Review: H&R Street Performance Coilovers

Review: H&R Street Performance Coil Over

Aim:

The primary aim is to assess the virtues of the H&R Street Performance (H&R SPC) coil over suspension system upgrade fitted to the Volkswagen MKV R32. The suspension system includes H&R adjustable solid anti-roll bars (24mm/26mm) set on soft for front and hard for rear for a nice neutral chassis balance.

The second reason for review is to compare the H&R SPC upgrade with a Haldex Gen II upgrade, to determine if money is better spent on the Haldex Gen II controller, or the H&R SPC and H&R anti-roll bar suspension upgrade. A second black colored VW R32 with stock suspension will be used as a baseline comparison, with one exception, the stock R32 will sport a Haldex Generation II controller.

A third dimension will be added, throwing little brother Volkswagen GTI into the equation; albeit not a standard GTI - one equipped with Koni FSD dampers, Eibach Prokit progressive rate springs lowering about 15mm, and H&R solid adjustable anti-roll bars (26mm/22mm) set on soft for front and hard for rear to maintain a near neutral handling bias as that of the H&R SPC R32. Is the improved GTI good enough to keep big brother R32 honest when the going gets tough in real world conditions?

H&R review

The venue and the weather:

Just outside of ‘Sydney’ on a mix of roadways that replicate real world driving conditions. Roadways consist of a variety of road textures from smooth pot hole free bitumen to coarse pot-hole/pitted/rutted bitumen; an abundance of graded and flat sections with positive and negative camber corners; some sections are long and straight coupled with plenty of patchwork and sunken cavities. We are looking to confirm or disprove the premise that: good road cars do not make good race cars; and good race cars do not make good road cars. We’ll find out if an optimum balance between the two be had?

The preceding few days it rained, which resulted in much debris strewn along the roadway. I arrived at the meeting point very early to find the side of the roadway littered with a layer of tree leaves and broken branches laying across the thoroughfare. After striking a half decent size of a log, I decided to drive the whole route, frequently stopping to remove the tree branches and logs, dodging all the motorcyclist blasting the other way in the process. Caution on the drive was the order of the day.

H&R review

Driver line-up:

Jig aka Jose:

Top Gear has the ‘STIG’, we have the ‘JIG’. Jig is a well known character on this forum. He is no stranger for performance vehicles; his last ride was the current model 220K V8 Maserati Coupe, which was sold in favor of an R32. This goes to show that you don’t need mega bucks to own a car that provides fun driving entertainment. Jig’s vehicle is the UG 3 door R32 with aftermarket wheels that is riding on the H&R SPC coilovers and H&R anti-roll bars.

Jester_Fu aka Scott:

Scott is the owner of the stock ‘baseline’ black 3 door R32 6 speed manual, albeit with the Haldex Gen II Controller fitted to shuffle the power rearwards much more hurriedly than a stock R32. Scott has an impressive resume: Physicist, Mechanic and Robotics Engineer, comes from lineage that with a trade & business in repairing and servicing motor vehicles. He likes the odd track day in his racing Peugeot GTI. In other words, he knows a bit about driving and motor vehicles in general.

White James:

Fun Nazi that with a fetish for all things German. James has kindly supplied the White 5-door Koni FSD/Eibach Prokit/H&R GTI to keep big brother R32 honest when the going gets tough. The suspension system in this vehicle has become a choice of many for the street-driven Volkswagen GTI. It is worth noting that this upgrade is a conventional strut upgrade, as opposed to a coil over system of matched spring & damper combination.

The three driver’s views on the virtues or disadvantages of each suspension setup help to eliminate any personal bias towards one particular vehicle. The defensive driving technique is adopted, with the slow-in/fast-out approach negotiating a late and wide apex, which improves the trajectory of view into and around the corner; not to mention that this approach is probably the best way to drive the Volkswagen Golf.

H&R review

The product:

H&R is the pioneer in the street performance coilovers, being the first into the European market to offer such a product. Highly esteemed suspension companies such as Bilstein and VF Sachs use numerous H&R manufactured parts in their own version of coilover suspension. Rest assured that H&R are the ‘Real McCoy’ when it comes to suspension systems, with many of the others being imitators with re-branded H&R product. The H&R SPC is a height only adjustable coilover that is preset for compression and rebound from the H&R factory in Germany. Everything H&R is made in Germany. None of this sending product to second or third world countries to save on labor costs.

