MK5 Golf GTI
All Things Mk5 => Modifications & Technical Area => Performance Modifications => Topic started by: snapey on April 10, 2010, 10:08:26 pm
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How do chaps.
Just after some general info. I'm thinking of upgrading the rear ARB to try and improve the handling. I'm currently running WALK and H&R springs. Not after anything mental just something to tidy up the handling and give a bit more confidence.
I'm currently looking at the white line rear adjustable ARB because I've been nothing but impressed with the WALK.
Any recommendations would be throughly appreciated. Luke.
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three options id say you could do.
1-The rear bar wil reduce understeer, but you will have lose the neutral balance you have on the car. I for one prefer a more oversteer bias on the car, but others may not.
2-By doing the front and rear bar in combo with the WALK, the car will retain its neutral balance, overall roll wil be reduced, and understeer still reduced further. his is what i had on my car and it was very confidence inspiring on track. (i did consider getting an even stiffer rear bar though)
3-Another option would be to provide the front wheels with more grip. you could do this by fitting the front lower control arms from the mk2 Audi TT. It is lighter(an unsprung mass) herefore positve handling effects from the weight loss alone, but it is also adjustable for an extra half degree negative camber. so you wil be able to run -1.5o camber, which will give you that increase in front end grip, whilst keeping a sensible level of camber to ensure tyre wear is not stupid.
If i was to buy another mk5 platform VAg which i undoubtably will in time(prob S3 or cupra) ill be doing option 2 and 3 before anything else, and then i would probably mate it to some lowering springs with good dampers as you already have. Then i would do the diff, and only then if i wasn't happy would I consider coilovers again.
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This is really useful...how much is a pair of MK2 TT lower control arms?
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these are the part numbers of the bits i bought when i germany, but then stupidly sold on for an inferior product, but thats another story
1- Lower control arm
Amount required=2 total, 1 per side
Part number=8J0 407 151 D(same part number for each side)
Total cost= 224 euro for the pair
2- Bolt to attach lower arm(dont know exact name for it)
Amount required= 2 total, 1 per side
Part Number=N 101 410 03
Total cost= 5 euro, (2.50Each)
3- Ball Joints
Amount required= 2 total, 1 per side
Part number= 8J0 407 365(LEFT SIDE), 8J0 407 366(RIGHT SIDE)
Total cost= 92 euro (41 euro each)
4- Ball Joint bolts
Amount required= 6 total, (3 per side)
Part Number= N103 320 02
Total Cost= 2.64 euro (44 cent each)
5- Ball Joint Lock Plates
amount required= 2 total, 1 each side
Part number= 8J0 407 175 (176)
Total Cost= they didnt charge for these????
In total it came to 323 euros+19%tax, so 385 euros total inclusive of VAT.
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Right, I'd decided to go for uprated front and rear bars to compliment the WALK and H&R springs.
What ARB's are the general consensus running on here? At the minute I've narrowed it down to the H&R and white-line set up.
Any recommendations from people would be much appreciated.
Luke.
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Just got off the phone with DPM performance and I've order the White-line 24mm front and rear adjustable ARB's, on the basis that I should hopefully not only get a far more stable platform but if I'm foolish enough the rear should induce a bit more lift off when I feeling stupid.
Their also suitable with the rocco that I'll be changing to next year so it's a truck load of win on all accounts :laugh:
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Right, I'd decided to go for uprated front and rear bars to compliment the WALK and H&R springs.
What ARB's are the general consensus running on here? At the minute I've narrowed it down to the H&R and white-line set up.
Any recommendations from people would be much appreciated.
Luke.
I went for H&R... very happy with them. They were the only ones that listed a separate set of ARBs for GTis with Xenons.
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Right, I'd decided to go for uprated front and rear bars to compliment the WALK and H&R springs.
What ARB's are the general consensus running on here? At the minute I've narrowed it down to the H&R and white-line set up.
Any recommendations from people would be much appreciated.
Luke.
They were the only ones that listed a separate set of ARBs for GTis with Xenons.
what do zenons have to do with suspension?????
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That's obvious, it makes it lighter. :innocent:
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That's obvious, it makes it lighter. :innocent:
Not really sure... the reason I was given was that some of the rear ARBS don't provide enough clearance from the xenon levelling sensor which is attached to some thing on the rear suspension.
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srange really. you would think VAG would build the zenon system around the chassis and not the other way around!! :stupid:
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srange really. you would think VAG would build the zenon system around the chassis and not the other way around!! :stupid:
Not sure...but I went for the H&Rs just to be on the safe side of things.
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Just got off the phone with DPM performance and I've order the White-line 24mm front and rear adjustable ARB's, on the basis that I should hopefully not only get a far more stable platform but if I'm foolish enough the rear should induce a bit more lift off when I feeling stupid.
Their also suitable with the rocco that I'll be changing to next year so it's a truck load of win on all accounts :laugh:
do you have a ride impression to report? I'm curious about their swaybars too after looking at their WALK.
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ARBs make a huge difference on the mk5 chassis. whiteline bars get very good press on the skoda forums(same chassis/engines) however ive read a few posts mentioning that they had corroded and looked old after being fitted for a while.
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Janner - thanks for the information. I will also do more research into the ARBs. These all seem like good "bang for the buck" modifications.
Its unfortunate to hear about the rust problems with the Whiteline bars. I was looking at the product when I saw their stand at Automechanika and it looked very nice. Okay, they are new and everything looks good new right? But I noticed that they now have TÜV approval for their MKV parts. That is a really big deal. I'm not sure if you know what goes into having product TÜV certified, but it is very serious stuff. Maybe the new stuff is better than the older ARBs? We can only wait to see. But in regards to rust, heck, the OEM Mercedes stuff is so rusty after only one year here in Germany too! lol
But thanks again, I am learning very much here.
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Im running the KW ARB's. Great quality. They are also adjustable with two settings. The bushes so far seem much better than the H+R bushes. The price is reasonable too.
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I too was going to go for the whiteline arb. Only rear thou.
But ended up ordering the APR rear arb. Should hopefully have it by next weekend perhaps.
Then I can install the kit. Still waiting on my WALK kit.
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Just got off the phone with DPM performance and I've order the White-line 24mm front and rear adjustable ARB's, on the basis that I should hopefully not only get a far more stable platform but if I'm foolish enough the rear should induce a bit more lift off when I feeling stupid.
Their also suitable with the rocco that I'll be changing to next year so it's a truck load of win on all accounts :laugh:
do you have a ride impression to report? I'm curious about their swaybars too after looking at their WALK.
Overall I'm very impressed with the ARB's (only fitted the rear at the minute, saving the front for a rocco). Really tighten the car up, there's still roll but you'd have to be twat to get to that point anyway. It's currently on the medium setting (for the drop-links save) and it'll be staying there.
The ARB isn't without it problems. The plates in which mate with the drop-link are thicker than o.e. so require a longer bolt to compensate, White-line are aware of this and are doing nothing to rectify the issue which is crap, I haven't replaced it yet because there's no axial loads (very very minimal) only radial from the bar twisting so until it's up on some ramps then its staying like it.
Overall I'm pretty impressed, however I can't imagine them being vastly different from any other manufacture of ARB.
Luke.
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Just got off the phone with DPM performance and I've order the White-line 24mm front and rear adjustable ARB's, on the basis that I should hopefully not only get a far more stable platform but if I'm foolish enough the rear should induce a bit more lift off when I feeling stupid.
Their also suitable with the rocco that I'll be changing to next year so it's a truck load of win on all accounts :laugh:
do you have a ride impression to report? I'm curious about their swaybars too after looking at their WALK.
Overall I'm very impressed with the ARB's (only fitted the rear at the minute, saving the front for a rocco). Really tighten the car up, there's still roll but you'd have to be twat to get to that point anyway. It's currently on the medium setting (for the drop-links save) and it'll be staying there.
The ARB isn't without it problems. The plates in which mate with the drop-link are thicker than o.e. so require a longer bolt to compensate, White-line are aware of this and are doing nothing to rectify the issue which is crap, I haven't replaced it yet because there's no axial loads (very very minimal) only radial from the bar twisting so until it's up on some ramps then its staying like it.
I've had my Whiteline ARBs on for about 20k now - and am generally happy with them.
I hear what you say about the rear bar ends being thicker, and the long bolt needed. Mine is the same, but in all honestly, I've not had any issues with those, and I regularly remove the bar to re-grease the bushes. With the rear bar (any bar), the weakest link is the drop links - my original links gave up about 6weeks after fitting the WL ARB - new OEM drop links seem to be holding up - but I'm prepared for them to let go whenever.
Re the front WL bar - I have a very minor problem - on full lock, the ARB just kisses the steering track rods. It has worn the paint off the ARB, but not really damaged the actual metal of either. I'll just keep watching this.
The only real issue with the front bar - in general (applicable to all makes, not just Whiteline), is that they are a bit of a mare to fit, and an equal pain to re-grease the bushes.
For the record, my Whiteline bars are full hard rear, full soft front.
HTH :smiley: