new to watercooled, hello people

[66split]

Hello people, I have just upgraded from various beetles,splitties etc to a ?700 mkII gti.  It is a surprisingly clean straight car with 130k on the clock, nice exhaust, alloys and some other nice bits. BUT!!! it handles like a squirmy thing.  It seems to bounce off white lines to some degree.  Is this normal?? its not lowered or anything (remembering beetles ).  A few people have told me that they are just naturally aggressive round corners.  Also, has anyone tried strut braces and do they really work!!
Cheers People, nice to see a good forum.
66split  

[jv]

Hi there, welcome to GTI ownership  

That handling description doesn't sound normal to me! After all your aircooled stuff the GTI should handle like a dream!!

Maybe the shocks are knackered. Perhaps a cheap-ish suspension kit could be the answer. A Spax kit made a huge difference when I had a mk2 16v a while back.

Strut braces work but only in addition to a good suspension set up. Even then only worth it if you drive like a nutter  

cheers,

jv

[harr1s]

hi 66split ... must admit i do like the old custom campers and see loads of them aswel as beetles down here in devon as theres a village nearto where i live called croyde which is a surfers paradise and quite alot off them are dub drivers wicked...........
as for the mk2 just so happens that i to have recently joined the dub scene and have a mk2 gti 8v ?but unlike yours mine does handle and yes 'jv' like a dream.. id also go with jv and sugest new suspension raceland do a set that are qite cheep ?but dont know ifd there any good though but jv will proberly know...

? ? Cheers..................
? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Harr1s..........

[66split]

Thanx guys I kinda thought that'd be it.  Still, its getting to the age where most stuff is gonna need replacing soon.(battery and starter yesterday) fortunately i have restored all my vehicles and don't have to pay thru the nose to get stuff done. Anyways, down here in Penzance people don't charge much for good work.
I'm off to buy some suspension
66split

[richandhazel]

A guy I know bought a mk2 GTI a while back and he said exactly the same thing.......however, advice he was given is just push it, you'd be surprised, despite how it FEELS, how well it can actually handle. He did that and was gobsmacked, the feedback just wasn't what he was used too .............loved it

[66split]

Well, I pushed it and then a bit more and the tyres screeched and it handled and handled and then the back end let go and i could see where i'd been!!

brilliant, nothing like the beetles but now i feel little devils horns growing every time i get in the thing.

I'm off to see how fast it goes in the wet

66split ?