bostonaudi
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- Charleston, SC
- Car(s)
- 1995 BMW M3
I've been doing suspension mods on all VW's for many years. Mostly for street tuning, have done autocross now and then, but since move to south a few years back running HPDE's at local tracks suddenly became a lot more accessible. Living in New England is great, but track availability kinda sucks. So the track bug is now a full infection, I've been running HPDE's with my 08 GTI since I got it (its well broken in!), and do a DE about once a month.
I'm anal retentive with suspension - I don't like harsh ride, and poorly tuned and lowered cars aren't where I'm at. Have ridden in a fair number of slammed Mk5's, the cars nice factory tuning is thrown out the window.
In past cars I've run Bilsteins, Koni, KW, Eibach, Neuspeed, H&R etc. Most of it pretty good stuff, and I am familiar with their offerings through many installations on past customer cars.
But at the track, a different set of requirements starts to kick in. Better control at high speed, more at expense of street ride. Is there the perfect suspension that can do both?
At the track on my Mk5 I started out with a ST coilover suspension - essentially a KW V1 from what they claim. This is a nice setup, great bang for buck. The fixed damping setting is spot on for the supplied springs. Ride isn't harsh, and quite good overall. For some reason I got it in my head that I had to have adjustable damping, so removed them and sold. Somewhat of a mistake. I've installed and sold many KW V2 kits on Audi's in past, you can't go wrong with KW.
Next got a Spax RSX kit out of curiosity and ease of damper settings. Easy to adjust dampers, street ride not bad. But again came with progressive springs, not really a track setup. Good street kit, but I felt it wasn't any better than stock overall at the track. Removed, sold.
Been running stock for last 4 DE's again, with just Autotech rear sway bar, S3 front bushings, Wavetrac LSD and R comp tires. The car flies with this setup, and is completely street friendly since its essentially stock susp again. I could just press the Stop button here and keep hitting the track. But no. I still wanted to find something that would allow a little better control and better use of the R comps.
Looked at AST 4100, and Cross, great setups by the reviews, but $2700? That would pay for too many hotels and HPDE's on otherwise good stock setup.
I was spelunking though the Eibach website one day for some reason, and saw in their street coilover menu listings for Multi-pro R1 and R2. Read up, looks like nice setups. Looked at the application guide, nothing for Mk5. Then out of curiosity one day I was looking down through what Tirerack offered for Mk5, and they listed the Eibach R1 and R2 setups. R1 was on sale, R2 overkill for my needs. Hmmm. I called Eibach USA and talked to their tech guy on phone, had him fully describe what these were and how they were developed. The Multi-Pro's really aren't marketed so I didn't know anything about them. Turns out they are hand built and tuned by Eibach here in States, are based on monotube gas shocks and linear springs. Ease of damper adjustment too - rears are adjusted at bottom, so no removing shocks. This sounded like the correct setup to actually get better handling, and at $1600 through Tirerack a much better deal than AST or Cross, and these are made in USA, which I value.
The R1 coilovers are shipped with Eibach linear race springs with 275's in front, and 300's in rear. These sound a little soft compared to other setups, but I think this will keep ride civil and not have the initial lean in that I hate with progressive springs. Those rates should dial out understeer as well. I am under no illusions that this setup won't still be a bit rough with slight road imperfections, Eibach claims they ride great on street, we shall see.
They just arrived, when I took them out of the box, the quality of the parts is unbelievable, the packaging was first rate, and quality of parts - you have to hold them in your hand to appreciate hand built coilovers. I'm sure the AST's and Cross are similar.
Some pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bostonaudi/EibachMultiProR1?feat=directlink
Eibach link:
http://performance-suspension.eibach.com/cms/products_products_coil___over_suspension_systems_multi_pro_r1
I'll be installing them sometime soon, within next couple of weeks, and running them at Road Atlanta weekend of April 24-25, will post feedback on street civility and track handling.
I'm anal retentive with suspension - I don't like harsh ride, and poorly tuned and lowered cars aren't where I'm at. Have ridden in a fair number of slammed Mk5's, the cars nice factory tuning is thrown out the window.
In past cars I've run Bilsteins, Koni, KW, Eibach, Neuspeed, H&R etc. Most of it pretty good stuff, and I am familiar with their offerings through many installations on past customer cars.
But at the track, a different set of requirements starts to kick in. Better control at high speed, more at expense of street ride. Is there the perfect suspension that can do both?
At the track on my Mk5 I started out with a ST coilover suspension - essentially a KW V1 from what they claim. This is a nice setup, great bang for buck. The fixed damping setting is spot on for the supplied springs. Ride isn't harsh, and quite good overall. For some reason I got it in my head that I had to have adjustable damping, so removed them and sold. Somewhat of a mistake. I've installed and sold many KW V2 kits on Audi's in past, you can't go wrong with KW.
Next got a Spax RSX kit out of curiosity and ease of damper settings. Easy to adjust dampers, street ride not bad. But again came with progressive springs, not really a track setup. Good street kit, but I felt it wasn't any better than stock overall at the track. Removed, sold.
Been running stock for last 4 DE's again, with just Autotech rear sway bar, S3 front bushings, Wavetrac LSD and R comp tires. The car flies with this setup, and is completely street friendly since its essentially stock susp again. I could just press the Stop button here and keep hitting the track. But no. I still wanted to find something that would allow a little better control and better use of the R comps.
Looked at AST 4100, and Cross, great setups by the reviews, but $2700? That would pay for too many hotels and HPDE's on otherwise good stock setup.
I was spelunking though the Eibach website one day for some reason, and saw in their street coilover menu listings for Multi-pro R1 and R2. Read up, looks like nice setups. Looked at the application guide, nothing for Mk5. Then out of curiosity one day I was looking down through what Tirerack offered for Mk5, and they listed the Eibach R1 and R2 setups. R1 was on sale, R2 overkill for my needs. Hmmm. I called Eibach USA and talked to their tech guy on phone, had him fully describe what these were and how they were developed. The Multi-Pro's really aren't marketed so I didn't know anything about them. Turns out they are hand built and tuned by Eibach here in States, are based on monotube gas shocks and linear springs. Ease of damper adjustment too - rears are adjusted at bottom, so no removing shocks. This sounded like the correct setup to actually get better handling, and at $1600 through Tirerack a much better deal than AST or Cross, and these are made in USA, which I value.
The R1 coilovers are shipped with Eibach linear race springs with 275's in front, and 300's in rear. These sound a little soft compared to other setups, but I think this will keep ride civil and not have the initial lean in that I hate with progressive springs. Those rates should dial out understeer as well. I am under no illusions that this setup won't still be a bit rough with slight road imperfections, Eibach claims they ride great on street, we shall see.
They just arrived, when I took them out of the box, the quality of the parts is unbelievable, the packaging was first rate, and quality of parts - you have to hold them in your hand to appreciate hand built coilovers. I'm sure the AST's and Cross are similar.
Some pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bostonaudi/EibachMultiProR1?feat=directlink
Eibach link:
http://performance-suspension.eibach.com/cms/products_products_coil___over_suspension_systems_multi_pro_r1
I'll be installing them sometime soon, within next couple of weeks, and running them at Road Atlanta weekend of April 24-25, will post feedback on street civility and track handling.
