Golf 1.4 TSI + H&R Sport + Bilstein B8

Hello dear friends!

In this topic I will write a detailed review of the suspensions setups I have used in my car. I think this might be useful because I coudn't find the information I was looking for when searching for spring/dampers matching reviews, comparisons between springs, pictures, height measurements and so on.

I had told in an earlier thread about the DG springs how I felt them too soft and uncontrolled compared to the original setup.

http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26407

Afterwards, I decided to buy some Bilsteins B8 to use with the DG Springs. After installing, the car felt much more balanced and I thought the problem was solved for a while.

However, after a few months using this combo, it still didn't have the sport feeling I was looking for. The suspension didn't felt uncontrolled like it did with the stock dampers, but it still felt too soft and slow over imperfections at highway speeds. In addition, my personal preference is for harder suspension settings.

In order to use the Bistein dampers potential, I decided to change the DG springs for the H&R Sport springs. Before writing about the driving characteristics, I would like to share some pictures comparing the "before and after" of each spring + damper combination I have used so far.

1) Stock springs and dampers







I measured the distance from the wheel center to the fender border as follows:

FL: 39,0cm
RL: 39,2cm
FR: 38,1cm
RR: 40,3cm

To ignore the groud level differences, I took the average height per axle:

F: (39,0 + 38,1) / 2 = 38,55cm
R: (39,2 + 40,3) / 2 = 39,75cm

I will use these numbers later to compare to the next setups. The height differences will always be compared to the stock values.

2) DG Springs + stock dampers







FL: 34,5cm
RL: 36,0cm
FR: 34,5cm
RR: 35,6cm

F: 38,55 - 34,5 = 4,05
R: 39,75 - 35,8 = 3,95

3) DG Springs + Bilstein B8









FL:34,1cm
RL:36,3cm
FR:34,5cm
RR:36,3cm

F: 38,55 - 34,3 = 4,25
R: 39,75 - 36,3 = 3,45

As the picture shows, there is a considerable height difference between front and rear after installing the Bilstein dampers.

4) H&R Sport + Bilstein B8











FL: 35,0cm
RL: 35,5cm
FR: 35,0cm
RR: 35,5cm

F: 38,55 - 35,0 = 3,55cm
R: 39,75 - 35,5 = 4,25cm

Despite these springs go lower in the rear axle, the measurements show a slight positive rake. In addition, my car has manual gearbox.

Most H&R Sport reviews I have read until now told about negative rake and how unpleasant it looked. Maybe the Bilstein B8 has an influence in the ride height, or people might have choosen wrong H&R part number for their cars load per axle.

About the driving characteristics, the car has now a sportier feel. It is much firmer than it was with DG Springs or with the stock setup. The suspension follows the surface precisely, you can feel more the tire contact. This means a more precise handling at the cost of feeling more impact from the imperfections.

For me it still has a good amount of comfort, it is not the same DG Springs comfort, but car handles so much better. There is much less body roll, dive and squat. The suspension reacts faster and the steering has a more precise feeling.

The situations I complained about before seems to be solved with this new combination. The car settles quickly after bumps at highway speeds, I have no more floaty feeling and oscillation.

I have this setup installed for less than a week, there are much more situations to test.

A final advice for people who are new to suspension tuning like me. A few days before installing this suspension, I discovered that the self locking nuts and angular torque screws must be replaced every time they are disassembled from the suspension. When reused, there is no guarantee that they will resist to the specified torque and angle. You must buy new ones before installing new springs or dampers.

Nice post - great information. I'm also thinking about H&R Sport + B8.

Thanks!

Thanks for the write up. I am very interested in this setup. Looking forward to any updates you may have now

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TankTopMK7 said:

Thanks for the write up. I am very interested in this setup. Looking forward to any updates you may have now

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Last Thursday I completed one week running this setup, and the initial impressions are being confirmed.

Car feels very tight, precise and fast steering. Suspension movements over bumps and drops are very controlled. I took the car to a drive in my "test track", it is a road with a great mix of corners. I have more confidence to drive fast with H&R than I had with DG springs.

Stumbled upon this thread while searching for 1.8T related content. Great comparison and visuals. Surprised to see DG springs dropped the car more than H&R. The last combo looks good. I've been riding on ED springs and stock dampers for 50k miles. I remember my initial measurements were more than advertised 1.6" (4.06 cm) drop. I'd say close to 2" (5.08 cm). Today I measured 33" front and 34" rear from center of the wheel to the fender line.

I'm switching to Eibach pro kit and Bilstein B8's hoping to bring the car up a bit and level.

I think advertised drop levels are more for GTI based in my experience.

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TJN said:

Stumbled upon this thread while searching for 1.8T related content. Great comparison and visuals. Surprised to see DG springs dropped the car more than H&R. The last combo looks good. I've been riding on ED springs and stock dampers for 50k miles. I remember my initial measurements were more than advertised 1.6" (4.06 cm) drop. I'd say close to 2" (5.08 cm). Today I measured 33" front and 34" rear from center of the wheel to the fender line.

I'm switching to Eibach pro kit and Bilstein B8's hoping to bring the car up a bit and level.

I think advertised drop levels are more for GTI based in my experience.

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Click to expand...

Thank you for your comment! I am pretty sure that the Bilsteins will bring you a high level driving.

I also got more drop than advirtised while using DG springs and stock dampers. After installing the Bilsteins, the car sat a bit higher. The front was much lower than the rear though. I kind of disliked that look. The DG springs and stock dampers had worse handling but looked better.

But then I installed the H&R springs and they looked much better, front and rear sit almost at the same height, the front still is a little bit lower. I also prefer the stiffer feeling of the H&R for driving.

Let us know your impressions on how the car rides.

I've been riding on Eibach pro kit and Bilstein B8's since October and can't recommend this combo enough. I think it's really similar to your H&R setup. My measurements are 34.5 front and 34.7 or so rear.

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My search for springs and dampers is over, they work really well together. The next upgrades could be larger wheels and better tires.

Somewhere in there you went from Hankook tires to Michelin. That makes a huge difference and probably influences your bias. That was the first mod I made.

Actually, I didn't like the Michelin as expected. I drove less than 25000km on it and the edges already have signs of wear. I think they won't reach the same 60000km that I drove on the Hankook.


The grip is nothing special, probably the Hankooks were a bit better. There are no performance tires for 205/55 R16, therefore my idea to upgrade for larger wheels doesn't only consider looks, but handling as well. There are much better tires for 225/45 R17 or 225/40 R18.



However, two very important remarks for the Michelin tires are that I bought them on sale and they are made in Brazil and not in France. My experience tells that when an international product is made in Brazil and not imported anymore, they won't have the same quality as before. Or maybe I got bad units because they were on sale. In comparison, the Hankooks were made in Hungary.