Coilovers!

[Batfink 201]

GAZ are telling you what they think would be ideal, but rather stupidly either neglect or forget to mention that that's based upon the whole car matching, ie. torsion bars too i'm sure. I also have my own wonders/suspicion of why they do it too though...

 

At the risk of repeating myself as i've said it already, anything over 150lb springs on the front with nothing matched at the rear is a waste of time IMO.

 

But then i do prefer a stiffer rear, i'd rather control a slide than be understeering out of control at the first opportunity. It's more important to maintain ccontact/grip levels and therefore suspension/geo settings on the front of a FWD car because the front wheels do everything, the same reason why i'd always put the 2 best tyres on the front. (cue: can of worms...?)

 

Again this is only my opinion, based upon experience of lots of different 205's across 10 or so years. If i didn't have first hand experience of many different setups and what works and what doesn't, for me at least anyway, rather than just going by hearsay or what i've 'settled' with but never actually tried anything else, i wouldn't feel i have a right to post an informed reply.

 

Baz I agree with everything there. Even Bilstein sell a setup for the 106 which is for a relatively soft front compared to the rear (and they recommend uprating the torsion bars - though due to language problems I cannot find which one)

[shalmaneser 26]

got rokkor ones from ebay £175 with rear dampers and my car handles amazing for cheap coil overs i was well impressed then i took my brother out in it and he got a pair for his gti6 205 then i took a mate out in it and he got a set for his mi16 205.

ther not to hard at all but i got it sat abit lower than the usual 205 i dropped the back 3 notches (tyer in the arch but not sat on the bump stops so ther is still rear suspention travel and the front sill is lower to the ground that the rear and not to much camber either so id say thumbs up to coil overs

 

lol.

[Lan 24 1 Cars]

got rokkor ones from ebay £175 with rear dampers and my car handles amazing for cheap coil overs i was well impressed then i took my brother out in it and he got a pair for his gti6 205 then i took a mate out in it and he got a set for his mi16 205.

ther not to hard at all but i got it sat abit lower than the usual 205 i dropped the back 3 notches (tyer in the arch but not sat on the bump stops so ther is still rear suspention travel and the front sill is lower to the ground that the rear and not to much camber either so id say thumbs up to coil overs

 

 

lol.

 

2nd that lol. there are so my fails in what he has said

[Baz 421]

Indeed, i'm glad others pointed it out!

[R.G_205 0]

explain the fail?

i was only saying that for cheap coil overs there better than your usual lowering springs :/

[Lan 24 1 Cars]

explain the fail?

i was only saying that for cheap coil overs there better than your usual lowering springs :/

 

a new standard set of dampers with fresh bushes and mounts would be better than cheapo coilovers, you just need to learn about suspension setup really, particularly rear beam ride height setup lowering it 3 splines on the rear is seriously overkill and will compromise the handling you will probably find when going over a bump you're hitting the bump stop

[R.G_205 0]

well there you go. thanks for the advise mate ill think twice before i post next time, just felt like getting get involved

[GLPoomobile 958]

Many years ago Redline magazine (or may have been Revs) had a 205 cover car - Maimi blue with smoothed bumpers and trim painted silver, one of the Ecosse bodykits and blended in Auxia spolier, anthracite GTI6 alloys, and...........................lowered about 100mm all round There was a photo of it with a fag packet next to the side skirt and it was barely any higher than the packet.

 

The young owner of course raved about it, even though he had to choose his route from home carefully as he couldn't get over speed humps. And of course the 'journalist' raved about the amazing handling, how it cornered like a go cart, complete with sparks flying from underneath as parts of the chassis caught the road.

 

If R.G 205 thinks his 205 handles nicely on his setup, then good for him. It wouldn't be right for me to argue the point as I've not driven his car, but I wonder how much of it is the placebo effect But considering the shocking (no pun intended) quality of British roads now, I certainly wouldn't waste £170 (or whatever it was), and my time, on a set of cheap-ass no brand shocks and springs. And I wouldn't slam it 3 notches on the back and even lower on the front. Looks cool, but that's not what a 205 GTI is about. And won't look so cool when you've just bump steered it in to a ditch and written it off

[GLPoomobile 958]

well there you go. thanks for the advise mate ill think twice before i post next time, just felt like getting get involved

 

Don't bother about thinking twice, just go ahead and post! What's the worst that can happen - you get patronised

 

Take a leaf out of SurGie's book, just speak your mind and don't worry if you are going against the grain.

[R.G_205 0]

Many years ago Redline magazine (or may have been Revs) had a 205 cover car - Maimi blue with smoothed bumpers and trim painted silver, one of the Ecosse bodykits and blended in Auxia spolier, anthracite GTI6 alloys, and...........................lowered about 100mm all round There was a photo of it with a fag packet next to the side skirt and it was barely any higher than the packet.

 

The young owner of course raved about it, even though he had to choose his route from home carefully as he couldn't get over speed humps. And of course the 'journalist' raved about the amazing handling, how it cornered like a go cart, complete with sparks flying from underneath as parts of the chassis caught the road.

