The Official Driver Gear/VWR Spring Thread

n8sCSGMK6 said:

Just ordered my DG springs + replacement bolts/hardware via Keffer. Will be installing them along with a new set of wheels (RSe07s) when the springs come in.

QQ - has anyone replaced the strut bushings when installing the DG springs? It is recommended by the Keffer folks, but is not listed on the first page of this thread as a necessary replacement part. Thoughts? (I apologize ahead of time if I missed this if it was already discussed within this long thread)

"1K0-412-331-B--quantity required 2--- Strut Bushings"

Click to expand...

I just got mine done with 722 miles on the car and used everything in the first post. All bolts, nuts, and bearings. No strut bushings.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

Awesome! Thanks guys for the responses. I ordered all of the extra hardware except for the strut bushings. My initial thought was that it wasn't necessary on such a new car. Thanks for the reassurance. I can't wait to get these set up. Looking to eliminate wheel gap and get rid of some of the bouncing in the GTI when stock. When I'm talking to the passenger on uneven highways, it sounds like I'm talking while operating a jackhammer sometimes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^^^
The only hardware you "need" (on a newer car) would be the lower strut bolt & the axle bolts (if you're removing those for the install)

If your car is pretty new you could probably skip the strut bearings (your choice), but it's a good idea to replace them regardless @ only $20/pair

Just to add,Apr front/rear bars should be a must with these springs. Have my setup on stiff/stiff, i am extremely happy with this setup.

DG Sport Springs: An Extended Drive

In wrapping up the Volkswagen genuine lowering OEM Driver Gear Sport springs review, I have completed a Sydney (Cronulla) to Gold Coast return drive up and down the Pacific Highway. This comprises quite a variety of roadways that necessitated all three Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) modes. How do the DG Sport springs fare over a 10 hour 900km drive each way?

• The standard springs in the DCC equipped Golf GTI are softer relative to the damping rate. This does help push the GTI up once the cornering process commences ... the higher rebound rate of the damper relative to spring rate has the damper responding fairly quickly to limit understeer ... but it does create a feeling of restlessness and uneasiness, and doesn’t do much when larger and harder high compression bumps are struck as the damper only has the capacity to overwhelm the soft OE spring rate in the low speed compression. This creates a feeling of raggedness over larger & hard bumps, troughs and patchwork sections of the roadway.
  
  
• The DG Sport springs with higher spring rate, esp. at the front (see my prev. Post), does create added understeer on corner entry. Once the GTI has been cajoled into the corner, the higher spring rate relative to rear spring rate (compared to VWR Springs) improves traction from apex onwards when powering out of corners. The higher relative front spring rate improves as speed rises, creating a really stable little hot-hatch. The higher relative front end DG Sport spring rate would also work better with those wishing to run rear-only aftermarket sway bars imo.
  
  
• Driving from Cronulla through the City and up along the Pacific Hwy through to Hornsby, the standard springs just didn’t feel right to me. The damping rate on the OE standard GTI springs felt like wearing shoes one size too large or not having your shoelaces done up tight. Sloppiness, nervousness, uneasiness and restlessness come to mind when driving from the Harbour Bridge along the Pacific Hwy to Hornsby at 60kph. The DG Sport spring eliminate this tendency making for a reassuring nicely controlled nuggetty type of ride at lower speeds.
  
  
• The 10 hour journey covering 900km felt shorter on the DG Sport Springs. I’ve done this drive a number of times on the standard OE GTI springs. The DG Sport springs make it easier on the driver, creating the feeling that the drive was 25% or a couple of hundred kilometres shorter. The real test is whether you’d want to do the same drive all over again the following day ... in this respect, the DG Sport are fine in terms of ride comfort on extended interstate journeys.
  
  
• 50-100kph acceleration bursts on pitted, patchworks and rutted B’grade roadways, winding out the GTI in Sport mode, showed less raggedness and less influence from the roadway imperfections with less torque-steer under more strenuous loads.
  
  
• On a tangent ... fuel economy was slightly better than all over drives with the standard OE springs. Could it be the slightly lower ride height of the DG Sport springs, as I wasn’t driving for economy on this trip? The Blue-Motion Golf comes with lower ride height to improve aerodynamics, amongst other fuel saving features. This drive was 6.6 litres northbound and 6.8 litres per 100km southbound for an average each way run of 6.7 litres. On standard OE springs, I couldn’t do any better than 6.85 litres.
  
  
• At lower speeds of about 60kph, the mid-range sized bumps and troughs does have the DG Sport springs exhibiting a greater amount of vertical movement. It’s never harsh or jarring with DCC and the ride is still much better than the sports aftermarket progressive rate sprung coilovers.
  