The H&R SPC are designed to work favorably with the H&R anti-roll bars, which are made from aircraft grade alloy-steel, shot-peened, powder coated, and cold formed for extra resilience to twisting forces. The main advantage of H&R anti-roll bars is that they come with Teflon bushes, not polyurethane bushes. Teflon bushes eliminate any squeaking and any requirement for oil, giving your ride original NVH levels that is a trademark advantage of the VW/Audi/Porsche Group. The H&R progressive rate springs in the SPC are made of the same material as the sway bars; they are also cold formed. Any load bearing coilover made by H&R is likely to have inverted pistons for extra durability; which should be the case in the front of the VW Golf.

H&R products are TUV certificated and approved. TUV require one of the highest mechanical and production standards in the world. It has been said that it is near impossible to obtain TUV certification for custom build suspension components, the testing regime is that high. Volkswagen will not allow your service centre change a spark plug without German ISO and TUV certification. H&R are certified to the same high standard, making them consummate with your warranty and insurance cover. Look for the TUV and German ISO stuck on the wall of your Volkswagen service department during next service to be sure.

H&R review

1. Route One:

An inclined/declined well covered coarse bitumen roadway that comprises a mix of graded straights, with tight twisting 25-35kph corners at both ends. Many of the straights and corners have wavy undulations that force a loaded suspension to bottom out mid corner. This route will indicate how well a sports orientated suspension system is able to maintain composure when subjected to upsets mid corner, which is crucial to maintaining speed for a road vehicle. Composure = speed out on the open road. Too firm a set up will induce skittish behavior with the chassis skipping over the wavy undulations, costing balance and speed. Too soft a setup and the vehicle losses composure, bouncing off line and into the steep hilly decline or rock face wall. No room for error on this route.

H&R review

1.1. United Grey H&R SPC R32:

Having a mix of three different aftermarket suspension components on my GTI, one of which is H&R, I had high expectations to begin with in respect to this UG H&R SPC R32. Out of the three products, H&R was the only item that met handling, refinement and aesthetics all in one product. The other two products fell down in one of those areas (Koni FSD & Eibach ProKit).

Route one is the most treacherous part of this drive. Survive this route and rest of the day is a breeze. Being hesitant in driving this R32, with the lower front carbon fiber splitter, I took it a little more gingerly. Hammering down this goat track had the H&R SPC UG R32 riding too firm this type roadway. The H&R SPC performed in a more sporting manner than either the stock R32 or Koni FSD/Eibach GTI. The extra compression in the dampening and slightly higher spring rate coped with the undulations fantastically, albeit much more reactively than either of the other two vehicles. The refinement of the H&R SPC is the best I have experienced to date. The last R32 I had down this way with aftermarket suspension had it crashing, banging and losing composure. This was not the case with the H&R SPC coilover. I cannot recall even a muted thud, working as good as if not more refined than the OEM springs & dampers which are linear and are required to meet very high NVH standards, unlike some of the progressive rate strut/damper combos on the market.

The H&R SPC, do not offer the silky smooth trademark Koni FSD ride of the White GTI; but they do offer more in terms of roadway feel, connecting you with what is happening on the face of the roadway. Body roll is drastically reduced as is pitch fore and aft. This does take away some throttle adjustability, in other words, fun; but you sense that this is a much more focused ride, at the same time maintaining a high degree of composure. The compression and rebound and spring rates of the damper are ideally suited to the available grip levels of the performance street tyre. The tyre is your contact point with the roadway; it takes a lot of tentative research – trial and error – to find the optimum suspension rates for the tyre. In this case, H&R have done a fantastic job. I did say I had very high expectations of this UG R32, and the H&R SPC coilover has met or even exceeded them. Bump steer is almost non-existent in this UG H&R SPC.