 

If R.G 205 thinks his 205 handles nicely on his setup, then good for him. It wouldn't be right for me to argue the point as I've not driven his car, but I wonder how much of it is the placebo effect But considering the shocking (no pun intended) quality of British roads now, I certainly wouldn't waste £170 (or whatever it was), and my time, on a set of cheap-ass no brand shocks and springs. And I wouldn't slam it 3 notches on the back and even lower on the front. Looks cool, but that's not what a 205 GTI is about. And won't look so cool when you've just bump steered it in to a ditch and written it off

 

 

because there 'cheap ass' coil overs the springs are not to hard so don't suffer from to much bump steer well hardly any :/ but each and there own i suppose and its not so low i cant go over speed bumps for a car that is on coil overs its reasonably comfortable give or take the odd pot hole

[shalmaneser 26]

because there 'cheap ass' coil overs the springs are not to hard so don't suffer from to much bump steer well hardly any :/ but each and there own i suppose and its not so low i cant go over speed bumps for a car that is on coil overs its reasonably comfortable give or take the odd pot hole

 

bump steer depends on the angle of the wishbones and steering arms in their static position, it's not really got anything to do with the stiffness of the springs as such.

 

And if you've dropped three splines on the back to match the front chances are you're far too soft at the back, promoting understeer.

 

But hey, if it works for you...

 

Try reading the sticky topic 'how to modify your suspension' at the top of the board for some background information!

[R.G_205 0]

bump steer depends on the angle of the wishbones and steering arms in their static position, it's not really got anything to do with the stiffness of the springs as such.

 

And if you've dropped three splines on the back to match the front chances are you're far too soft at the back, promoting understeer.

 

But hey, if it works for you...

 

Try reading the sticky topic 'how to modify your suspension' at the top of the board for some background information!

 

far too soft on the back? its on the stops :/ but raising it up soon all round

 

and see how the bank balance is then get some better coil overs

 

cheers for the advise every one

[Batfink 201]

explain the fail?

i was only saying that for cheap coil overs there better than your usual lowering springs :/

 

The thing about opinions is everybody has them. Dont feel too bad when someone with far more experience tells you what is. A number of us have tried many combinations and there are only a few that really improve the cars. Most just reduce body roll but have many other failings.

Not many of us put just lowering springs on their cars unless they are designed for that combination - for example Eibach Pro-kit springs.

Too many people think coilovers means better which means they have been mislead or are misinformed..

[GLPoomobile 958]

i got it sat abit lower than the usual 205 i dropped the back 3 notches (tyer in the arch but not sat on the bump stops so ther is still rear suspention travel

 

far too soft on the back? its on the stops :/ but raising it up soon all round

 

So is it on the bump stops or not?

 

It's academic really. Lowered that much on the back, it WILL be making contact with the bump stops regularly, assuming your bump stops are still in place (the typically fall out when the cups corrode). And if it's making contact with the bump stops then it's going to lead to unpredicatable handling. Having driven with missing bump stops, and a modestly lowered beam, I can tell you that it doesn't take a massive bump for the back end to fully compress (resulting in the wheels rubbing the arches), so unless you have an extremely stiff back end (uprated torsion bars), you will be bouncing off the bump stops frequently when the back end is lowered a lot (even if you still have a little bit of travel when at rest).

 

Likewise at the front, by the time you've lowered it ~30/40mm your wishbones will be at horizontal when at rest. Any lower than that is bad as the wishbones are at the wrong angle (they start to point upwards from the subframe to the balljoint end, instead of downwards).

 

It's not better coilovers you need, you just need to raise the ride height! And instead of wasting your money on coilovers, just get some decent springs and fixed height/rate dampers.

[R.G_205 0]

So is it on the bump stops or not?

 

It's academic really. Lowered that much on the back, it WILL be making contact with the bump stops regularly, assuming your bump stops are still in place (the typically fall out when the cups corrode). And if it's making contact with the bump stops then it's going to lead to unpredicatable handling. Having driven with missing bump stops, and a modestly lowered beam, I can tell you that it doesn't take a massive bump for the back end to fully compress (resulting in the wheels rubbing the arches), so unless you have an extremely stiff back end (uprated torsion bars), you will be bouncing off the bump stops frequently when the back end is lowered a lot (even if you still have a little bit of travel when at rest).

 

Likewise at the front, by the time you've lowered it ~30/40mm your wishbones will be at horizontal when at rest. Any lower than that is bad as the wishbones are at the wrong angle (they start to point upwards from the subframe to the balljoint end, instead of downwards).

 

It's not better coilovers you need, you just need to raise the ride height! And instead of wasting your money on coilovers, just get some decent springs and fixed height/rate dampers.

 

well i just looked and my wish bones are looking up away from the subframe so is a bad thing (will raise it back up when i get it back on the road)

 

and the rears arnt touching the stops but they obviously will do when cornering hard

 

so will be lifting the bars a notch agian.

 

like i said i only wanted to see how it looked and felt another notch down and i thought it was an improvement IMO

[shalmaneser 26]

remember that lowering the back end on the torsion bars has no effect on the stiffness, only the ride height.