  
• Haven’t measured the ride height, but the rear seems to have settled down a bit more than the front. Level pics are difficult to take as the DG Sport springs are very sensitive to variations on the ground. It very rare to have the GTI on perfectly flat ground. Parked kerbside has different heights from left to right. Generally ... ride height is about Golf R ... perhaps slightly lower at the front and slightly higher at the rear when rear is un-laden.
  
  
• Sway Bars – on a grand touring trip, aftermarket sway bars aren’t required imo. Up to 8/10ths the standard GTI sway bars are fine and EDL/XDS helps steering into corners bob-cat style. Anymore than 8/10ths and a set of small aftermarket H&R sway bars would prove beneficial with the DG Sport springs. The higher relative front DG Sport spring (compared to VWR spring) with the larger German made front sway bars (H&R, Eibach, KW) would have a really deftly handling fwd esp. for high speed corners of grand touring. For driving on cruise control at 100kph on the open roadways, standard bars are fine with DG Sport springs providing added comfort for longer journeys.
  
  
• In contrast to the old set-up on the previous MKV GTI ... the KW V3 on almost full soft settings ... the KW coilover were slightly underdamped in the low speed damping rates, getting progressively harder the harder and fast the KW coilover spring compressed. Rough concrete carriageways like that between Gosford and Newcastle was a killer on the KW V3 for ride comfort. The three Brunswick Bridges between Byron Bay and Tweed Heads showed the KW V3 to have supreme control with short and fast vertical movements over the Bridge joints. The DG Sport strut style spring on std DCC dampers are linear and do not provide the supreme control of the KW coilover kits, with vertical movements over the Bridges taking a tad longer with slower vertical movement, for improved ride comfort. Concrete roadways between Gosford and Newcastle on the DG Sport Springs provided much more comfort than the KW V3 on almost full soft. The KW V3 provided reasonable comfort for about 2/3rds the Sydney to Queensland journey, the DG Sport Springs were fabulous for 100% of the journey. In terms of comfort, pays to stick with a linear spring like the DG Sport.
  
  
• On the way up I was running about 38psi tyre pressure. On the way down from Queensland, I ran about 40psi. It does make a difference to ride comfort on the DG Sport springs. 38psi provides an added comfort. 40psi and DCC in Sport mode has the DG Sport sprung GTI feeling that bit knobbly on the concrete sections of the roadway around Byron Bay and Newcastle. This suggests that the DG Sport springs are not overwhelming the standard DCC dampers.
  
  
• A bit of trivia: The DG Sport springs for the MKV with EA888 motor (North America only) have less spring rate than the equivalent DG Sport MKV spring for the older EA113 motor. In other words, the EA888 weighs less than the EA113 motor. North America has the EA888 motor for the last 1-2 years of build for MKV GTI. AUS received the EA888 motor in the MK6 Golf GTI. Not only does the Golf R motor sit higher in the engine bay to accommodate the AWD gear, the EA113 appears to be also heavier.
  
  
• The genuine Volkswagen lowering Driver Gear Sport springs are designed with spring rates in mind whereby a standard Golf TDI/GTI that is fully loaded over axles weights should be the same height as the equivalent Golf TDI/GTI on DG Sport springs. In other words, the short and lower DG Sport springs have to be harder to compensate for lower ride height – the DG Sport are supposed to sink down less for the equivalent load(s) –v- std springs. DG Sport springs are designed to meet the stringent Volkswagen OEM standard for an unloaded, partially loaded, and fully loaded Golf TDI/GTI. Not sure if this is the case with other makes of aftermarket springs.
  

Cheers.
WJ

MKCSG said:

Just to add,Apr front/rear bars should be a must with these springs. Have my setup on stiff/stiff, i am extremely happy with this setup.

Click to expand...

Glad it worked out for you!

WhiteJames said:

In wrapping up the Volkswagen genuine lowering OEM Driver Gear Sport springs review, I have completed a Sydney (Cronulla) to Gold Coast return drive up and down the Pacific Highway. This comprises quite a variety of roadways that necessitated all three Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) modes. How do the DG Sport springs fare over a 10 hour 900km drive each way?

• The standard springs in the DCC equipped Golf GTI are softer relative to the damping rate. This does help push the GTI up once the cornering process commences ... the higher rebound rate of the damper relative to spring rate has the damper responding fairly quickly to limit understeer ... but it does create a feeling of restlessness and uneasiness, and doesn’t do much when larger and harder high compression bumps are struck as the damper only has the capacity to overwhelm the soft OE spring rate in the low speed compression. This creates a feeling of raggedness over larger & hard bumps, troughs and patchwork sections of the roadway.
  
