MK5 Golf GTI

All Things Mk5 => Mk5 General Area => Topic started by: Baz300 on June 09, 2012, 09:09:30 pm

Title: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 09, 2012, 09:09:30 pm
What is the best suspension kit for under £500?

I dont really care if it's coilovers or just a suspension kit

Any ideas?
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: E30Dom on June 09, 2012, 09:11:38 pm
Coilovers?

Think you're looking at AP...

If you can stretch a little further and want adjustable damping... look at GAZ.

Not sure about suspension kits...
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 09, 2012, 09:15:06 pm
Yeah I did look at ap's but not 100% sure of them
Not too fussed about adjustable damping

Been doing a lot of searching but most items I find are from a few years ago when weitechs were around £480

I could stretch a bit further but think some of the prices are ridiculous, I was only a couple of hundred quid for konis a few years ago for my Cavalier
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: sub39h on June 09, 2012, 09:19:14 pm
Weitec Hicon GTs are quite good. very happy with mine

speak to Damian@DPM Performance - he'll advise you based on your budget/requirements. they're usually the cheapest too, and have price matched if not in the past
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 09, 2012, 09:25:20 pm
The weitechs are £620 so well over my budget
Got to factor in fitting and a 4 wheel alinment to the cost too
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: E30Dom on June 09, 2012, 09:26:43 pm
Been alot of happy people with AP's... Speak to ED@APS.co.uk he deals with AP i believe and does perfect 4WA.
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 09, 2012, 09:29:47 pm
Been alot of happy people with AP's... Speak to ED@APS.co.uk he deals with AP i believe and does perfect 4WA.

He is a bit far away from me as I'm in the north east of Scotland

Best alinment place in the area is behind  my work so very handy, I would be able to fit them apart from the front drivers side as it looks like you have to split the hub the get the shocker out
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: sub39h on June 09, 2012, 09:46:34 pm
The weitechs are £620 so well over my budget
Got to factor in fitting and a 4 wheel alinment to the cost too

ah sorry about that, they used to be around the £560 mark not all that long ago (with free postage from DPM)
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 09, 2012, 09:57:34 pm
I would of stretched to £550 for something decent

The ap's look Good quality but too many mixed reviews of them, do get a 2 year warranty with them so can't be too bad
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: GNJ_Motorsport on June 09, 2012, 11:07:40 pm
Just PM'd you but thought I'd post in here for anyone else interested. The KW V1 basic's are £569.05 from us at the moment  :happy2:

DSG version:

http://www.gnjmotorsport.com/products/KW-Variant-1-Basic-Coilover-Suspension-Kit-Golf-5-%7B47%7D-Golf-5-Plus-GTi-2.0T-FSi-DSG%2C-2.0TDi-FWD-%2803%252d%29.html

Manual:

http://www.gnjmotorsport.com/products/KW-Variant-1-Basic-Coilover-Suspension-Kit-Golf-5-%7B47%7D-Golf-5-Plus-1.9TDi%2C-GTi-2.0T-FSi%2C-2.0SDi%2C-2.0TDi%2C-GT-2.0TDi-FWD-%2803%252d%29.html
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: PDT on June 10, 2012, 01:35:04 pm
My vote goes to a bilstein b12 kit. Not coilovers but I would prefer a top spec fixed kit than a low spec coilover kit any day  :wink:
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Edition_30_P on June 10, 2012, 02:03:12 pm
I have AP Coilovers on my Manual Ed30 and love em! The ride feels near enough factory and the cost me £450 brand new  :smiley:
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 10, 2012, 02:29:31 pm
My vote goes to a bilstein b12 kit. Not coilovers but I would prefer a top spec fixed kit than a low spec coilover kit any day  :wink:

Only thing that puts me off them is that it's only a 20mm drop
I don't really push the car too hard anyway just drive at a good pace
(I gave you a thank you instead of clicking on quote)


I have AP Coilovers on my Manual Ed30 and love em! The ride feels near enough factory and the cost me £450 brand new  :smiley:
How long have you had them on for?

I keep swinging towards the ap's and have found them for £450 deliverd too ( which is good for an Aberdonian :laugh:)

Once I was happy with the height I doubt I would want to adjust them

Spent the whole day looking into things and still not made my mind up!

Took me 2 weeks of looking at cat back exhausts and ended up buying a blueflame TBE exhaust
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: George on June 10, 2012, 09:05:16 pm
Weitec coilovers, I can supply too  :happy2:
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: jedi-knight83 on June 10, 2012, 09:07:39 pm
for £500 fitted check out the H&R group buy

H&R springs and H&R rear ARB fitted and 4 wheel alignment for a shade over £500 from APS
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: berg on June 10, 2012, 09:22:16 pm
the b12 drops lower with the different springs though as they do 2 kits - check with PDT/GNJ.

I got the B12 kit off GNJ and it is perfect in terms of ride height you can just see the top of the tyre really
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: tony_danza on June 10, 2012, 09:22:29 pm
My vote goes to a bilstein b12 kit. Not coilovers but I would prefer a top spec fixed kit than a low spec coilover kit any day  :wink:

Only thing that puts me off them is that it's only a 20mm drop
I don't really push the car too hard anyway just drive at a good pace
(I gave you a thank you instead of clicking on quote)



You can get the Sportline kit which goes lower... but to be fair, you don't want to go too low, as it knackers the handling.
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: jedi-knight83 on June 10, 2012, 09:24:32 pm
can you get the full b12 kit fitted for under £500?
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: tony_danza on June 10, 2012, 09:30:59 pm
I doubt you can buy it for less that £500, let alone fitted. It is (IMO) THE single best kit out there though, it shats on pretty much all low and mid-price coilover kits.

Anyone taking adjustable ride height over quality may as well just buy the cheapest coilovers they can find, as they clearly don't care about driving and just want to be 'scene'.
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: berg on June 10, 2012, 09:40:08 pm
I doubt you can buy it for less that £500, let alone fitted. It is (IMO) THE single best kit out there though, it shats on pretty much all low and mid-price coilover kits.

Anyone taking adjustable ride height over quality may as well just buy the cheapest coilovers they can find, as they clearly don't care about driving and just want to be 'scene'.


yup tony is right, it is epic.

but to get it and fit looking at over £700.00
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 10, 2012, 10:09:52 pm
What are the H&r cup kits like?
Can you get them with slightly lower springs?
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: Baz300 on June 11, 2012, 10:04:59 am
I have listend to the advice here and orderd a set of b12's from eBay.de
Came it at £540
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: berg on June 11, 2012, 10:10:23 am
I have listend to the advice here and orderd a set of b12's from eBay.de
Came it at £540


good choice, i tried to mod my suspension backwards ie i added the other bits on oem springs and dampers (fitted WALK, TT wishbones, and front and rear arb's) I had the rear ARB set to stiff and the car was twitchy at best and a bit scary at worst. fitted the b12 and  :jumpmove:
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: jedi-knight83 on June 11, 2012, 10:17:20 am
So looking at the b12 kit its with Eibach springs and B8 dampers.

I'm getting H&R springs fitted... can I then retro fit the B8 dampers at some point?

Anyone run H&R and B8?
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: berg on June 11, 2012, 11:07:43 am
So looking at the b12 kit its with Eibach springs and B8 dampers.

I'm getting H&R springs fitted... can I then retro fit the B8 dampers at some point?

Anyone run H&R and B8?


dont think will be a problem as the B12 kit used to come with eibach or H & R, until Bilstein entered into an exclusive agreement for Eibach to supply the springs.
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: fab5freddy on June 11, 2012, 11:12:12 am
So looking at the b12 kit its with Eibach springs and B8 dampers.

I'm getting H&R springs fitted... can I then retro fit the B8 dampers at some point?

Anyone run H&R and B8?

Exactly. Add B8 dampers and you have essentially B12  :happy2:
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: GNJ_Motorsport on June 11, 2012, 11:16:35 am
The B12 kit is B8 dampers and Eibach springs. Nothing else to it really. They are great kits as people have pointed out and a better option from a handling point of view than coilovers.
Title: Re: Best suspension kit for <£500
Post by: jedi-knight83 on June 11, 2012, 05:35:56 pm
So looking at the b12 kit its with Eibach springs and B8 dampers.

I'm getting H&R springs fitted... can I then retro fit the B8 dampers at some point?

Anyone run H&R and B8?


dont think will be a problem as the B12 kit used to come with eibach or H & R, until Bilstein entered into an exclusive agreement for Eibach to supply the springs.

Good to know that I have a sensible upgrade route in the future.

H&R springs and standard shocks will do for now. I'd rather spend money on the rear ARB at the moment I think.