Eibach Pro Kit 1 Inch Drop - ECS Spring Install Kits
I have joined the Lowered Crowd!
On July 5th I had the VW Dealer in Chattanooga install the following items:
1. Eibach Pro Kit - 1 inch lowering dual rate springs. Was on sale thru Tirerack as a discontinued item for around $230 I think.
2. From ECS Tuning I purchased the front spring install kit for $200.
3. Also Purchased from ECS Tuning the rear spring install kit (stage2) for $150.
Reading posts on others who installed springs and had noise issues after, I talked to some forum members about the benefit of the ECS install kits. I also sent pictures of the kits to Village VW Chattanooga and asked if they could get some feedback from the Mechanic to see his thoughts. He said if I wanted to buy the kits, he thought it would be good to change the parts out and go with new hardware. The ECS Tuning Spring Install kits are very good. The hardware and many of the parts are made by VW and are made in Germany. The ECS stamped mounts look slightly better that stock.
So this is a shout out to ECS Tuning on these kits!
After the install, the alignment was adjusted and the LP head lights were adjusted and set. Total time about 5 hours. The Service agent was great and gave me a loaner while I waited so I spent some time in Chattanooga.
Initial thoughts:
The car looked great. As you know the GTI has a reverse rake but after install of springs it looks like there is a forward rake. This likely is the Eibach spring design as the ECS mounts looked much like OE. The next thing I noticed was my car was much shorter. When I stepped into the floor of the GTI it felt like a long way down.
On the 1.5 hour drive home, I could tell the car was tight. I have DCC and Sport setting was tighter. On this good road comfort and normal felt about the same. However like any mod, that night and the next day I drove on roads around my home town. On these familiar roads I noticed all the settings where tighter. I would say around 15-20%. At this moment I was starting to think how much it would cost to change back to OE.
Bumps that I did not notice before had a little more impact. I told myself to drive it for a week and see how it goes.
After a week:
I tried to think of the best way to get across the feeling of the Eibach Springs and Friday driving to the nearest big city, I thought of a way.
In the ROCKY movies when Rocky does his push ups he does them in a very controlled way. With strength he goes down and then pushes back up. On a good road the Eibach Springs feel like this. You can feel solid strength as they handle the ups and downs of the road. However when a pot hole, expansion joint hits a wheel, just like Rocky is not fast enough to get out of the way and has to take a punch, the higher spring rate transfers more of the impact to the driver. In sport mode the OE springs would transfer tire impacts from rocks on the road. With Eibach the sport mode now transfers the impacts from the next smaller size rocks. Not terrible but you can feel it. The same can be said for Normal Mode. Comfort mode helps a lot.
The bottom line is the car looks great!
With my new wheels and tires handling was greatly improved and the Eibach springs have helped also but not as noticeable as the tire change. Weaving side to side at high speed, there is little body roll.
I am getting the feel for them and each day the ride feels better. I still have to watch the road closely and be careful when parking as the 1 inch drop now makes more objects a target for my front lip.
If I did not have DCC this change might not have been as good.
Lowering is something you have to want to do and something you have to deal with every time you drive. If this much detail is more than what every time you drive, then think twice about the change.
But it does look good!
What do you think?
First Picture is
BEFORE.