The biggest drawback on this hell-hole of a road was the H&R anti-roll bars. One wheel bumps had the UG R32 exhibiting the pogo effect, making a very notable reduction in the standard of ride. The H&R SPC was perfectly matched in terms of damper & spring rates and are geared further to the sporting side of the Koni FSD. How much firmer, I’m guessing about 10%, if that. Both Jester_Fu and I came to the conclusion that the age old adage applied in this case: The smoother the roads, the bigger the anti-roll bars; the rougher the roads, the smaller the anti-roll bars. The reduced independence with the addition of the aftermarket H&R anti-roll bars (front on soft; rear on hard), were clearly unsuitable for this terrible portion of tarmac. You could feel the front and rear hamstrung, failing to allow the dropped wheel from dropping onto the roadway. The vehicle would rather glide over the one wheel wave of undulations, which resulted in compromised grip levels.

This is definitely not the set up to have on this roadway on the wet or frosty day. It doesn’t end here; it is evident that the reduced ride height (about 30mm front/20mm rear) proves detrimental to each tyre being able to maintain contact with sunken single wheel depressions, especially near the apex – think of the big dipper at Bathurst with race cars lifting the inside wheel. Similar thing with this UG H&R R32. Surprisingly, the added front carbon fiber splitter bolted as an addition under the front bumper did not come into contact with the roadway on the bigger dips. I’d made sure to price the replacement cost this time around before deciding to run the gauntlet on this route (It costs $500).

On a positive note, going downhill, it was clear that understeer had been reduced right throughout the turn: from turn in, to apex, and on power out. The UG H&R R32 simply went where you pointed it. Approaching the limit does not induce understeer or oversteer; simply a neutral chassis balance that inspires confidence. This vehicle adds another level of surety to an already fine R32 sure footed package. The H&R SPC coilover is the best blend of compression and rebound I have come across to date in any R32.

On a slight tangent: This great looking UG H&R SPC R32 is riding on 18 x 8.0 x ET50 aftermarket rims and 225/40 rubber. This vehicle has not had the screw removed from the top of the front inner plastic guard linings. On this route, the vehicle rubbed against that screw no less than 6 times. This included both corners and straight line driving. The owner, Jose, has very rarely put his UG H&R SPC through a workout like it received today. As mentioned before, forget the ET45 items, stick with ET50, no less. Even 18 x 8.0 x ET50-51 is pushing the boundaries here.

H&R review

1.2. Black Stock R32 with Haldex Gen II controller:

Given the poor standard of roadway, the OEM suspended R32 was actually the best riding vehicle on this section of roadway. The less rigid anti-roll bars give the suspension more freedom to move around on rough roadways, ensuring the wheels depress far enough into single wheel troughs, rather than be suspended in mid air as the case with the stiffer H&R anti-roll bars on the UG H&R R32. The OEM Black Haldex R32 was fun in that it moved around a lot more than the UG H&R R32, being adjustable on the throttle, with that well known sure footedness that is part and parcel of the OEM R32 machine. It goes to show, when the going gets tough, VW chassis engineers really do know their stuff.

Comparing the Haldex Gen II against the R32 with H&R SPC coilover and H&R anti-roll bars; the addition of the H&R sway bars makes a more notable change in chassis dynamics from understeer biased to neutral. The advantage of the Haldex Gen II is that it does limit understeer when powering on, without reducing the quality of the ride, but it cannot overcome the inherent understeer bias of the OEM anti-roll bars, or the higher ride height at the front of the car relative to the rear, which also induces understeer tendencies. The effect of the Haldex Gen II becomes more conspicuous on the uphill runs of this treacherous route; but failed to ultimately provide the amount of improvement that the anti-roll bars offer. Should this route be wet or greasy, the outcome would be quite different, with the Haldex offering faster transition to rear wheel drive, and the softer anti-roll bars placing less burden on the tyres, allowing the chassis to sway and take some slack before losing grip. The OEM R32 with Haldex Gen II would be the preferred choice in inclement weather & roadways conditions. Unfortunately, it was a fine 25 degree sunny day. Advantage to H&R.

The stock R32 helped to prove that for this section of the terribly bad roadway, you would want only the H&R SPC coilovers, but not the anti-roll bars. The OEM dampers are slightly under damped with both less compression and rebound, and do not offer the feel of the H&R SPC coilover, or Koni FSD; but OEM dampers did manage to hold their own on the rough undulating roadway of route one. Pitch fore and aft is immediately noticeable compared to the other two vehicles. Ask a little more of this Black OEM R32 and it will respond with foolproof understeer, safe for majority of lay motorists, but taking that last bit of bling factor out of a spirited drive with repeated stabs at the steering wheel, especially in low speed corners. Bump steer was also more apparent when striking depressions mid corner, causing a slight loss of feeling and control. Bottoming out the suspension only results in a muted thud, very similar to the H&R coilover, perhaps slightly better. This vehicle also failed to match the sharpness of the UG H&R R32, or mid corner grip levels. But the time the Black Haldex R32 was finished with its initial corner entry body roll, the UG H&R R32 was well and truly into the corner, attacking the exit. The advantages of the Black R32 was at the one wheel bumps and the wavy undulations, which worked to its advantage.

1.3. White Koni FSD/Eibach Prokit/H&R GTI:

This little white GTI running the tried and tested Koni-FSD/Eibach ProKit/H&R offered a quality of ride that was in between the UG H&R R32 and the Black OEM Haldex R32. If only the Koni-FSD and Eibach ProKit progressive rate springs were installed, it would easily offer the best ride, with little loss in handling to the slightly firmer and sportier UG H&R R32. The addition of the H&R sway bars relegated the White GTI to second position in ride stakes. It rated about equal to the UG H&R SPC for handling. While the UG H&R R32 was the firmest in handling with a sharper edge, with higher damper compression and spring rate, the White Koni FSD GTI maintained better composure over the wavy undulations of route one. As a rule of thumb, composure means speed out in real world conditions, as pot holes, bumps, undulations do not unsettle the vehicle, as would be the case of a firmer race car style setup that is likely to become skittish, skipping wheels over and not into bumps in the roadway.

The White GTI has to its advantage a higher threshold of grip level. This is due to the GTI being 200kg lighter than the R32. While both R32 felt more planted when things become demanding, the extra weight works against the R32 in mid corner speed, causing it to loss grip earlier. On the other hand, the GTI was upset to a greater degree over undulations, due to less mass keeping everything down. The VW GTI did exhibit a tad more body roll than the UG H&R R32, but less than the OEM R32. If anything, the on route one, the GTI felt closer to the Black OEM R32 than the stiffer UG H&R R32. The reason being that the Koni FSD is working overtime. Once the Koni FSD valve opens, the damper on the White GTI metamorphosis’s from the slightly softer Koni-Sport into a Koni Red, which gives you that trademark Koni ride. After a run in the White GTI, Jig commented, “The suspension on this rough road is like silky smooth; much smoother than mine (UG H&R R32)”. That’s the trademark Koni ride in a nutshell.

Of course, you lose a bit in feel from the UG H&R R32 and pitch fore and aft was more prevalent. Jig also commented that he noticed an absence of torque steer and felt the chassis balance to be similarly neutral as that of his UG H&R R32. Throttle adjustability was less than the stock Black R32, but more than the UG H&R R32, making the GTI moderate fun when steering on the gas. The refinement was a little behind the other two, but not drastically so, which was surprising. The great virtue of this machine is the Koni FSD adjust to roadway conditions and your driving style, all in an instant, which offers the most convenience.

H&R review

2. Route Two:

This route consists of a mix of grey rock coarse bitumen, with intermittent patches of re tarred super soft and smooth bitumen. The roadway presents a challenge in that it has a constantly changing surface texture, which allows us to judge the grip levels within on a variety of roadways in a very short distance. Saves time poor guys like us driving 500km. The roadway base changes mid corner in some areas, making it difficult for the driver to judge entry/exit speeds trying to determine the level of grip of the three Volkswagens. This drive is a mix of faster flowing open corners and 15-35kph tight twisting turns, complete with mid corner undulations, pitted surfaces, ruts and patchwork that have to be traversed mid corner. Like route one, we are negotiating a good degree of incline and decline roadways. On corner in particular, a 15kph 135% hairpin, indicates whether the tyres of the VW Golf come into contact with any part of the ancillary bodywork; in the reverse direction, this 15 kph corner is an excellent measure to judge power down and out of corners, driving up and around a rising corner. We did say this review was based on real world conditions.

H&R review

2.1. United Grey H&R SPC R32:

Once route one was dispensed with, it was always going to get better for the sportier setup of the UG H&R SPC R32. Reason being is that route two has less one wheel undulations and waves; rather having an inferior surface texture, with minor patchwork, ruts, pitted surfaces, but not big dips or sunken sections. There are a couple of big exit corners bumps to negotiate that really test the vehicle composure. The UG H&R R32 with H&R anti-roll bars took to this bit of roadway like a duck to water. It was rarely unsettled, even on a major uphill corner exit bumps; it held its line with great composure.

I have driven other R32’s with tricked up suspension, but this H&R offered an exceptional blend of race car chassis tightness, with a refusal to budge from your intended driving line. Other R32’s are looking to bounce off into the aligning scrubs, losing composure. Going uphill, the UG H&R R32 felt so much like the White GTI – both run H&R anti-roll bars. They are so much alike in fact, it’s chilling; despite having different front to rear weight ratios and mass. Both the UG H&R R32 and White GTI run H&R brand anti-roll bars adjusted the same way, making both very neutral.

The tyres rubbed only once on the 135 degree downhill corner as expected. This vehicle felt rock solid. On open sweepers it resembled more like a race car, than a street car, but still giving a very compliant ride. When getting on the gas very early around an uphill almost hairpin corner, the UG H&R R32 simply maintained a tight line, hugging the centre dividing line. The vehicle still feels very much front wheel drive in the tighter stuff, it could benefit from the Haldex Gen II Controller in this regard. Both Jester_Fu and I were of the opinion that the UG H&R R32 was a bit too firm and tight after route one; on this route, we both changed our opinion, with comments like, “On this roadway, this setup is much more livable.” The grip level of the UG H&R SPC R32 were fantastic. The chassis balance was pretty much spot on, nice and neutral, rarely upset on this route, which is still far from billiard table smooth. I find it difficult to get my head around how well this package is sorted compared to a stock suspended R32. The suspension upgrade for this type of roadway widens the advantage between H&R SPC coilovers with H&R anti-roll bars versus the Haldex Gen II controller.

2.2. Black Stock R32 with Haldex Gen II controller:

The Black OEM suspended R32 with Haldex Gen II Controller still offered the best ride on the rougher portions of this route; albeit by a slim margin to the White Koni FSD GTI. It came back to the less rigid anti-roll bars running over ruts, corrugations, pitted surfaces and mid corner bumps. Power down is good, but the OEM chassis does not work the tyres as effectively as the UG H&R R32, which keeps the tyre flatter, providing maximum grip levels. The issue with the Black OEM Haldex vehicle was in the low speed turns, you had to stab at the steering wheel to fight the understeer. Once you gather a bit of pace in the open sweeping corners, this vehicle felt more alive, but no where to the extent of the UG H&R R32 or White Koni FSD GTI. There is no doubt that VW tune the R32 to perform between 100kph – 200kph which requires a fair amount of push understeer factored into the chassis balance for high speed stability. Realistically, in this country, an ideal setup is one that performs ultimately between 40kph-140kph.

Negotiating the uphill tight almost hairpin corners felt like this car was trying to arm wrestle itself. On hand pushing one way, the other hand providing resistance. The Haldex Gen II Controller did a superb job of shuffling drive to the rear when early on the gas, but the chassis was hamstrung by undesteer. This resulted in a corner exit that was on the outside white shoulder line, at least 1 metre wide of the UG H&R R32 exit line, costing time and speed. The outside tyre coped a canning with the factory induced understeer outside positive wheel camber roll that causes the outside front tyre to roll onto its sidewall. Hell, even the front wheel drive White Koni FSD GTI hammered out of this same corner with a tighter line, albeit with a flashing traction control light flashing for the inside wheel. The Black OEM Haldex R32 was still a very good drive, but no where near as focused as the other two vehicles, especially the UG H&R R32. It still offers heaps of fun up to 8/10ths.

