If you had between $500.00 and $1500.00 for your suspension...

And you had all of the power mods in place, what would you buy? Coilovers or good springs and shocks with rollbars? My suspension is officially worn out (8 and I am thinking about what to replace it with. I am lowered about 1 1/2" on the front, and so stock shocks will not last. Toying with the idea of coilovers but have mixed feelings because I want long lasting and I do not want a harsh ride. I love this car and it is my daily driver. Firmer ride is okay long as it does not get ridged over the bumps. I have been looking at options from Eibauch and many other quality units but would be interested in hearing from you guys and hear your experiences and especially your regrets after buying the wrong kit. I am planning ahead and hope to move on this some time this summer. I do not want anything that will wear out in 50,000 miles no matter how good it rides.


GrampaJ

Everyone will have their favorite set-up but I went wth Shine springs and Koni yellows on the Mk IV.
If you have a few bucks left get the Shine rear anti-roll, too.

For street Koni FSD , i have them on the Leon FR and are very good for comfort seen the potholes in Romania and 18" rims.

I would go with H&R super sport springs, bilstein HD shocks (or koni yellows), and a rear sway bar. If you would prefer coilovers, FKs are cheap, or I would go for a used higher end unit. Big fan of H&Rs stuff, the base springs are OEM feeling, super sports are more aggressive. Eibach sport springs are basically stock 20th edition springs, so they're dialed in well for the car too.

MK4s handle like picnic tables made of nails... so anything helps. RSB and 225/45R17s go a long way. 18s and dumped cars don't handle as well, if your control arms are pointing the wrong direction your axles won't be happy and it won't handle as well. I'd set some money aside for a proper alignment too and make sure every other component is in good shape.

Wow... I want to thank everyone for the helpful comments... I sure hear you when it comes to tire weight. I am running stock rims most of the time but I have some 215/50/17's that I am planning to run for the summertime so I can get a bit more traction. But for mileage stock is hard to beat unless you find something even lighter. I did add the Jetta 1.8 turbo front disks and I like the extra stopping power. Very noticeable!!! Have not noticed any negative since it is my daily driver and not racer. Looking foreward to the discussion.

GrampaJ

Koni FSDs + H&R sport. Nice ride great in corners.

However this thread is in the wrong section. Should be in the upgrades section.

Solowerks for coilovers if you want to go the coilover route

Otherwise Koni FSD+ HR sport

then Audi TT bushings front and Cupra R bushings rear

Shine rear bar

or else complete shine bar/springs/bar is the best handling set out there for Mk4 bar none, but not for the stance crowd

^^^ Above ^^^

What Kerma said.

KERMA said:

Solowerks for coilovers if you want to go the coilover route

Otherwise Koni FSD+ HR sport

then Audi TT bushings front and Cupra R bushings rear

Shine rear bar

or else complete shine bar/springs/bar is the best handling set out there for Mk4 bar none, but not for the stance crowd

Click to expand...

After thinking about it and researching more it seems that coilovers have more of a coolness appeal (at least to me) than a practical appeal. And so after thinking about it the Koni FSD+ HR sport with bushings etc. will give you some very high quality suspension for around $1000.00 . If I am not mistaken that would get some medium quality coilovers ??? and you would need to spend close to double that price to get in to some really good coilovers. So in other words it appears that springs and struts will give you more quality for a given price range? Perhaps I am wrong on that.

Anyway I think I will go with the Koni FSD and am still thinking about which springs... what about the Shine springs with the Konis? I read several threads where guys ran them with the Konis and were very happy. They are stiffer but still sound very comfortable on the street? Several guys said the car was boucy with the HR or the Eibauch's but I suspect that they had the dampening rate too low? I am not an expert but would not bounce be caused by lack of dampening... not springs?

Thanks again for all of the great advise... I love this car and it has paid for itself in so many ways that I want upgrade it with well chosen options to make it even better.

GrampaJ

FSD, stock springs, polyurethane for strut top mounts, lower arm bushings, and rear axle bushings.
I've had Shine's Real Street, rear bar, no front bar, with H-D and with yellows, but won't do that again. I love the FSD/stock/poly set-up far better for handling, rough road control, and ride quality.

Rrusse11 said:

Really want to transform the car? Put a Limited Slip Diff in. You could probably get a Peloquin or Wavetrac installed for around $1500.
You'll never look back.

Then go ahead and play with the suspension.

Click to expand...

He's right. I'd take a diff and H&R springs over heavy suspension work any day. Ripping through corners at low speed in 2nd is way more fun when the car's trying to pull you off the road instead of being a one tire fire that barely moves. No matter what you do suspension wise it's still a Jetta, but at least you'll have traction in the first two gears. Plus, I mean you could kind of claim it's preventative maintenance to repair the transmission before it breaks, if you're trying to justify this to a significant other that is.

You may want to consider using Audi TT front suspension parts. I haven't quite got it on the road, but that is the route I took on a Golf I'm redoing. If you shop around, you can find the parts fairly cheap. With the Audi TT arms/hubs you can adjust the camber. Adding a bit of negative camber will aid handling. I also went with a faster ratio rack (Audi TT or R32). I'm curious as to how it will work out, but I think I'll be happy!

I am looking to upgrade my suspension as well. What is a fair price for shock/strut/spring install? I had one shop estimate me ~$1K.

Lug_Nut said:

FSD, stock springs, polyurethane for strut top mounts, lower arm bushings, and rear axle bushings.
I've had Shine's Real Street, rear bar, no front bar, with H-D and with yellows, but won't do that again. I love the FSD/stock/poly set-up far better for handling, rough road control, and ride quality.

Click to expand...

This is essentially what I did save for using lifting springs (VR6 front; Jetta wagon rears). Very happy with the finished ride.

Well I am still researching the Audi tt lower control arms that might be attractive for a lowered car and restoring the right a frame angle so perhaps for some point in the future. Not sure on that one yet. I went with Koni FSD+ shocks and HR sport springs and ordered Audi TT bushings as well to stiffen things up.


Today I was loaded with three passengers in the car and hit an unexpected bump (think mogul) ... I cringed as I saw it and the car went over and plunged downward as my heart sank and then it rebounded with no problems at all. I was so relieved and no-one said anything about it. I was very pleased at the result. I would have never been able to take that bump like that before.

The HR springs left me a little lower than I was expecting (hence my cringe) and so I am thinking I would like to see it an inch higher. Any easy way to do that? I love the ride and the handling.

Oh... and for those who mentioned the limited slip... already have that and I second the idea.

Grampa J