  
• The DG Sport springs with higher spring rate, esp. at the front (see my prev. Post), does create added understeer on corner entry. Once the GTI has been cajoled into the corner, the higher spring rate relative to rear spring rate (compared to VWR Springs) improves traction from apex onwards when powering out of corners. The higher relative front spring rate improves as speed rises, creating a really stable little hot-hatch. The higher relative front end DG Sport spring rate would also work better with those wishing to run rear-only aftermarket sway bars imo.
  
  
• Driving from Cronulla through the City and up along the Pacific Hwy through to Hornsby, the standard springs just didn’t feel right to me. The damping rate on the OE standard GTI springs felt like wearing shoes one size too large or not having your shoelaces done up tight. Sloppiness, nervousness, uneasiness and restlessness come to mind when driving from the Harbour Bridge along the Pacific Hwy to Hornsby at 60kph. The DG Sport spring eliminate this tendency making for a reassuring nicely controlled nuggetty type of ride at lower speeds.
  
  
• The 10 hour journey covering 900km felt shorter on the DG Sport Springs. I’ve done this drive a number of times on the standard OE GTI springs. The DG Sport springs make it easier on the driver, creating the feeling that the drive was 25% or a couple of hundred kilometres shorter. The real test is whether you’d want to do the same drive all over again the following day ... in this respect, the DG Sport are fine in terms of ride comfort on extended interstate journeys.
  
  
• 50-100kph acceleration bursts on pitted, patchworks and rutted B’grade roadways, winding out the GTI in Sport mode, showed less raggedness and less influence from the roadway imperfections with less torque-steer under more strenuous loads.
  
  
• On a tangent ... fuel economy was slightly better than all over drives with the standard OE springs. Could it be the slightly lower ride height of the DG Sport springs, as I wasn’t driving for economy on this trip? The Blue-Motion Golf comes with lower ride height to improve aerodynamics, amongst other fuel saving features. This drive was 6.6 litres northbound and 6.8 litres per 100km southbound for an average each way run of 6.7 litres. On standard OE springs, I couldn’t do any better than 6.85 litres.
  
  
• At lower speeds of about 60kph, the mid-range sized bumps and troughs does have the DG Sport springs exhibiting a greater amount of vertical movement. It’s never harsh or jarring with DCC and the ride is still much better than the sports aftermarket progressive rate sprung coilovers.
  
  
• Haven’t measured the ride height, but the rear seems to have settled down a bit more than the front. Level pics are difficult to take as the DG Sport springs are very sensitive to variations on the ground. It very rare to have the GTI on perfectly flat ground. Parked kerbside has different heights from left to right. Generally ... ride height is about Golf R ... perhaps slightly lower at the front and slightly higher at the rear when rear is un-laden.
  
  
• Sway Bars – on a grand touring trip, aftermarket sway bars aren’t required imo. Up to 8/10ths the standard GTI sway bars are fine and EDL/XDS helps steering into corners bob-cat style. Anymore than 8/10ths and a set of small aftermarket H&R sway bars would prove beneficial with the DG Sport springs. The higher relative front DG Sport spring (compared to VWR spring) with the larger German made front sway bars (H&R, Eibach, KW) would have a really deftly handling fwd esp. for high speed corners of grand touring. For driving on cruise control at 100kph on the open roadways, standard bars are fine with DG Sport springs providing added comfort for longer journeys.
  
  
• In contrast to the old set-up on the previous MKV GTI ... the KW V3 on almost full soft settings ... the KW coilover were slightly underdamped in the low speed damping rates, getting progressively harder the harder and fast the KW coilover spring compressed. Rough concrete carriageways like that between Gosford and Newcastle was a killer on the KW V3 for ride comfort. The three Brunswick Bridges between Byron Bay and Tweed Heads showed the KW V3 to have supreme control with short and fast vertical movements over the Bridge joints. The DG Sport strut style spring on std DCC dampers are linear and do not provide the supreme control of the KW coilover kits, with vertical movements over the Bridges taking a tad longer with slower vertical movement, for improved ride comfort. Concrete roadways between Gosford and Newcastle on the DG Sport Springs provided much more comfort than the KW V3 on almost full soft. The KW V3 provided reasonable comfort for about 2/3rds the Sydney to Queensland journey, the DG Sport Springs were fabulous for 100% of the journey. In terms of comfort, pays to stick with a linear spring like the DG Sport.
  
  
• On the way up I was running about 38psi tyre pressure. On the way down from Queensland, I ran about 40psi. It does make a difference to ride comfort on the DG Sport springs. 38psi provides an added comfort. 40psi and DCC in Sport mode has the DG Sport sprung GTI feeling that bit knobbly on the concrete sections of the roadway around Byron Bay and Newcastle. This suggests that the DG Sport springs are not overwhelming the standard DCC dampers.
  
