 method, not torqueing threaded parts while the car is curb wight bearing, etc. Front lower ball join nuts and rear LCA bolts including the strut bolts are all supposed to be tightened with the car on the ground. If not, you are excessively loading bushings and will cause them to fail prematurely. Don't get me started on not replacing hardware, especially thread locking nuts that are one time use. There's a lot more that goes into choosing and installing suspension, and unfortunately most dealerships do most of this wrong... they take the easy way out, reusing hardware, using air tools to torque top strut nuts, etc. I've called several dealerships on several occasions looking for suspension hardware, very common parts that should be in stock if the techs were actually replacing the stuff, and they aren't. I'm talking about things like sway bar and LCA nuts. They should have an abundance of these parts in stock, but they don't, and it's because they just reuse what's on the car.
Save for some good coilovers, and have someone that knows what they are doing install them. You won't regret it.
I've pulled apart and put back the suspension on a MK7 more times than I can count. I know the torque specs by heart. Also have experience with a variety of different setups / product offerings.
Eibach is far and away the best solution for a lowering spring if you want to use the stock dampers. It also depends on whether you have a DCC car or not. I could literally write a dissertation on this, so I'm going to keep this fairly short & sweet...ish.
Having a damper and spring combination that accurately match for spring rate and strut tuning can't be out matched. Unless you are replacing your struts with something in the "sporty" category, something like what @tigeo has already recommended, you are going to have some odd driving behaviors similar to what's been mentioned above. Bouncy, stiff, crashy, etc. This is from having an overly stiff spring on a damper that wasn't designed for it. It's a very hard combo to achieve. I'd go as far as saying that any lowering spring on a stock damper, DCC or not, is near impossible to achieve a proper riding suspension.
Most people who state that they don't have an issue with their lowering spring / stock damper setup have never experienced a legit setup with properly matched spring / damper combinations. The difference is night and day, and the quality of rebound / compression is evident the moment you hit the first bump in the road. My recommendation would be to save your money and get a kit that was designed for the car, or pick up a set of sport dampers to match with your lowering springs. Bilstein makes some good offerings, but many of their struts don't have a shortened shock body, so they aren't suited for a lowering spring nor will they retain their warranty if you use a strut that's not designed to support a lowering spring (as if they would know if you sent one in for warranty, but that's a different discussion).
There's also the issue with improperly installed springs. Torque values not followed, 2x4 method, not torqueing threaded parts while the car is curb wight bearing, etc. Front lower ball join nuts and rear LCA bolts including the strut bolts are all supposed to be tightened with the car on the ground. If not, you are excessively loading bushings and will cause them to fail prematurely. Don't get me started on not replacing hardware, especially thread locking nuts that are one time use. There's a lot more that goes into choosing and installing suspension, and unfortunately most dealerships do most of this wrong... they take the easy way out, reusing hardware, using air tools to torque top strut nuts, etc. I've called several dealerships on several occasions looking for suspension hardware, very common parts that should be in stock if the techs were actually replacing the stuff, and they aren't. I'm talking about things like sway bar and LCA nuts. They should have an abundance of these parts in stock, but they don't, and it's because they just reuse what's on the car.
Save for some good coilovers, and have someone that knows what they are doing install them. You won't regret it.
- they are wrapped right now
