Ride height for best performance?

[jmblur]

Putting it here because this subforum is far superior to the armchair suspension engineers in the suspension forum where more low is always better.

Convinced myself that Ohlins is the way to go for my mk7 R. The current Ohlins design has very little drop from stock ride height- maybe 5mm. Per Ohlins by email-

The new version is VWS MU21S2 and is updated to lower 20mm. It used the 80 N/mm rear springs you’ve noted.

The first versions were well received for ride and handling, but did not lower the vehicle as much as the market preferred. The newest kit is updated in this regard.

The VWS MU21S2 will be on the market later this spring.

Does this amount of lowering put me in a bad place in the camber curve or risk excess bump steer, or is this still a reasonable ride height? Keeping in mind the R is already ~10mm or so lower than the GTI to start with.

(For reference, the Ohlins use 70N/mm front, 80N/mm rear springs, I'd probably up the rears to 90N/mm to start)

 

[xXDavidCXx]

Those armchair suspension engineers were hard at work over the winter

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/suspension-modeling.380313/

 

[DarkArrow]

FWIW, I recently had Ohlins MT21 installed on my car. I took it to probably the most reputable shop in SoCal for alignments and corner balancing. (My knowledge about setting up suspension is probably equivalent to "armchair suspension engineer" so I knew I would rely on their decades of experience aligning and corner balancing everything from a daily to full track spec cars) After about 15 minutes of discussing with them what my main goal was and what compromises I was willing to give, he estimated close to factory ride height +/- 1/4" for corner balancing. I haven't measured the end result because I don't really care, but I'm pretty sure it's nowhere near a 20mm drop. I have basically 1 finger width between fender and a 235/40/18 tire. I would imagine a 20mm drop would have gotten close to eliminating any fender gap. This is Cliff's old Ohlins set with 80/110 spring rates. Cliff's old build thread stated he was lowered about .5".

At this height, driveways are a non-issue and the car performed wonderfully at SMMR this past weekend. I wouldn't want to go any lower.

 

[jmblur]

FWIW, I recently had Ohlins MT21 installed on my car. I took it to probably the most reputable shop in SoCal for alignments and corner balancing. (My knowledge about setting up suspension is probably equivalent to "armchair suspension engineer" so I knew I would rely on their decades of experience aligning and corner balancing everything from a daily to full track spec cars) After about 15 minutes of discussing with them what my main goal was and what compromises I was willing to give, he estimated close to factory ride height +/- 1/4" for corner balancing. I haven't measured the end result because I don't really care, but I'm pretty sure it's nowhere near a 20mm drop. I have basically 1 finger width between fender and a 235/40/18 tire. I would imagine a 20mm drop would have gotten close to eliminating any fender gap. This is Cliff's old Ohlins set with 80/110 spring rates. Cliff's old build thread stated he was lowered about .5".

At this height, driveways are a non-issue and the car performed wonderfully at SMMR this past weekend. I wouldn't want to go any lower.

Ah, so you're the guy who snaked me on picking up Clif's Ohlins!

Yeah, the original Ohlins height is roughly stock Golf R height. They don't have enough adjustment to go lower. The new ones are lower by the (roughly) 20mm noted.

 

[jmblur]

Those armchair suspension engineers were hard at work over the winter

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/index.php?threads/suspension-modeling.380313/

Yep I burrowed through that thread for a while, didn't see a discussion on bump steer which is why I posted here.

While I've got you here, are you still running your Ohlins (just with different springs)? Any idea what the limits on spring rate are with stock valving?

 

[DarkArrow]

Ah, so you're the guy who snaked me on picking up Clif's Ohlins!

Yeah, the original Ohlins height is roughly stock Golf R height. They don't have enough adjustment to go lower. The new ones are lower by the (roughly) 20mm noted.

I may or may not have been the one who also grabbed his harnesses before you could too

 

[jay745]

About a half inch lower than stock. The stance kids freak out seeing my car is barely lowered and has several thousand $$ in the suspension

 

[xXDavidCXx]

Yep I burrowed through that thread for a while, didn't see a discussion on bump steer which is why I posted here.

While I've got you here, are you still running your Ohlins (just with different springs)? Any idea what the limits on spring rate are with stock valving?

Still running Ohlins, and I’m getting the rears revalved this week for 1000 in/lb rear springs. I maxed the adjusters, with 750 in/lb rear springs, trying to get the rear of the car to rotate. The issue was not with the rear, it was lacking support for the front tire. With the higher rates I decided to get the revalve.

 

[xXDavidCXx]

Yep I burrowed through that thread for a while, didn't see a discussion on bump steer which is why I posted here.

While I've got you here, are you still running your Ohlins (just with different springs)? Any idea what the limits on spring rate are with stock valving?

I don’t think bump steer is nearly as big an issue as camber loss is.

 

[jmblur]

I may or may not have been the one who also grabbed his harnesses before you could too

Why I oughta... Did Clif turn down the screw or open up the harness hole? Still considering that mod too.

Maybe tracking down the last gen wouldn't be a bad idea. 20mm is more than I want to drop, I'd be fine with 10 but definitely have some nasty transitions that I already have to take at an angle...

 

[odessa.filez]

About a half inch lower than stock. The stance kids freak out seeing my car is barely lowered and has several thousand $$ in the suspension

half in lower is roughly half inch lower ball joint to subframe attachment point from my measurements. seems to work for me.

 

[q74]

Why I oughta... Did Clif turn down the screw or open up the harness hole? Still considering that mod too.

Maybe tracking down the last gen wouldn't be a bad idea. 20mm is more than I want to drop, I'd be fine with 10 but definitely have some nasty transitions that I already have to take at an angle...

I'm having the same thoughts.

It's likely just the travel has been increased to allow for a lower "stock" (ohlins stock, not vw stock obs.) height. They are adjustable so we should still be able to rally car if we desire.