2 inch drop on my 2008 gti?

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socomplayer2

socomplayer2

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New Jersey
Ok, my friend is selling these springs for 85 dollars and I want to pick them up. They would lower my car about 2 inches. I think it would look great and it would handle better but one problem, I live in New Jersey. I know that it would make potholes and speed bumps hell. I really want to do this and my families mechanic would do it for cheap but I just want to know if it would make driving a hassle. I just want you opinions.
 
Ugh, if you want to chew tires like a mofo go for it. I bought my Focus with Eibach sportline springs in it... but the guy before me opted out on the camber kit and everything else. Now I have a camber between -3.5 degrees to -1.5 degrees all way round. I have to change my Nexen N5000s about every 30,000 kilometers because of it.

I'd save up for a complete pro-kit and have it all done professionally if you are doing this to a 2008 GTI. Don't half ass it.
 
Rumple Foreskin
Ugh, if you want to chew tires like a mofo go for it. I bought my Focus with Eibach sportline springs in it... but the guy before me opted out on the camber kit and everything else. Now I have a camber between -3.5 degrees to -1.5 degrees all way round. I have to change my Nexen N5000s about every 50,000 kilometers because of it.
I'd save up for a complete pro-kit and have it all done professionally if you are doing this to a 2008 GTI. Don't half ass it.
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Why are you complaining? I have around 6,000km on my tires and they're halfway gone, and I'm on stock suspension.

If the springs are a brand name, get them, then get an alignment. If something can't be brought into spec, get whatever it needs to bring it within spec. As for potholes, avoid them, they mess up your wheels anyway.
 
Perfect Balance
Why are you complaining? I have around 6,000km on my tires and they're halfway gone, and I'm on stock suspension.

If the springs are a brand name, get them, then get an alignment. If something can't be brought into spec, get whatever it needs to bring it within spec. As for potholes, avoid them, they mess up your wheels anyway.
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Err... my bad, I meant 30,000 kilometers.

What the hell kind of car chews tires every 6k?:scared:
 
i want to lower my 350z but only about 15mm. the springs should do just fine, and the camber shouldnt be noticeably effective on tire wear. (a few hundred miles less maybe.) 2 inches would need new shocks, and control arms. 85 dollar springs would get mighty expensive. if i were going that low i would forget about the "great deals" and go with a full coilover and control arms.
 
$85? GTI? 2008? I'd pass.

Although the drop might help make it look a little less goofy...

I'd save up and go for a good suspension setup and get a body kit to go with it. I think it's perfectly fine the say it is, but maybe that's just me. And I'd probably play with the engine with an intake or something else that'll actually make it go faster than look faster. It looks fast enough already.
 
Philly
$85? GTI? 2008? I'd pass.

Although the drop might help make it look a little less goofy...

I'd save up and go for a good suspension setup and get a body kit to go with it. I think it's perfectly fine the say it is, but maybe that's just me. And I'd probably play with the engine with an intake or something else that'll actually make it go faster than look faster. It looks fast enough already.
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Any body kit worth buying will cost too much to make it worth it for such a mildly tuned car.
 
Rumple Foreskin
:odd: 30,000 kilometers isn't much at all. Basically 2 times a year I'm buying $700 worth of new rubber... on a Ford Focus.
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You drive 40k miles a year?

That is A LOT, and Nexans don't cost $700, or they shouldn't. If you pay that much for Nexans (or any set of tires really) you are being ripped off really bad.
 
Perfect Balance
You drive 40k miles a year?

That is A LOT, and Nexans don't cost $700, or they shouldn't. If you pay that much for Nexans (or any set of tires really) you are being ripped off really bad.
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1000 kilometers a week minimal.

215/35R18 84H is the tire size. That is not a typical tire, not even close.

I pay $160 each tire for the rubber, mounting, balancing, chrome valve stem, and install. $160 bucks is pretty fair considering I got quotes for almost twice as much from different shops.
 
Just FYI PB, 30,000 KM is 18,641 miles. Can't say anything about the tires though because the CAD is worth more than USD at the moment.
 
I chew through Falken Ziex about every 30-40k miles, and Azenis much sooner.

