NEW Öhlins coilovers

[K03]

I hate to change the topic or thread jack but i'd like to ask what you guys think without making a thread of my own. Someone quoted bostonaudi in the beginning, and in short he said the best streetcar setup for the buck would be some sort of Blisten or Koni shock with a DG-esque spring.

So what do you guys think would be the shock to run on this setup? I can probably guess most of you will say Koni Yellows due to their adjustability, but are there any others anyone would recommend?

I've moved away from the usual VW lowering bs and ive grown very interested in autocross (ik it would be optimum to autox a stock car but its too late for that in my case), i dont have a giant budget but it would be nice to have a decent setup.

 

[GTI_Speed]

I think we should have an Autocross Level 2 Help thread where questions like this could be posted. Anything from setup to classing to technique could be discussed there.

 

[K03]

I dont see why it cant be answered here, that thread isnt on the first 5 pages of this subsection so i rather not revive it.

 

[GTI_Speed]

The biggest things are A.) Your Budget and B.) Level of seriousness

Judging by your current mod's you have listed you are already at least in D Street Prepared which is a pretty heavily modifiable class. We are talking 17x9 wheels with 275 width Hoosier A6's, fender flares, cutting some fat, the whole 9 yards to be competitive at a national level. You are going to want a halfway decent coilover with high spring rates and camber plates to compliment that grip. Think along the lines of a KW Clubsport or Eibach Multi-Pro R2 at a minimum.

If you are just starting out or autox'ing for fun there are plenty of decent options out there ranging from the koni + DG spring setup to multipro R1 coilovers with some custom spring rates. If you go this route look to get matching rates front and rear so you get good rotation. 300lb-400lb should still be comfortable for daily driving.

 

[fuscobal]

Hello guys. Been on a trip to Nurburgring for the past 5 days and rented the Swift Sport stage 2 from rent4ring. The car had the Ohlins R&T coilover so it was a perfect way for me to see how it behaves. First of all, had a little chat with the guys there (some of them professional racing drivers). They said they used Bilstein B16 in the past and pulled them out of all cars because of some really bad experiences (crashes on high performance cars with very good drivers). Thjey also said Bilstein clubsport is much better but still not good enough for the money. Their recommendation in terms of a good track suspension went to KW clubsport and Ohlins R&T. Don't know if they were biased, I'm just telling what they've said. On my little Suzuki the Ohlins was set to 12/20 so I took it for a drive. As I was on my 10th lap there I started slow and gradually increased corner speed as I was starting to learn the track. My first impression of this coilover was the butter smooth behavior as compared to my very rough B16 (different cars but don't think that matters that much). Although they were so smooth the damping was amazingly fast on the Nordschleife and the high speed control very good. Where my B16 was very "jumpy" on the track, this one absorbed all the irregularities without the car mooving so much vertically (this also translated into more driving confidence). Thinking seriously of switching to the Ohlins on the future !

 

[Autobahn]

Thanks for the info, haven't heard from you in a while :thumbsup:

Happy I spent the extra and got the KW Clubsports when I did...

 

[race bumb]

Spring rate is great if you like understeer. So is a bigger front bar than rear. I track a MkV GTI at least 3 times a month at Thunderhill Raceway and it would push straight off the track and burn the tires off in tight corners, with led, on these kind of set ups.

 

[fuscobal]

Ok, started saving for the Ohlins which hopefully will be on the car by next spring. As it doesn't come with camber plates I'm thinking of going with one of the following (since they are meant to be used with OEM upper mounts, I suppose they are compatible with all mk5 aftermarket camber plates) :

- http://www.performancebyie.com/integrated-engineering-adjustable-camber-plates-for-mk5-mk6-chassis
- http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=870/CA=195
- http://www.esetuning.com/VWR-Volkswagen-Racingline-Solid-Top-Mounts-p/vwr43g500.htm

Any advice here ?

 

[bostonaudi]

Spring rate is great if you like understeer. So is a bigger front bar than rear. I track a MkV GTI at least 3 times a month at Thunderhill Raceway and it would push straight off the track and burn the tires off in tight corners, with led, on these kind of set ups.

You definitely don't want a bigger front bar than rear on a fwd car! It would lead to exactly what you noted. A bigger front than stock works like a champ though, with corresponding larger rear bar. I always had trouble with front spinning, I attributed much of that to a K04 with hyper midrange response.

 

[Autobahn]

Why not buy KW Clubsports, they have some of the best plates around, second best would be IE's.

There's a member on vortex that has a mkv R32 that's selling his: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...Haldex-Wheel-Studs-Micro-Can-Wheels-and-tires

Ok, started saving for the Ohlins which hopefully will be on the car by next spring. As it doesn't come with camber plates I'm thinking of going with one of the following (since they are meant to be used with OEM upper mounts, I suppose they are compatible with all mk5 aftermarket camber plates) :

- http://www.performancebyie.com/integrated-engineering-adjustable-camber-plates-for-mk5-mk6-chassis
- http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=870/CA=195
- http://www.esetuning.com/VWR-Volkswagen-Racingline-Solid-Top-Mounts-p/vwr43g500.htm

Any advice here ?

 

[fuscobal]

Clubsports may even be a little better as ultimate track than Ohlins but they have no warranty while Ohlins has 2 yrs and don't know how they would compare in terms of rough roads reliability ! IE camberplates seem very similar to VWRacing (don't know who actually makes them for VWR)

 

[the bruce]

H&R make two series of camber plates for the PQ35 platform.
One for racing springs, one for stock diameter.
The IE seem very pretty though. Never seen them or read any
review unfortunately.

 

[Autobahn]

ryeboy on vwvortex has IE plates with ohlins struts/shocks and Koni coilover sleeve system, he has positive things to say about the IE plates, basically no clunking or noise like some of the Ground Control guy's report.

 

[fuscobal]

H&R make two series of camber plates for the PQ35 platform.
One for racing springs, one for stock diameter.
The IE seem very pretty though. Never seen them or read any
review unfortunately.

Bruce, they have these 2 :

- 60755-60 > Tuner Fitment. Requires H&R Coil Over w/ 60mm I.D. springs. Adjustable +1.0 to -2.5 degrees.

- 60755-80 > Tuner Fitment. Requires H&R Coil Over w/ 80mm OE I.D. springs. Adjustable +1.0 to -2.5 degrees.

I suppose 80mm is what OEM suspension uses, but also PSS10 since they work with OEM upper mounts !?! Then how about Ohlins which uses 65mm springs but also work with OEM upper mounts ?! I'm a little confused about this compatibility between coilovers and camber plates !

 

[the bruce]

Don't get confused by the max outer dia. It's only the top end dia what counts here.
(taken aside that huge max dia springs limit the max camber if they touch the dome)

H&R 60755-2 seem to fit stock diameter springs:

http://www.ecstuning.com/ES2515446/

"The application is compatible with H&R struts and stock struts. Adjustment range is -2.0° to
-3.0°, depending upon ride height, and accommodates for the needed strut angle change."

http://www.autotech.com/product/10-498-607552.html

http://www.essexdistributors.com/product_info.php?products_id=6511

http://www.vividracing.com/catalog/...719681.html?osCsid=qt5kdl29n7eg9178hlg9pskat1

You'll find differently looking H&R camber plates, because H&R changed the design
two or three years ago. Possibly the part # has changed to 60755-60 and 80 . . .

There's of course still some slight uncertainty about the Öhlins upper spring seat
fitting the top mount/camber plate, as probably this spring seat isn't necessrily
exactly the same shape as a stock spring. The only way to find out is to try it out.
This issue/risk would also be the same with any camber plate.


:wink: