Handling Upgrade Path - Help?

[Valandil]

Good day all.

I need your input - as you are all very knowledgeable and I will admit I was not sure if there was a thread that dealt with this question in this way and my time on the search button was limited. Please feel free to guide me down that rabbit hole if you know of a thread.

So the question is as such. I have owned a 2007 GTI for just under 2 years now and its slowly having the mods coming along.

However I have wanted to improve the handling of the car make it more crisp more responsive. I have VWR springs that lowered my car the right amount for me.

I wanted to know if I should be looking at:

Shocks > Sways > Brace (Unibrace offerings)

or Shocks > Brace > Sways

Sadly no track here I am. This is purely for the spirited driving and making the car feel more direct. Can someone maybe enlighten me? Which way to go.

Thanks again and forgive the noob.

 

[SuperSkyline89]

I'd go the shock - sway - brace route.

Since you already have springs I'd get a set of shocks with damping adjustment so you can match them to what the springs want. My autocross friends have nothing but good things to say about Koni's.

After that I'd get sway bars all around. Lowering your car screws up the roll center so you actually get more body roll, a set of sway bars will help limit that. Some people recommend only doing the rear bar but I would do both. You want the front and rear to be balanced, especially on a road car, so putting a big bar in the back can get you into a dangerous situation unless you do the same up front.

Last is chassis bracing. The great thing about that is if you go about it the right way there's no downside as far as comfort goes. By making the chassis stiff the car doesn't twist as much over bumps, it gives it that feel of solidity and build quality we associate with German cars. The problem is that a lot of people do that and run stiff suspension so the car becomes uncomfortable. You actually want to run the suspension a little softer to isolate the bumps from the chassis. When you hit a bump you want one compression and one rebound from the suspension, it gets the wheels back on the road as quickly as possible and the car doesn't feel floaty. If you can find the right balance of bracing and suspension settings you can make the car more comfortable (by letting the suspension absorb impacts before they go through the chassis), quieter (less twist means less noise), and react quicker (less flex of the chassis between you turning the wheel and the car turning).

 

[Valandil]

Thanks a lot for the input.

I was looking at both Koni (Yellow) or Bilstein shocks on the shock route.

I was thinking VWR for the sways or another depending on what research throws my way. I'm inclining on the VWR as I have their intake and their springs and been happy with their product quality.

 

[Jamezilla]

I agree with shocks then swaybars. For street use, I really don't see any of the braces products as practical. I recommend getting the tyrolsport subframe collar kit if you are going to install a front swaybar. I'd also look at motor/trans/dogbone mounts for making the car more "crisp and responsive".