That aside, 2 inch drop is just a bad idea. Wait for a proper kit and proper setup, as 2 inches will over kill the alignment and make the ride suck on anything but perfect tarmac.
 
2 inches is a lot on a car that's pretty low from the factory. You'd be hard done by getting into carparks and everything, and you'd scrape the underside a lot on everything.

You alter camber by lowering it? What the? Never heard of that on my car.
 
DONT DO IT!

There isn't anything wrong with your stock set-up is there? Why mess up something that is perfect out of the box.
 
For such a new car don't put any ol' crap on it. Many hatchbacks these days are screwed up due to unecessary modifications.

Either leave it stock or pay for a proper, proven kit.
 
95GTIVR6
DONT DO IT!

There isn't anything wrong with your stock set-up is there? Why mess up something that is perfect out of the box.
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Exactly. VW set it up that way for a reason. It's the best all round compromise.
 
TheCracker
Exactly. VW set it up that way for a reason. It's the best all round compromise.
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Ditto that.

Here's another argument against the drop: because the spring rate will (necessarily) be much higher than stock, you will also wear out your factory shocks prematurely. If for some reason, the rate isn't higher than stock, you will hit your bumpstops all the time, which will screw up the handling --in a big way.

If you are dead set on this, I advise you to go to vwvortex.com and do some research. It is possible your car will take a 2 inch drop without any major issues. But I suspect you will see the beginnings of geometry issues; pay attention to mentions of excessive camber, out of spec toe, etc.

Most crucial is making sure a big drop isn't going to excessively increase the roll couple (because you are lowering the roll center too far away from the car's center of gravity) on the car to a point where you actually hurt handling. Bigger the roll couple (distance between roll center and CG) = more weight transfer during cornering = more body roll. This is the often overlooked disadvantage of lowering.

Personally, I cringe when I see cars with too big a drop.


M
 
If I remember correctly, your car's a lease, right? I highly recommend that you check your warranty first thing before doing a thing. You definitely do not want to lose anything that says the dealer can replace your suspension under warranty.
 
I live in Michigan and my 69 Camaro is very very low. So low in fact that my headers are only 2" from the ground. The very top of my car is only 51" from the road. With that said, I hardly have any problems at all besides speed bumps. I have also had my same tires for 4 years with no unusual wear. Thats even including racing my car on road tracks a couple times a year and attending the 2004 power tour.
If your only going with a 2" drop that will be fine. But if its a lease as someone mentioned above then I would not do anything to the car at all.
 
Is the car a lease? As far as I know most dealers look down on that sort of thing and will charge you for it. If you plan on buying the car at the end of the lease then I would look into a newer, proper suspension set up for it. Modding your suspension is a lot more then adding just springs to it. If you are going to do it, do it all at once. When I had the Blazer lowered I did springs, spindles, shocks, brake lines, blocks, u-bolts, brackets, sway bars and bushings. Yes it was expensive but it didn't screw the thing up. Also my tires were fine, you just need an alignment more frequently.
 
*McLaren*
If I remember correctly, your car's a lease, right? I highly recommend that you check your warranty first thing before doing a thing. You definitely do not want to lose anything that says the dealer can replace your suspension under warranty.
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QFT... I was going to say exactly the same thing.

Plus, the GTI is more than good stock anyway. Volkswagen dumped so much money into the development and tuning of the car, there isn't any reason to throw it away to begin with. If you want to play with the suspension, I highly suggest you go through the dealer first. Chances are they can add the price of the components into the lease...
 
Never mind, I thought about it today in school and I'm going to pass this one up. If anything goes wrong I don't have enough money to fix it so I am going to leave it stock for now.👍
 
Good choice. Suspension repairs can be expensive, so it's best let the factory cover them for you instead. 👍
 
socomplayer2
Never mind, I thought about it today in school and I'm going to pass this one up. If anything goes wrong I don't have enough money to fix it so I am going to leave it stock for now.👍
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Yeah that's a relief. Any sport model of modern times won't need a better suspension unless you are willing to fork out big bucks for a proper and proven setup. Modern suspensions are very good.
 
Another GTI spared from possibly being improperly molested. :)

Good choice. No need to make risky mods to try and make the car look a little better.
 

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