  
• A bit of trivia: The DG Sport springs for the MKV with EA888 motor (North America only) have less spring rate than the equivalent DG Sport MKV spring for the older EA113 motor. In other words, the EA888 weighs less than the EA113 motor. North America has the EA888 motor for the last 1-2 years of build for MKV GTI. AUS received the EA888 motor in the MK6 Golf GTI. Not only does the Golf R motor sit higher in the engine bay to accommodate the AWD gear, the EA113 appears to be also heavier.
  
  
• The genuine Volkswagen lowering Driver Gear Sport springs are designed with spring rates in mind whereby a standard Golf TDI/GTI that is fully loaded over axles weights should be the same height as the equivalent Golf TDI/GTI on DG Sport springs. In other words, the short and lower DG Sport springs have to be harder to compensate for lower ride height – the DG Sport are supposed to sink down less for the equivalent load(s) –v- std springs. DG Sport springs are designed to meet the stringent Volkswagen OEM standard for an unloaded, partially loaded, and fully loaded Golf TDI/GTI. Not sure if this is the case with other makes of aftermarket springs.
  

Cheers.
WJ

Click to expand...

thanks for the comprehensive review! getting mines installed this weekend!:thumbup:

Joining this club.... about time!!!

DG springs just installed today + H&R 24/22 sway bar set (soft/hard settings).

Initial impressions:

WOW. Front to back/vice versa motion reduced, body roll on hard / high speed cornering is MUCH reduced. I will be driving up angeles crest tonight to really stretch the suspension and compare it to the stock performance 2 nights ago.

Driving comfort, almost the same as the OE setup. Yes you do "feel" a few more bumps but definately not a bone jarring experience.

A friend of mine who has his own shop installed the springs and sway bars. To anyone at or around SFV looking to do installs on just about anything, he can do it right and is definitley cheaper than most of the other tuning shops around here.

Pics to come.

My springs arrived today, looking for a shop to install.

GP813 said:

DG springs just installed today + H&R 24/22 sway bar set (soft/hard settings).

Initial impressions:

WOW. Front to back/vice versa motion reduced, body roll on hard / high speed cornering is MUCH reduced.

Pics to come.

Click to expand...

Got similar install today! DG springs for the DSG. H&R 26/22 small set to soft/hard.

I noticed the front / back roll change immediately too, which surprised me. Definitely felt more planted. I didn't notice any ride quality loss either. Feels great.

I measured FTG before and after and went from 26.5 FTG all around to about 25.5 FTG. Basically lost between 3/4 to 1 inch gap all around before settling. Rock on! I'll have photos tomorrow when it's light out too.

I didn't get to high speed corner yet. Taking a ride on the weekend into the twisties to try it out.

First off, for anyone in the SFV, having so many different mountain backrounds that are only a few minutes away is absolutely amazing.

Driving Angeles Crest Highway with all the new upgrades (power and suspension) two days after driving it on bone stock settings was like night and day. It has almost every type of corner you can imagine, short hairpins, high speed sweeping u curves, tight s curves etc.

I felt so much more comfortable throughout the route, which i ended shortly after the big tujunga road split.

I really felt that i was fully utilizing the capabilities of the all season pirelli Pzeros with the H&R sway bars on the car. Every corner i took I could hear thetires enough to know that i was teetering on the edge of their grip before i would hear them squeal around the corner. I can only imagine how much more speed i can add with proper performance summer tires.

Overall the road is very well maintained, but there was several high speed (55 - 60mph) curves with bumps and rough patches throughout the curve that tested the stability of the car. The car performed well through these corners, after hitting these rough patches the car simply glided over them without coming undone and i never felt that i couldve lost control throughout. The rear end settled down easily and didnt heave up and down throughout these high speed bends.

Im convinced that with proper summer tires and even better driving skills that car is indeed capable of averaging at least 60-65mph+ around most of the sections of this road, safely, whereas i was comfortable around the 45-55mph mark on the stock settings.

Id also add that i felt a lot less fatigued after this drive on the new suspension. I felt that i was fighting much less lateral g's while in the seat. I didnt feel that i had to brace myself with my left foot to keep from sliding around like i did on the stock suspension on this road. I could fully concentrate on the steering wheel and looking ahead at the next corner.

I would like to try this route again after some more settling on the springs and with the front sway bar set to Hard.

Only downside? Brakes. I didnt have to be on the brakes too much on this road since im mostly in 3rd/4th gear but when i did have to mash the brake it didnt seem to stop as fast it once did when the car had less power ;P . With stage 2+ and the new suspension i think a more sport oriented brake kit would work wonders but i think that may just be a little overkill for most.

Edit: Also looking to get a gopro hero2 for my next adventure.

Good stuff my man!!!

QUIT FUCKING SPAMMING!

windbooster1 said:

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Get more from your vehicle,fit a windbooster today.

Click to expand...

Can someone ban this tool?