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What GTI mod would improve ride COMFORT ?

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GTI_fast_driver

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Florida
Folks, I'm well aware most of you want to go in the other direction, that is, for more handling.
I love to drive fast and take corners quickly but if I'm honest, I do not like sacrificing the other 90% of my straight-line driving's comfort. I can tolerate body lean more than the typical enthusiast.

I don't think the stock GTI's setup is too harsh, but i think I'd be happier with a more compliant ride.

What are the best ways to go about this?

I was thinking as a first move, to swap out tires with some higher profile. Lighter wheels should help too. Your thoughts?
 
B

boratstrong

New member
Location
California
Switching to 17" Enkei wheels made a nice improvement in comfort for me. The wheels are very light and Continental DWS06 225/45/17 tires are also light (21lbs). I plan to go with DG springs and Koni ride active shocks in 2019
 
G

GTI_fast_driver

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Florida
boratstrong said:
Switching to 17" Enkei wheels made a nice improvement in comfort for me. The wheels are very light and Continental DWS06 225/45/17 tires are also light (21lbs). I plan to go with DG springs and Koni ride active shocks in 2019
Click to expand...

I would be very interested in that setup for my upcoming 2019.

How do those active shocks work?
 
Strange Mud

Strange Mud

Autocross Champion
Location
Small Town CT
Car(s)
Assorted
in the manual it mentions 32 PSI for some Golf models as comfort setting. cheap/simple/easily reversible
 
Sandman GTI

Sandman GTI

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Tennessee USA
GTI_fast_driver said:
Folks, I'm well aware most of you want to go in the other direction, that is, for more handling.
I love to drive fast and take corners quickly but if I'm honest, I do not like sacrificing the other 90% of my straight-line driving's comfort. I can tolerate body lean more than the typical enthusiast.

I don't think the stock GTI's setup is too harsh, but i think I'd be happier with a more compliant ride.

What are the best ways to go about this?

I was thinking as a first move, to swap out tires with some higher profile. Lighter wheels should help too. Your thoughts?
Click to expand...



As mentioned 17" wheels are one option.

You can also stay with 18" wheels but switch from the OE 18x7.5" wheels to a lighter weight 18x8" wheel. Then switch from the OE tire size 225/40R18 to a 235/40R18 tire.

The sidewall height is taken from the 225/40 part of the code. The SW height for this tire is 40% of 225mm, so 90mm. A 235/40 tire has a side wall height of 94mm. Does not sound like much but side by side you can see the extra height and the wider tire helps handling and also handles road imperfections better. Driving the 235/40R18 tire is also noticeable.
235/40R18 tire on a 18x8" wheel is a perfect match for the GTI. Better than OE sizes.
 
heiney9

heiney9

Go Kart Champion
Location
Illinois
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport DSG
ReadTheBook said:
The new tires I got greatly improved my ride quality and made me realize how shitty the Continental DW tire really is. The new ExtremeContact Sport is night and day different in terms of comfort, noise, and grip.

TLDR: Good tires can make a big difference.
Click to expand...

Were the DW's worn? I have had 3 sets of DWS 06's on 2 different GTi's and they are excellent tires, especially in respect to noise and comfort. I would assume since the Sport is a Summer performance tire it should have better grip in those Summer conditions.

Seems weird to move to a UHP Summer tire in the same brand and have it magically be a night & day difference in every category. Usually more performance oriented tires give up a bit in comfort and ride and noise, it's part of the trade off. Can't have all 3, not possible.

The night and day difference usually comes when you go from a worn out set of tires to "any" new tires. SO if your DW's were worn out, it's not fair to compare to a new set of tires.
 
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The Fed

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
Strange Mud said:
in the manual it mentions 32 PSI for some Golf models as comfort setting. cheap/simple/easily reversible
Click to expand...

My 2016 R manual, which includes the GTI, has that information for the GTI. That 3-4 pounds makes a huge difference, IMO.

Of course, DCC makes a big difference too.
 
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heiney9

heiney9

Go Kart Champion
Location
Illinois
Car(s)
2017 GTi Sport DSG
I was driving around my MK7 over the weekend and it was sluggish and lethargic off the line and when steering. Checked tire pressure and it was 34-34.5 psi. Promptly filled all tires to the recommended 37 psi. Much, much better.

Can't imagine running my tires at 32 psi, not too mention the poor gas mileage. 40 series tires with a recommended 37 psi, IMO, shouldn't be run at 32 psi. 5 psi variation on a low profile tire is a lot.
 
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