2.3. White Koni FSD/Eibach Prokit/H&R GTI:

Even though the White GTI was front wheel drive only, on the downhill run, it was the vehicle that exhibited the greatest tendency to lift off oversteer. It had both Jig and Jester_Fu breathless for a few moments on a left hand downhill 90 degree turn. Initial turn in of this vehicle is better than the other two. The rear end feels the loosest as well. The 10% softer tuned dampers & springs offer more fun than the more keenly focused UG H&R R32, but greater speed than the sloppier Black OEM R32. The Haldex of the Black OEM R32 makes an improvement, but a well sorted suspension on the front wheel drive proved a little faster and a better dynamic drive. The lighter weight also aided directional changes in the GTI. The minor ruts, pitted surfaces and patchwork felt in the UG H&R R32 were simply carpeted over with the Koni FSD valve working a charm. Jump out of the GTI is like, “Bumps. What bumps?” when compared to the UG H&R R32 Reason for this is that the Koni FSD damper runs slightly less compression than the H&R coilover. This gives a nicer, smoother ride.

On the rebound, the Koni FSD/Eibach Prokit and H&R coilover were very similar. On this route, there are small car park speed humps: you can feel the extra compression in the UG H&R R32 over the speed humps relative to the Koni FSD. I’d say the H&R coilover would be 10% firmer in compression than the Koni FSD, with the OEM R32 damper about 5% softer than the FSD in compression. The advantage of aftermarket suspension is that you can run softer compression relative to a harder spring rate with more forceful rebound; this gives improved handling, with less detriment in ride. The Eibach ProKit/Koni FSD is testimony to this approach. Both the springs and dampers are well matched; as opposed to the perfectly matched H&R SPC coilover. Koni are also notoriously known for their forceful rebound, which works a treat in these conditions.

Driving in one of my favorite uphill medium tight turns, there is a rather large bump running right across the roadway half way out of the exit; this turn is guaranteed to upset an unsorted chassis. It was amazing to feel that the both the GTI and UG H&R R32 negotiated this turn unfettered. In contrast, the OEM Black R32 felt sloppy and was bounced off line. The White Eibach Prokit/Koni FSD/H&R GTI more than held it’s on this route, and did it in with almost carpet smooth feeling; I say almost as the H&R sway did exhibit some slight pogo effect. After driving this route, it was beginning to look like a two horse race between the UG H&R R32 and Golf GTI.

H&R review

3. General Roadway Driving and Initial Impressions:

This encompasses an overall assessment of the ride and handling characteristics of the vehicles in totality. It a summation based on all types of roadways. This includes understeer/oversteer bias, general roadway feel, pitch (fore and aft), body roll, and grip levels, and whether any vehicle exhibits the pogo effect over rougher terrain that can be customary with the addition of stiffer anti-roll bars. The questions to contemplate are: Does the suspension system invoke a composed and carpet smooth feel good factor with a notable improvement in handling; or is it concoction of unrelenting crashing and banging stiffness that would be more at home on the race track than the street?

H&R review

3.1. United Grey H&R SPC R32:

On the highway the UG H&R R32 was fabulous to drive. I preferred it over the Koni FSD/Eibach ProKit GTI as it felt it had the same amount of rebound, but slightly more compression. This is where the aftermarket sway bars really prove their worth, higher speed freeway cruising and blasts on and off curving slip roads. I cannot comment how it would drive in Sydney Central; on the fringe of the metropolis it did not feel too firm or soft; just right. Kudos to H&R for perfectly matching the spring and damper rates.

The ‘Cold Air Intake’ and lightweight wheels fitted to this vehicle made it feel more chirpy that the Black stock R32. More direct and feel some in its power deliver and initial response. On the rough B-grade straight roadways, you do feel the extra compression valving, telegraphing much of the minor undulations in the tarmac. The limiting factor of lower ride height coupled with the rigidity of the H&R anti-roll bars exhibited the pogo effect on single wheel bumps when driving in a straight line. This detracted from what would otherwise be an enjoyable, but very feeling ride. The wheels did scrape occasionally traveling in a straight line. Better stick with 7.5” ET50 wide wheels to be safe. Even though the grip levels are notably improved with this suspension package, the jury is out on whether this vehicle offers a higher overall grip threshold compared to the White GTI. An extra 200kg does come into play when you’re treating an R32 like a rage doll. The H&R suspension, be it anti-rolls bars or coilovers, offesr an OEM level of noise suppression, unlike the Eibach springs in the GTI.

