Advice needed on Wheels and Suspension upgrade please.. : )

[CL-SID]

Hi folks,

I own a standard 1.6 cl mk3, I was going to leave it totally standard but this site has got my juices flowing to drop the suspension and upgrade the wheels.

It wil bel on a tight budget and I will have do this over the winter months. Any suggestion on suspension makes, drop amount to kept it a smooth ride would be fantastic. 

Also I do not want to mess with the arches so wheel types, offset etc to make it look more agressive and keep the arches standard would be a great help also.

thanks in advance for advice,

Sid. 

[Gti_Jamo]

In regards to wheels in my opinion the best fitment is 16" with a width of 7.5 inches along with an offset of around ET25-35. These won't require any arch mods. Also with coilovers, you get what you pay for really. I can only mention AP's as these are all I have had on my Mk3 and the ride is good but they were £400. You can get cheap Joms for £150 but would have to assume the ride will not be the best but if your not bothered about that then they will do the job just fine.

[dom]

If your doing it on the cheap then you won't have a smooth ride, most cheap coilovers (JOM, hot tuning etc.) are all made in the same place and just re branded. The ride is pretty poor, especially when your really low.

Wheels is a very personal thing, lots of wheels will fit without much hassle. Anything that is 4x100, not bigger than 16" and with an offset between et25-et40 should fit straight on depending on width.

[tweed]

I have cheap Jom coilovers and they are starting to really piss me off!! 

[Gavv8]

I have cheap Jom coilovers and they are starting to really piss me off!! 

There seems to be both lovers and haters of the cheap coilover...

[CL-SID]

Thanks guys,

I was looking at Jom's    I was hoping to lower it about 35/40mm as I do want it to be usable with people in the back. I would have rushed in and got these because the general write up do not seem bad at all. Will need to re-think this then, are second hand better ones a gamble?

Thanks for the advice on wheels I was only thinking I could get away with 15", so that helps a lot.

Will using springs alone knacker my suspension?

 

[dom]

Thanks guys,

I was looking at Jom's    I was hoping to lower it about 35/40mm as I do want it to be usable with people in the back. I would have rushed in and got these because the general write up do not seem bad at all. Will need to re-think this then, are second hand better ones a gamble?

Thanks for the advice on wheels I was only thinking I could get away with 15", so that helps a lot.

Will using springs alone knacker my suspension?

 

Springs alone will ruin your shocks pretty quickly.

As for cheap coilovers, in terms of value for money they are unbeatable. I'm running JOM's on my MK4 at the moment, when it was lowered about 40mm the ride was actually ok. I then wound them down another 15mm and it transformed the ride, they are now really bouncy and pretty harsh.

Basically, keep them at a reasonable height and they will be ok. Even the best coilovers will give a horrible ride if they're wound down to the floor.

[Gavv8]

You can go down -40mm on standard shocks without too many issues.

[dom]

You can go down -40mm on standard shocks without too many issues.

Problem is 40mm is never enough

[Gavv8]

You can go down -40mm on standard shocks without too many issues.

Problem is 40mm is never enough

Yes...mine is -40mm and the splitter does sometimes scrape but i still look at it every day and think it looks like a 4x4.. but i can't decide whether to go lower on shortened shocks or coilies.