Lowering Springs

I'm after a set of lowering springs for my golf 'c' - sadly i don't have much money to play with. I've heard the lowering gsf items are poor in that they make the ride too harsh. Whats the best value option to go for? How have people got on with gmax/spax/eibach/venommotorsport etc? I'm after a slightly stiffer ride, and obviously lower, but i don't want the car to bounce too much over bumps or holes.

Am i daft to not change the dampers at the same time?

Whats the verdict on angle-grinding 50mm off my current springs. Anyone done this with success, do your wheels foul the arches and do you get grounding etc?

Cutting the springs is tempting when on a budget, but will give you the worst of all worlds, with harsh ride, un-seating issues, and no way to go back unless you get more springs from a donor car. Also, if you cut them more than you should have, you could end up with the car too low, or at different heights at each corner.

The harsh ride is because most factory springs are slightly thicker (harder)  in the middle coils, and slightly thinner (softer) at the top and bottom coils. If you remove the end of the spring, you are left with a "harsher" spring.

If you want a lower, firmer ride, there is no substitute for buying (at least) reasonable quality springs, I'm afraid…

There's no reason to change the dampers, if you're on a budget, but having lower springs on damper that are worn-in with higher ones may cause them to fail a bit sooner than they otherwise would have. You might be lucky, and this won't happen, but if it does, there is a lot of work in changing them - Place your bets…

PS: If you want better handling, and aren't worried about the ride height too much, you should try to get the anti-roll bars (and mounting brackets) from a Mk1 GTI. They fit straight on with just a few simple holes drilled in your (non-GTI) wishbones, and the car goes around corners much better, with much less body-roll.

Type17, thanks for the comments. Sounds like i'll have to spend around ?60ish on some goodish springs then. Is it possible to take the springs out without changing the geom too much - or is that impossible?

the anti-roll bar is something i'm trying hard to find. I'm chasing up one lead at the moment. I'm sure its going to make a big difference, but i'd like to drop the car for cosmetic reasons too.

Greg,

I have GTI anti roll bars - not too far from you reading +10 miles!

Greg said

Is it possible to take the springs out without changing the geom too much - or is that impossible?

Unfortunately the Mk1 is from a design-era where opening any bolt on the front suspension means that the camber and tracking settings are lost. You can try marking nut/bolt/component positions, but if you don't get it accurately checked afterwards anyway, you might find out that you got it wrong the hard way: when you notice that you've made your front tyres bald on one edge…  

Still, the Golf had moved on from earlier cars which had maintenance issues like weld-on front wings (60's Mercedes) and suspension/steering components that snapped, resulting in the wheel and hub falling off, if not regularly greased (the "trunnions" on Morris Minors)

crazyQ - i've sent you a pm about the antiroll bar.

T17 - i kinda thought as much. I guess i'll mark with paint - i've had success doing this with an audi coupe in the past. Also, i think i know a place that does a free camber/tracking check not far from work.

Welded on wings?!! jeez what were they thinking when they designed those? Wasnt mechano around in those days to learn from?!
Does that mean the 280SL  (gullwing) had welded on front wings?

Watching Wheeler Dealers the other day, I found out that even '80s Capris had welded front wings!