Help me decide.......

[Derick]

OK I'm going nuts here. I had Bilstien shocks ready for me to buy but I sort of cancelled them. I just can't make up my mind :mrscrewy: What is everyone's thoughts on the following setups.........

1) H&R race springs/ Bilstein shocks/ H&R sway bars

2) H&R race springs/ adjustable Koni shocks/ H&R sway bars

3) H&R Cup Kit/ H&R sway bars

[Khyron]

Um kinda need to know what you're after. I mean, if you want good drop or really firm susp go coils. Want more stock ride, Eibach pro kit or fk - every susp kit has it's pros and cons. And make sure you're buying front bars because you need them, not because you think you have to.

Khyron

[Kor]

This is all personal preference. Honestly, I bet most of us wouldn't be able to tell the difference between most of these suspension setups from ride-feel alone.

But just to make you feel better here is what I think.

The Cup Kit is a good choice if on a budget.

The Konis are a good choice because they are adjustable.

The Bilsteins are a good choice if you want the quality brand name.

Coils (as Khyron said) are good if you want an extremely low or extremely firm drop.


They are all good setups.

[R_Ethug]

c-town go with the race springs and the koni or bilsteins.. i just got mine yesterday and they look so nice as far as the sway bars well i'm not doing either yet.. i'll see if i rub before i change my front thats for sure.. the HR cupkit is good too but I like the fact that bilstein is making my shocks but i spose its all good.. perhaps you can come for a rip in my car next week to see how the bil/hr combo feels and go from there?

[CalgaryB5]

How about BILSTEIN PSS9? And no sway bar. Will get you anywhere and everywhere. Track/ auto-X no problem.

I hate my ABD sway because they squeak and blow up my end link bolts. That bar sucks.

[1.8Trip]

If I had the cash, I'd go Bilstein PSS9.

[Mr. Burns]

Originally posted by CalgaryB5
I hate my ABD sway because they squeak and blow up my end link bolts. That bar sucks.

maybe for B5 Passat it sucks. But I have it on my Jetta, and I love it. No squeak, no busted end link bolts

[CalgaryB5]

Originally posted by merdenoms
maybe for B5 Passat it sucks. But I have it on my Jetta, and I love it. No squeak, no busted end link bolts

:mrlaugh:
If I offended you then I’m very sorry. The fact that I know it was happened on me and by my experience is that I track and auto-X my car. And slowly I learned that using big fat front swaybar on the 1J chassis( “MK4” is the people like to call here ) is useless/waste of time.

I do not use that ABD bar on my Passat. Instead I use the OEM one from VW. They are made in France and handles great on my lapping day.

My name is so deceiving. Thinking of a new name “Cobra_Stang”.

No hard feeling

[Mr. Burns]

Originally posted by CalgaryB5
:mrlaugh:
If I offended you then I’m very sorry. The fact that I know it was happened on me and by my experience is that I track and auto-X my car. And slowly I learned that using big fat front swaybar on the 1J chassis( “MK4” is the people like to call here ) is useless/waste of time.

No hard feeling

defnitely not offended!! but putting the fat swaybar is NOT useless on a MK4, when you lower a mk4 as much as I have lowered mine, you need the aftermarket sway, as the factory one rubs on the driveshaft

[R_Ethug]

i hope i don't rub.. i'm going in monday for it.. i just blew more dough on my new dvd burner so that took away my sway money

[Flanders]

For what it's worth, I'd reccomend a rear sway bar too! I'm running stock suspension, but the addition of a rear sway made a huge difference in handling!!

[Derick]

Thanks for everyones input. I'd love to get Bilstein coils, but for what I would get out of them and how I use my car, it's just not worth the money. I just found out today that H&R only makes a front swaybar, so that may change the equation a little bit in what sways I choose. I also really like the idea of having the adjustable Koni's.

I suppose you're right Kor, in that they are all good setups and one would be hard pressed to tell the difference. I guess I'll keep researching these combos until I finally make up me mind.:(

[Mr. Burns]

C-Town: what is your current setup?

[Derick]

Just H&R Sports, with the sh@#ty VW sport shocks. I swear, I've been going back and forth on these suspension setups for like a year now :mrscrewy:

[Khyron]

Front bar, you need to replace if dropping more than 1.5 inches (rough guide, some are luckier, some are not).

IF you put a rear bar in, the bigger the bar the more oversteer.

IF you put a front bar in, the bigger the bar, the more understeer.

So putting JUST a front bar on a MK4 is silly (unless you keep the same stock size and are just doing it for lowering clearance).

Putting a big fat rear bar, then putting a big fat front bar is really silly - they cancel each other out and the end result is just increased weight.

MK4s have bad understeer by default, so most people (myself included) are happy with stock or smaller front bar and a big fat rear bar. There is no real condition where you'd want to increase the size of the front bar.

Khyron