GSW Suspension Upgrades

I'm considering the H&R Sport Springs and Koni Special Active shocks for my 2015 GSW TDI S and would appreciate hearing comments from anyone here who has actually done this and can comment on ride quality and performance vs stock.

I have the H&R Sport springs with the factory dampers. The ride is definitely firmer and body control is much better in corners and braking. I think it's an improvement. It feels more like a GTI, maybe a little stiffer. It's hard to say exactly since it had been a little while since I had driven a GTI.

I like the stance much better too... I didn't want to dump it since I hit the occasional gravel road for mountain biking and such, just get rid of some of the tire gap along with the aforementioned increase in spring rate.

Before:


After:


Then after putting on a set of SEL wheels:

Looks good! Did you happen to measure the amount of lowering the change caused? Are you experiencing undue scraping of the low parts of the car?
Re the shocks, last year I put a set (F+R) of Koni FSD's on a Volvo V70 that I recently sold. As near as I can tell, apart from a color change from gold to red, the Special Active Konis are the same shock as the FSD's. In any event, I liked the FSD's. Not overly stiff; just a well-controlled ride. Special Active shocks for the GSW seem to be newly introduced to the market so perhaps it's too soon to expect anyone here to have them on their car.

I didn't measure, but according to H&R, it lowers the car by about 1.5" and that seems about right. I have to be careful pulling up to a curb or a concrete wheel stop in a parking lot. The chin is low enough it will hit most of the wheel stops, so I just make sure I don't pull up far enough to hit them. I haven't had any scraping leaving parking lots or anything, but I just make sure I'm careful of the angle on the steeper ones. There's a ferry nearby with a steep entrance on one side and I am not going to attempt that... my wife's stock Nissan Maxima scraped on that... I have bottomed out the underside on an extraordinarily-large speed bump one time in a parking lot in another city. I'm used to driving lowered cars, usually lower than this one, so I just know where to be careful.
Eventually I will upgrade the dampers, but that's a ways out yet. I'm also seriously considering Neuspeed's front and rear sway bars. I just haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Any part #'s for the SA shocks? Hard to find

nathanso said:

I'm considering the H&R Sport Springs and Koni Special Active shocks for my 2015 GSW TDI S and would appreciate hearing comments from anyone here who has actually done this and can comment on ride quality and performance vs stock.

Click to expand...

i have them with stock shocks. what i don't like is my car doesn't sit level. the rear has slightly more wheel well gap. car is more planted in turns though, but if you push it hard, you'll easily reach the limits of the stock dampers. you definitely have to be more careful over speed bumps and when parking. i've driven lowered cars before, so i knew what to expect.

Special Active Shock #8745-1324f & #8245-1326r

The H&R Sport Springs drop the car more than I'd like considering the deplorable state of our roads here in Norcal. I'm hoping that somebody one day works out how to install GTI or Audi springs/appropriate pads that work with the Mk7 GSW TDI. This would provide an economical solution since such parts are generally available cheap as low mileage take-offs. Ideally, for me, the drop would be in the sub-1" range and the ride moderately sportier without being bone-jarring. The shocks are the easy part, i.e. the Koni Special Actives as previously mentioned below.

Dropped my 2014 Jetta wagen on Sports with KYB G2 on the rear and Gabriel’s up front, ride is almost like stock but stiffer and just a touch bouncy over large bumps at highway speeds.

Got the same springs on my ‘14 Passat with bilsteins up front and KYB on the rear and it’s much bouncier, not sure if it’s a heavier car or the different struts up front or the 18’s vs 16’s on the wagen but the wagen feels very close to stock

I did sports on my Passat, took em out a couple weeks later, unless you have smooth roads the novelty wears thin.. I added the rear sway bar to my GSW. like it. if I want more cornering I add 2-3 more psi to the tires.