Bilstein HD and wagon springs
After reading through the various schemes for lifting a Jetta I decided to do it once and not make it too complicated.
The rear Jetta wagon springs fit perfectly in the sedan. Jack it up, support it, and remove the shock. The spring practically falls out and two guys can wrestle the new one in without spring compressors. I put the new Bilstein shock in without using any spacers. I read that the wagon spring will raise the rear about 2", but I did not measure before and after.
The front was tougher, but I was replacing control arm bushings, tie rod ends, and ball joints as well, so that added to the profanity level.
Bilstein struts do have a larger diameter rod, so stock bump stops don't fit. Since that's all I had, it didn't get any bump stops. Jetta wagon front springs are, surprisingly, shorter OAL than stock sedan springs, but the spring rate is significantly higher. Again, from what I've read, the wagon spring raises the front end .75", and the Bilstein strut raises you .5", so my math tells me I raised the front 1.25". The car used to look slightly squatted in the rear, now it looks like it leans forward a tad. There is a noticable difference in 'getting in and out of the car' effort, less grunt both ways, so I'm sure it's higher than before.
So, bottom line is Bilstein HD 4-pack, Jetta wagon springs front and rear, suspension rehab kit, and a four wheel alignment. The car rides firmly, but all the creaking and groaning is gone. I have yet to "top out" on the rear shocks, I doubt that will be an issue. And I've yet to rub the skid plate, which used to be a fairly common occurence.
The old shocks and struts had 150K miles on them and compressed easily by hand, the new ones took lots of effort.
One unpleasant surprise was the driver's side front control arm bolt. After considering all the options, the easiest thing to do was drop the pan off the automatic transmission, as the bolt clinked into it and couldn't be removed. That required yet another trip back to the house for Pentosin, some vinyl tubing, and a laser temp gun.