mattdibart
Go Kart Champion
First off, I need to give credit where credit is due. I'm not sure if he is active anymore, but thank you to rockerdan for his DIY. I followed it step by step to get these springs installed. His DIY can be found here: http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37480 if you need it.
I am also going to let you guys know that I won these springs in an SPM contest but this is a truly unbiased review.
Alright to the goods. I am going to break this review down into 4 different parts. I'll talk about the Installation, First Impressions , After a 100km trip to work, and final thoughts. I will update this thread early next week once I get some solid KMs on the springs to let them settle.
Installation
As mentioned above, I followed rockerdan's DIY guide to do this job. Prior to this my only experience working on a car has been a cat-back install on my 2.5l, Cold air intake on my GTI and 2.5L, A sub/amp install, LED interior kit and a couple oil changes. So even though this job may be easy to most, to me it was a learning experience and thus took me A LOT longer than it should have. The total install took me from 12:30pm until 7:30pm.
I had to make a trip to a local automotive/hardware store looking for a couple items which they didn't end up having. I ended up having to drive to my cousin's house quickly, as he had the tools I needed. This probably wasted about 1-1.5 hours.
The tools I had to buy are listed below:
Strut spreader - http://www.metalnerd.com/cat05.htm (scroll down)
Triple Square Bit Set - http://www.metalnerd.com/cat05.htm (top item)
Offset box wrench - http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...fset+Box-end+Wrench+Set,+Metric.jsp?locale=en (these DID NOT have a deep enough arch to them which is why I had to go to my cousins.
7mm allen Bit (all my allen sets skip 7mm)
Stretch Bolts x2
Rented a strut compressor tool
The rest are just your average garage tools, see the DYI for a complete list. By far the hardest part for me was getting the strut back into the spindle and the easiest was doing the rear springs. The only problem I ran into was at one point I had the strut seated in the spindle and bolted to the strut tower and the sway bar endlink didn't align with the strut. I ended up taking out the bolts on the strut tower and did some wiggling and got it to line up.
Overall, I would recommend this DIY to anyone on the fence about doing it. If you take your time and do everything right it's a pretty straight forward process. The one thing I do regret is not using a torque wrench to tighten everything down. I am looking into getting one next weekend and going back to torque everything down to the right specs.
First Impressions
When I finally lowered the car and took a step back to see the results I was very pleased. I'm not really keen on the slammed look but still wanted a bit of a drop. I was really happy with how much it dropped right off the bat (maybe about .5"). I knew that it would still drop a bit as the springs settled so the initial drop got me excited for what is to come.
I took a quick shower and hopped in the car to take it for a spin. I never used a torque wrench to tighten everything down so I was worried about potential popping and squeaking noises to be present when I drove it. As soon as I made my first left turn I heard a bit of a pop but since then not a single sound. I really don't know what the sound was but I purposely drove around for about 10 minutes doing slow right/left turns, fast left/right turns and drove over a couple speed bumps and I never hear another sound. The springs felt really nice. They are bit stiff and are a progressive spring so I am not sure how they will interact with my damper later down the road. I am sure it's going to wear them down quicker but when the time comes I will just upgrade the dampers as I didn't have the cash to buy new dampers now.
The ride felt very similar to OEM and I couldn't really tell a difference during that first 10 minute drive. It was a bit more stiff but nothing that would bother me while I drive and I put on about 50,000KM (31k Miles) per year so comfort is big for me. I parked the car and proudly walked into my house very pleased with how the day went.
After a 100km Trip to Work
I really got to test the ride today on my 100km round trip commute and I must say I am really impressed. The ride is definitely a bit stiffer as expected but still close enough to the OEM feel that I didn't really notice it unless I was concentrating on the feel going over a bump. Unless things take a turn for the worse once they are broken in, I don't see any reason why I would ever take them out.
Final Thoughts
As of tonight I definitely give the SPM lowering springs a 5/5. It did everything I wanted while being less harsh then I expected. I think once the springs finally settle I am going to be even more pleased with the outcome.
I will take some pictures in a week or so to show everyone the final outcome.
I hope my dampers hold up for a while but I do fully expect them to wear out faster and know eventually I will be upgrading my struts.
*update 15k km later*
I like them a lot. Gave me a nice drop and the added handling is always good. Dampers are holding up just fine. They are stiffer than stock which means a slightly rougher ride on bad roads. If you have decent roads it won't be an issue.
My struts are holding up just fine. I want to say I have about 15k km (9300 miles) on them now.
I am also going to let you guys know that I won these springs in an SPM contest but this is a truly unbiased review.
Alright to the goods. I am going to break this review down into 4 different parts. I'll talk about the Installation, First Impressions , After a 100km trip to work, and final thoughts. I will update this thread early next week once I get some solid KMs on the springs to let them settle.
Installation
As mentioned above, I followed rockerdan's DIY guide to do this job. Prior to this my only experience working on a car has been a cat-back install on my 2.5l, Cold air intake on my GTI and 2.5L, A sub/amp install, LED interior kit and a couple oil changes. So even though this job may be easy to most, to me it was a learning experience and thus took me A LOT longer than it should have. The total install took me from 12:30pm until 7:30pm.
I had to make a trip to a local automotive/hardware store looking for a couple items which they didn't end up having. I ended up having to drive to my cousin's house quickly, as he had the tools I needed. This probably wasted about 1-1.5 hours.
The tools I had to buy are listed below:
Strut spreader - http://www.metalnerd.com/cat05.htm (scroll down)
Triple Square Bit Set - http://www.metalnerd.com/cat05.htm (top item)
Offset box wrench - http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brow...fset+Box-end+Wrench+Set,+Metric.jsp?locale=en (these DID NOT have a deep enough arch to them which is why I had to go to my cousins.
7mm allen Bit (all my allen sets skip 7mm)
Stretch Bolts x2
Rented a strut compressor tool
The rest are just your average garage tools, see the DYI for a complete list. By far the hardest part for me was getting the strut back into the spindle and the easiest was doing the rear springs. The only problem I ran into was at one point I had the strut seated in the spindle and bolted to the strut tower and the sway bar endlink didn't align with the strut. I ended up taking out the bolts on the strut tower and did some wiggling and got it to line up.
Overall, I would recommend this DIY to anyone on the fence about doing it. If you take your time and do everything right it's a pretty straight forward process. The one thing I do regret is not using a torque wrench to tighten everything down. I am looking into getting one next weekend and going back to torque everything down to the right specs.
First Impressions
When I finally lowered the car and took a step back to see the results I was very pleased. I'm not really keen on the slammed look but still wanted a bit of a drop. I was really happy with how much it dropped right off the bat (maybe about .5"). I knew that it would still drop a bit as the springs settled so the initial drop got me excited for what is to come.
I took a quick shower and hopped in the car to take it for a spin. I never used a torque wrench to tighten everything down so I was worried about potential popping and squeaking noises to be present when I drove it. As soon as I made my first left turn I heard a bit of a pop but since then not a single sound. I really don't know what the sound was but I purposely drove around for about 10 minutes doing slow right/left turns, fast left/right turns and drove over a couple speed bumps and I never hear another sound. The springs felt really nice. They are bit stiff and are a progressive spring so I am not sure how they will interact with my damper later down the road. I am sure it's going to wear them down quicker but when the time comes I will just upgrade the dampers as I didn't have the cash to buy new dampers now.
The ride felt very similar to OEM and I couldn't really tell a difference during that first 10 minute drive. It was a bit more stiff but nothing that would bother me while I drive and I put on about 50,000KM (31k Miles) per year so comfort is big for me. I parked the car and proudly walked into my house very pleased with how the day went.
After a 100km Trip to Work
I really got to test the ride today on my 100km round trip commute and I must say I am really impressed. The ride is definitely a bit stiffer as expected but still close enough to the OEM feel that I didn't really notice it unless I was concentrating on the feel going over a bump. Unless things take a turn for the worse once they are broken in, I don't see any reason why I would ever take them out.
Final Thoughts
As of tonight I definitely give the SPM lowering springs a 5/5. It did everything I wanted while being less harsh then I expected. I think once the springs finally settle I am going to be even more pleased with the outcome.
I will take some pictures in a week or so to show everyone the final outcome.
I hope my dampers hold up for a while but I do fully expect them to wear out faster and know eventually I will be upgrading my struts.
*update 15k km later*
I like them a lot. Gave me a nice drop and the added handling is always good. Dampers are holding up just fine. They are stiffer than stock which means a slightly rougher ride on bad roads. If you have decent roads it won't be an issue.
My struts are holding up just fine. I want to say I have about 15k km (9300 miles) on them now.
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