Gti suspension with 19”

[vasilis_03]

Hi guys,
In vw configurator when you select 19” for the gti it also changes the suspension to sport for 19” wheels.
In clubsport or r doesn’t do that, does gti have different springs or damper valving if you opt for the 19”?
It also adds a plastic insert in fender

[fredgroves]

They all have different springs for different sized wheels on the mk8.

And yes, ninteens will give you winglets.

[vasilis_03]

They all have different springs for different sized wheels on the mk8.

And yes, ninteens will give you winglets.

The gti springs are stiffer when you go for the 19”? In clubsport and R
the suspension doesn’t change depending the wheel size.
The damper’s valving is the same i guess?

[fredgroves]

It's the same deal on all mk8's... Whether it's a Style or an R.

[Kenis]

I was trying to work the suspension thing out, I think in other markets the gti has 17in as standard (as do other models below the gti in the U.K. or even smaller) so wondered if the suspension was set to cover either 17/18in wheels so had to be changed slightly when the wheels were increased to 19in and so on lower profile tyres. But the CS and R are always either 18 or 19 so may be they don’t need to be set differently.

Was a pure guess and was wondering when volkswizard upgraded his wheels if he would have had to change the suspension at all, but he didn’t so I sort of assumed it didn’t matter ok the cs.

Or it’s the configurator was built that way to encourage DCC upgrades (or get ahead of complaints about firm ride) or the configurator was built for a gti early on when they thought there might be a difference and there is literally nothing different in the factory build but they never went back and updated the configurator.

We need someone to do side by side on an 18 and a 19 car to see if any diff

[fredgroves]

Looking at my car on "MyVW", you can see all of the build features.... (a bit like decoding the sticker in the boot from years gone by)

I can see:

Progressive steering for 19-inch alloy wheels
Adaptive Chassis Control DCC (for 19-inch alloy wheels)

That's from a list which is the factory effectively.

Both the CS and the R had at some point the same thing appear on the UK configurator, if they don't now then its because of some stupid thing - not unusual.

Most definitely Mk8's come with different components beyond the wheels and the winglets for factory fitted 19's.

[ar899]

Does this mean you can't take a car with factory fitted 18 wheels and put 19s on?

[fredgroves]

Does this mean you can't take a car with factory fitted 18 wheels and put 19s on?

We've debated this before.... and all I can say is that you obviously can fit 19's to a car built for 18's but there are differences to a factory 19 build.... are those so bad to make it undriveable? Of course not.

On a Mk7 you had one setup for a car with 17's, 18's or 19's - from the factory.

The Mk8 just has some optimisation for factory wheel sizes.

[vasilis_03]

Looking at my car on "MyVW", you can see all of the build features.... (a bit like decoding the sticker in the boot from years gone by)

I can see:

Progressive steering for 19-inch alloy wheels
Adaptive Chassis Control DCC (for 19-inch alloy wheels)

That's from a list which is the factory effectively.

Both the CS and the R had at some point the same thing appear on the UK configurator, if they don't now then its because of some stupid thing - not unusual.

Most definitely Mk8's come with different components beyond the wheels and the winglets for factory fitted 19's.

I am almost certain it does. In Greece the base gti model comes with 17" and i think i read somewhere springs are different when you go for 19" to add more clearance to the wheel and suspension and maybe damper's valving too. I ordered mine with 17" and was wondering if i would run into issues if i upgrade to 19" later on.

[vasilis_03]

Does this mean you can't take a car with factory fitted 18 wheels and put 19s on?

We've debated this before.... and all I can say is that you obviously can fit 19's to a car built for 18's but there are differences to a factory 19 build.... are those so bad to make it undriveable? Of course not.

On a Mk7 you had one setup for a car with 17's, 18's or 19's - from the factory.

The Mk8 just has some optimisation for factory wheel sizes.

Do you have any more info about optimisation based on what wheel you choose from factory?
My car came with 17's as i was hoping to upgrade later on.
The rear wheel is less than 5mm away from the strut and it's 7.5J, based on online calculators
an 8.5J with +45 offset wheel will be 6.7mm closer to the strut which i dont think will fit