All Things Mk5 > How to Guides / Troubleshooting
MK5 Golf GTI suspension refurbishment
pudding:
Yeah same experience with the Ohlins. Suspension doesn't need to be rock hard to make a car handle well. Don't get me wrong, if I wind the damping up to near maximum, it's ridiculous around corners, but equally ridiculous over bumps :grin:
Every time I see a Focus RS on the move, I see the driver's head bobbing up and down like an old BL Mini. SavageGeese's review says it all really :grin: There's just no need for that. It's borderline unusable on most of Britain's B roads.
gixerben:
has the Ohlins improved overall grip would you say? reduction in body weight transfer front to back?
My Pirelli has a stage 1 R-tech map pushing out 300bhp and 340 lbs ft torque and to say it showing up the handling is an understatement.
It has newish Pirelli P-zero's all round and whilst there are better tyres available I felt the need to stick with the Pirelli theme.
It does launch like a speed boat and the usual wheel hop, so have also been reading your posts on the vibratech engine mounts and WALK kit.
so really looking for the best set up for fast road use without too much effect over ride quality, a big ask I know!
pudding:
Suspension alone won't fix wheel hop/traction issues, although decent damping does go some way to improving it. It's the sum of a few upgrades which solves that, namely - ALK, stiffer mounts, damping and tyres. There isn't a lot you can do about rearward weight transfer in a FWD car, other than making the rear suspension stiffer to compensate, but that would come with ride quality and grip penalties.
In terms of cornering grip, ultimately you're always going to be limited by tyre width but quality suspension + ARBs gets you closer to the limits without excessive body roll and tyre screeching :smiley: Flat cornering reduces TC intervention as well :happy2:
I can fully endorse the Ohlins kit + Eibach 26/23mm ARBs, but that is nearly 3 grand's worth of suspension on a 10+ year old car. Very hard to justify for a lot of people, which I totally get. If budget isn't an issue, then I can't think of a reason not to go for that setup, other than the recommended 30,000KM damper rebuild interval. I am well past that mileage on mine though, and the damping is still just as tight now as it was when new :smiley:
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