springs

[smithyvr6]

will 40mm lowering springs be ok with stock dampers?

[tweed]

No mate damping will be weak and you'll just bounce everywhere.

Much better to get stiffer shocks to match the stiffer springs you will be fitting.

Yes im sure many people do it and say its fine but handling will be lost.

[boneybradley]

this is a difficult question as it depends on what springs etc (and how old your shocks are). If your shocks are over 5 years old I would advise to change them as they will fail quicker and they won't really have enough damping force to benefit from the springs ride/handling wise

eibach test springs using bilstein b2/4 o.e replacement shocks (they did use sachs advantage o.e spec until a few years back).

[Len]

Now I always thought that shocks work by the volume of oil/gas displaced and the more of that displaced the more stiff it becomes.
So if you are starting with the shock at a lower height then its initial movement should be stiffer than at its normal height.

But just by my own experience I would say 20/25mm drop will be OK on standard shocks but 40mm buy new ones.
You have to bear in mind that 40mm shorter springs are stiffer than normal ones so you need better shocks to cope with them.

[boneybradley]

but len as I stated eibach test their springs using o.e spec bilstein (or sachs) shockers and they go down to 50mm! (ok most are around 30mm but they are not uprated/shortened shocks)

so my answer is
 

[Shizzle]

i have my golf lowered 40mm on nearly new standard  shocks not sure of make but i have no trouble with bouncing handles very well with 205's on the front

[smithyvr6]

split opinions then on this..

[Ess_Three]

i have my golf lowered 40mm on nearly new standard  shocks not sure of make but i have no trouble with bouncing handles very well with 205's on the front

This has to be the only person in the world who's Golf isn't bouncy when lowered on std dampers...and who describes the handling of a Golf on standard dampers as 'handles very well'. 

[Shizzle]

i must admit i get  a lot of overstear  when going faster than i should but that's down to toys on the front budgets on tyre back.

[boneybradley]

i must admit i get  a lot of overstear  when going faster than i should but that's down to toys on the front budgets on tyre back.

mine did that with the pair of event tyres fitted on the back, It did make every trip in the wet an event!! (shame I changed them really as It was fun when giving some beans around wet roundabouts!!)