Mushy suspension

volks27

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Location
Gatineau, Quebec
TDI
2012 golf highline
Ever since I bought the car ('12 golf HB, 32k km), I felt the suspension very soft and bouncy. I recently got in to a co workers newer mk6 TDI and suspension was night and day.

What should I replace the stock suspension with? GTI shocks / springs ? Not looking to go lower
 
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amstel78

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2012
Location
Shohola, PA
TDI
2012 Golf TDI [buyback completed 14/1/2017] 2006 S65 AMG
Ever since I bought the car ('12 golf HB, 32k km), I felt the suspension very soft and bouncy. I recently got in to a co workers newer mk6 TDI and suspension was night and day.

What should I replace the stock suspension with? GTI shocks / springs ? Not looking to go lower
Maybe your shocks/struts are worn and leaking or defective. Push down on the front or rear, it should come back up once without bouncing. If it does, you'll need to replace the shocks. Springs are most likely fine.
 

CarrboroTDI

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Location
Carrboro, NC
TDI
2011None now. Old: JSW 6spd, Bilsteins, Eibach sport springs, rear anti-sway. 2003 Golf 4dr 5spd (sold)
Coat tailing onto your post...

I've generally been happy with my 2011JSW, though I feel it's a little soft and offers a little more roll than I'd like. Next week it's getting new shocks/struts all around and a beefier rear anti-sway bar will be installed.

I had put deep thought into new springs, as long as we're taking things apart, and chose not to do so. I not concerned about ride height except for the small gain in handling it can give me, but I don't care to take the risks of a lowered car. I already scrape my added receiver hitch with some driveways and ramps.

I'll let you know how this upgrade goes.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
The differences between Golf TDI and GTI suspensions are minimal: slight front spring difference and different shock valving. If you want to tighten things up I'd suggest sticking with the stock springs and using Koni Yellows. They'll firm up the ride and handle much better than stock. Put them in the car on soft and you can adjust the fronts in the car to fine tune the ride and handling.
 

ksing44

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Location
Southeast PA
TDI
2010 Golf TDI
I'm going with the Bilstein HD's.
Install at the end of this week.
^^I want Bilstein HDs so bad! I loved them on previous car. I just can't seem to bring myself to replace anything on the Golf if it isn't broken, but I'm longing to try the HDs to see if it tightens things up a little bit. I really like the car now, love it actually, but I think I'd love it more if it were firmer.

Please tell me how the HDs makes the car feel!
 

frugality

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 19, 2003
Location
Spring Lake, Michigan
TDI
none, 2016 GTI
I broke a 1/2-coil of a front spring a few months ago and have been driving around on it deciding if I just wanted to replace the spring, or to use it as an excuse to replace all the dampers. The original dampers were still 'acceptable' -- they weren't worn out at 170k miles, so it was hard to justify replacing them. And for small irregularities they were still fine. However, with big road undulations and dips, it just felt like they were slow to damp. Folks keen on handling would say they got a little wallowy. After him'n and haw'n for a couple months, I just had all the dampers replaced with Koni FSDs with all new mounts/bushings/bumpers, 2 new front springs, and 2 new sway bar end links. On the ride home tonight, they were noticeably 'taught-er', without being harsh. The FSDs are dual-valved, so they handle small abrupt perturbations separately from larger perturbations. (sorry, my engineering 'dynamic systems' class is having its way with my language here) Smoothness is important to me, so the fact that I didn't have any misgivings about the tighter ride is a testimony to the civilized nature of the FSDs. I had them on my Mk4 Golf, and they were great. And r90sKirk, who has the car now with ~430k miles on the car says it's still the best-handling TDI he's driven. And those things are at least 200k old. I remember that it seemed like they took 20k miles to break in -- they started out a little harsh/taught, but smoothed out over time.
 

totitan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Location
Thousand Oaks, CA
TDI
2012 Jetta Sportwagon TDI
Koni FSD's are the way to go. I installed mine two months ago and it is like a different car from when it had the stock Mexican made Sachs on it.
 
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