I think i'm a little confused as to what you are looking for. I really couldn't describe stock gtis/golfs as a stiff ride. You will get more compliance out of taller sidewalls and softer sway bars. but if you are calling the stock suspension stiff you will not be getting what you are looking for without extensive modification to your car. at that point you may want to think about a different car.
V
Making it *softer* (technical)
- Thread starter dan98
- Start date
Derek - on journeys >3 hours it gets unpleasant, for me anyway. I want an SE ride - I can drive that for 12 hour stretches and feel fine.
But here in EU at least the SE only comes in a crappy 105 bhp 5 speed.
Yes I know I'm going against the grain. as I mentioned before, everyone else wants hard & low. Apologies if I'm posting in the wrong place/forum.
I thought it'd be a simple suspension swap-over but it isn't in the end, I'll probably sell up as you say.
But here in EU at least the SE only comes in a crappy 105 bhp 5 speed.
Yes I know I'm going against the grain. as I mentioned before, everyone else wants hard & low. Apologies if I'm posting in the wrong place/forum.
I thought it'd be a simple suspension swap-over but it isn't in the end, I'll probably sell up as you say.
It would suprise me if any of the suspension components are largely different between the GTI and the SE. In north america the rabbit/golf would be the SE and all of the suspension components are completely interchangeable with the GTI's. The only things that aren't are the axles and even then if you swap the GTI's transmission with them to the rabbit they work fine. I believe the springs and dampers are different (as in softer not dimensionaly) and i know the sway bars are different(again softer only). but you can swap them directly. I would be shocked if that isn't the case there too. If that is all you are looking to do it shouldn't be that hard to accomplish. I would head over to a dealership and find one of the senior service reps and talk to them about it. or at least check the part numbers on the lower control arms and strut mounts. If they are the same everything should bolt up just fine.
This is the right section, it just so happens that most of us are from north america and have a little less knowledge about the euro versions of these cars than what is here. If swapping the suspension components is something that you are looking to do it really should be pretty straight forward.
My other thought on this whole deal is the seats. I know that the seats in the GTIs are firmer with more bolstering than the seats in my car(a rabbit). That may be a big factor to your comfort that you are overlooking. I would be willing to bet there are plenty of people that would jump at the opportunity to swap seats with you.
Give it some thought. if you like the car there are options to sort out what you want. Just make sure you know how far down the rabbit hole you want to go before you start.
This is the right section, it just so happens that most of us are from north america and have a little less knowledge about the euro versions of these cars than what is here. If swapping the suspension components is something that you are looking to do it really should be pretty straight forward.
My other thought on this whole deal is the seats. I know that the seats in the GTIs are firmer with more bolstering than the seats in my car(a rabbit). That may be a big factor to your comfort that you are overlooking. I would be willing to bet there are plenty of people that would jump at the opportunity to swap seats with you.
Give it some thought. if you like the car there are options to sort out what you want. Just make sure you know how far down the rabbit hole you want to go before you start.
Thanks Derek , thats a lot of good advice.
Yeah it baffles me that I've been to 2 good repair garages here, and they both say the same - that the dampers are a different dimension and won't fit. Superskyline above seems to concur with this too.
When I had an old Mk2 pretty much everything was swappable - I even did it myself.
But forcing the matter would involve stripping / swapping further until a common point is reached. If I'm honest I don't know if its worth it - I do quite like the car but am not in 'love' with it per se.
That is a good point about the seats too- although having driven both extensively I'm fairly sure its the little jolts that come through the suspension which are absent on the SE.
Re. the US / EU thing, I often hear that the same cars are sprung a bit more softly in the states but no idea if that's true in this case. I also acknowledge that I'm getting older and what used to be a great fun ride is now more like a pain in the backside
Cheers
Yeah it baffles me that I've been to 2 good repair garages here, and they both say the same - that the dampers are a different dimension and won't fit. Superskyline above seems to concur with this too.
When I had an old Mk2 pretty much everything was swappable - I even did it myself.
But forcing the matter would involve stripping / swapping further until a common point is reached. If I'm honest I don't know if its worth it - I do quite like the car but am not in 'love' with it per se.
That is a good point about the seats too- although having driven both extensively I'm fairly sure its the little jolts that come through the suspension which are absent on the SE.
Re. the US / EU thing, I often hear that the same cars are sprung a bit more softly in the states but no idea if that's true in this case. I also acknowledge that I'm getting older and what used to be a great fun ride is now more like a pain in the backside
Cheers
The only way to know for sure is to check the part numbers. If the upper strut mount and the lower control arms are the same between the SE and GTI then i can't see why the struts aren't interchangeable. if they aren't its going to take a fair amount more work to swap everything and probably isn't worth the effort.