Chris' 2011 GTI

[Carlos Fandango]

BTW: There was a guy in a new GT3 RS in my run group. In the third session he was killing me on the straights but I would catch him in every corner. He finally let me by and then followed me for the rest of the session. After that session he pulled up to me in the pits and asked if it was OK for him to follow me since I seemed to know the lines pretty well. He wound up following me out for the last three sessions and I was still holding or gaining ground on him every session. That was truly the highlight of my driving career. LOL!

20 years ago I used to track my 1993 964RS, and regularly I was out driven by modified FWD hot hatchbacks, especially in the tighter sections, a well set up Golf GTi just inspires far more confidence than a 911.

here is a photo at Goodwood back in 2001

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I actually ended up installing “euro” bumpstops when I had the VWR-Racingline cupkit installed. You can find the parts # here;
https://changegears.wordpress.com/2011/08/25/shorter-oem-bump-stops-euro-bump-stop/
These springs are great. Love them.

Thanks for the feedback.

I wound up trimming the fronts down about 1/2. I bought a set of the Euro rears but I haven't installed them yet.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

A couple rants:

1. I went a little wide over the Corkscrew on Sunday. I didn't go off track but I think I hit the bumps on the right side apron. Now there's a pop in the suspension when I turn the wheel back and forth. ARRRGGGGG!!!!

2. I checked the subframe bolts and rear LCA mounts and they are all tight. The front sway bar feels like it's tight. Maybe a tire rod end or the steering rack?

3. Now that the car is roughly 1" lower I can't put it on my ramps. The front lip hits. I tried using a 2x4 block in front of the ramp but then the block gets spit out when I try to drive up the ramp. It's already a PITA to jack it up and use jack stands since the only jacking point in the front isn't long enough to put a jack and jack stand in place at the same time. I've been jacking it up and placing a jack stand at the rearmost end of the LCA up against the mount but doing that on both sides is a PITA too.

I hate to say it but I think I'm going to have to bring it back to the shop and have it looked at, again. Sigh...

 

[Blaznjoe]

Which ramps do you have?

 

[Blaznjoe]

 

[ChrisAttebery]

Which ramps do you have?

The same ones you have. Nice work. I’ll have to make a set of those.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

This afternoon I decided to pull the strut and spindle off and see if there was something wrong with the camber plate. It looked good so I cleaned it up and relubed the bearings. I started to reinstall it and realized that the lower end of the sway bar end link wasn’t tight.

I got the car put back together and took it for a drive. The clunk is gone. I honestly think the tech that installed them forgot to torque them.

There’s still a bit of rubbing on the passenger front wheel. I’ll take a look at that tomorrow if I get a chance.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

Today I moved the front sway bar to the soft position and added a little toe out in the front (about 1/16" total) in an effort to reduce understeer a bit. We'll see if that helps.

I've also decided to raise the car back up about 1/2". It's hitting the bump stops and rubbing the fender liners quite a bit even after I rolled and pulled the fenders. I have a lathe so I'm going to turn some spacers that will go between the springs and the camber plates in the front. There are thicker spring perches available for the rear (from the Audi TT, 8J0512149KT). They are 7.5mm thicker than the GTI perches. It looks like the springs are mounted about 60% of the way out on the arm so that should translate to a 1/2" lift in the rear.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

Yesterday I pulled the right hand spindle and strut assembly off the car and took some measurements of the Ground Control spring cup. A couple hours later...

While I was in there I noticed that the bump stops look like they are tearing at the base. Well, the cup in the GC camber plate is the right depth but it's ID is .350" narrower than the one on the stock strut mounts. There's no way that the stock bump stop would ever fit. I made an aluminum ring to fill in the cup and glued it in place with Locktite 609. That will give the stops double the surface to sit on. Adding the 1/2" lower mounting position to the 1/2" lower springs means I need to cut and inch off the stock bump stops to get them to engage at the same point as they did on the stock setup.

 

[Blaznjoe]

Wow! That’s cool machining work you did there! Can you take before/after pics of the strut results?

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I got the car back together this morning. It’s at 25.625” FTG in the front and 25.5” in the rear (~13.25” axle to fender). That’s basically 3/4” lower than stock.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I've had the car back together for about a month and it's been a little better since I raised it up 1/2". The VWR springs are a better match for the Koni Yellow shocks and the car drives great on relatively smooth roads. Unfortunately there are a few things stacking up against them:

1. We live in farm country and a lot of the roads are in pretty bad shape.
2. My current alignment has moved the tires closer to the lip of the fenders so they are more prone to rubbing now.
3. The VWR springs are stiffer but have a lot less travel than the stock springs so they are more prone to bottoming out hard.

I want to keep the firmer ride I gained with the VWR springs on smooth roads and the extra 1"-1.25" of bump travel I lost to them back for the rougher roads.

I started looking into different lowering springs (stiffer but not as low) and the Ground Control coilover conversion kit. I decided that the coilover conversion would be a safer bet because I could control the spring rates and ride height independently. I found this thread by bostonaudi on the mk5 forum: https://www.golfmkv.com/forums/index.php?threads/spring-rate-testing-orgy.165926/ His findings line up with my thought on spring rates. Basically 300lb/in is about as stiff as you can run before the car starts to get harsh over bumps and potholes. Using 8" long springs allows the car to have plenty of bump travel before the suspension bottoms out.

Last week I ordered the Ground Control coilover conversion kit with 8" long 290lb/in springs F/R. The springs should be about 50% stiffer than stock and about 27% stiffer than the VWR springs. At the same time they'll have about about 2" of bump travel available. I'll start with the ride height at 1/2" below stock and see how it goes.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

So, big change of plans in motion. I test drove a '22 GR86 the other day. I was tempted to buy one but they didn't have what I wanted in stock. I've really wanted a 987.2 or 981 Cayman S but their prices have skyrocketed over the last couple years. I decided to look at a 2011 987.2 Cayman base PDK on Saturday. It was super clean so I made a deal in it. I should be able to pick it up this Saturday.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

So, this happened today.

 

[Thumper]

Another one bites the dust? Did you swap the GTI or just add to the stable?

That is about the ONE metallic color that looks good, especially on those. Congrats man.