3.2. Black Stock R32 with Haldex Gen II controller:

The Black Haldex-ified R32 was a love/hate relationship for me. Up to 7/10ths I loved the safe handling and adjustability, in addition to the sensation of that direct linear engine feel. After 4500rpm, it starts to get boring with an absence of the kick in the pants boost of the turboed four at 3500rpm. The responsiveness is great. This vehicle rode the best in extreme rough roadways with one wheel bumps; albeit the Koni FSD worked better on smaller undulations of any sort, until they become deeper, where the H&R anti-roll bars limited the independence when encountering single wheel potholes.


3.3. White Koni FSD/Eibach Prokit/H&R GTI:

The GTI is far from shamed in this company. The GTI is the opposite of the R32 in that the power deliver is a bit doughy down low, but that turbo rush is addictive. I’d still rather opt for a 4wd turbo any day. Interesting to note the smells emanating from each vehicle. After a hard slog, both R32’s smelling like something was burning. So much so, made me check if the handbrake was partially left engaged. This was not the case. Jester_Fu seemed to think it was some oil based covering. I suspect that it may have more to do with the Haldex system/driveline. None of these smells were apparent in the GTI.

As the pictures attest, the GTI carries a bit of rake with the front lower than the rear. This does level out once one or two passengers are on board. The extra rake makes for better turn in, as the front rolls less than the rear in directional changes. After driving the UG H&R R32, the extra rake become noticeable, so much so, that I had to adjust the seat back rearwards to compensate. Things you learn about your own vehicle on review like this. The Koni FSD/Eibach ProKit/H&R GTI is very much the all rounder in this company. It is the jack of all trades in that it doesn’t excel in any one particular area, but handles every type of roadway well. Whereas the other two tended be the master in one environment, to the detriment of the other. As for drag racing – no. There is a time and place for that; and it’s not on public streets.

H&R review

Summary:

Which would I take home?

If I drove on the very goods roadways most of the time, I’d fancy the H&R Street Performance coilover with H&R bars. If I had to drive daily on rough roadways, it have to be the Koni-FSD Eibach ProKit H&R small anti-roll bar combination. I’d rate this combination slightly ahead of the H&R SPC due to the fact the Koni-FSD lost little in smooth roadway performance; but was noticeably better when the going got rough. As for the addition of the Hadlex system onto an R32 in lieu of H&R performance coilovers: difficult question.

If I went for the H&R SPC coilovers, I’d want the H&R anti-roll bars as well. This would add another $1,000 to the price of the coilovers. Conversely, if I went the H&R anti roll bars; I’d want the H&R coilovers to match. As Jig says: no use in keeping the OEM springs and dampers with H&R bars; been there, done that.”

Alternatively, if you drive in wet, greasy or icy conditions; or live in areas with extremely rough roads, and have a limited budget to spend of $1700 for a performance upgrade and no more, the Haldex Gen II Controller may be for you. As long as you don’t push any harder than 8/10ths.

When push comes to shove and we pitch R32 versus R32, putting the GTI aside for the moment, the addition of the H&R coilovers and H&R solid adjustable anti-roll bars set on soft for front and hard for rear, makes a marked change in dynamics from understeer to neutral and a greater improvement in handling and drive over the Haldex Controller. So the win goes to the H&R Street Performance Coilover and H&R anti-roll bar UG R32 on the R32 front.

Strictly speaking on suspension dynamics: for drivers than traverse the worst roads to the best roads that this rugged country has to offer, the Koni FSD-Eibach Prokit is on the money. If your surroundings are made up of fine to moderately bad roadways, nothing worst than smooth B-grade roadways, the H&R Street Performance Coilover offers that bit extra performance with perfectly matched, tuned and sorted springs and dampers. The UG H&R R32 is the best handling Golf I have driven to date; now that says something.

Special thanks to:

Jig
Jester_Fu

Cheers
James

Awesome write up whitejames!

Hot looking r32s!!!

YEt another awsome write up White James well done