I have H&R sports, koni yellows and live in Edmonton (which anyone will tell you has worse winters than toronto ). As far as winter driving is concerned, I haven't had an issue with ride height at all. Koni yellows on full soft with the H&R sports gives a nice controlled ride, slightly on the firm side, but nice.
Well it's done. The Spindles are in, the Bilstein Sports are on with H&R OE Sport Springs and a 28mm H&R Rear anti-roll Bar. Definately a difference, but since I had Chad at SCI install everything at once, I have no way to be certain about which part accounts for what change. Turn in is well controlled and has a 'right now' feel, body roll is reduced quite a bit, and I can feel the rear of car rotate properly around corners. The ride height of this set up is about 3/8" lower in the rear and 3/8" higher in front than the stock GLI 1.8T (which is about 1" lower than a Jetta GL), now the car sits perfectly level. Which means, if you ask my opinion, the car now sits and looks correct. Also, I no longer scrape on the way into my drive way. The OE Sport springs are definately stiffer than stock and so are the Bilsteins: as evidence by a good reduction in pitch (squat and dive). The ride isn't any rougher or any more "firm" than stock GLI 1.8T, but the suspension motions are WAY more controlled. The spindles live up to the prediction of reduction in bump steer--now there is NONE when hammering rough pavenent on clover leafs; now the car's wheels abosorb the pavement irregularities but the steering wheel doesn't kick back. In addition, the control arms are now angled in the correct direction. So the spindles, along with the springs, help with the decent amount of roll reduction I've noticed. Overall I'm very happy, I got exactly what I wanted. For most enthusiasts/tuners who only want to lower, this set up is a pricey suspension mod that will not give you what you want. However if cornering prowess with great feedback and motion control is what you seek, this is nirvana .
I've been running 17x8 superleggeras with VR6 front springs stock TDI Jetta rear springs with rubber spacers, bils TCs regular version, home made rear bar. Let me tell you this is a 100% perfect setup. All my hates are gone and this car is as as good as my previous Acura and much smoother than my LS1 Camaro.
It's 100% your shocks. Get some Bilstein touring shocks, or Konis and you'll bet set.
I am getting H&R race springs and bilsteins sports put on this weekend. I wanna get my wheels aligned after this.
A good starting point would be Sport Springs (Neuspeed Sport, H&R Sport) with Bilstein or Koni Adjustable shocks. The shocks will be the most expensive, but remember that they'll outlast the originals!
I think for the NS SofSports, the Bilstein HD's would actually be a decent, if slightly firm match. The SofSports, contrary to their name, are not soft springs. They are 30-45% stiffer than stock.
As you all can see, the dyno showed how the TC Sport are (as also advertised) pretty close to stock, if we look at the compression. The rebound is quiet more than stock thought. But from the graphs is pretty clear that the TC is not any near the advertised 10 or 20% stiffer than stock
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