Limited Slip Differential

HI everyone, has anyone fitted a limited slip diff ? was seriously thinking about it but Quaife want about ?600. Worth it or not ?  :pray:
I see the Berkshire region is meeting soon, if i have not sorted membership by then can i still come along ???????

sparkstu said

HI everyone, has anyone fitted a limited slip diff ? was seriously thinking about it but Quaife want about ?600. Worth it or not ?  :pray:
I see the Berkshire region is meeting soon, if i have not sorted membership by then can i still come along ???????

No idea on the Quaife, but come along to the meet…

How much power is your engine putting out?

Not entiely sure at the moment, but car has a 16v engine with changed cam and a 1600, 5 speed box. Do suffer quite a lot of torque steer but running standard height suspension and no strut braces. This is the way i bought it and is my first GTI.

Kinda on the balance of it then - its a lot of money for a little bit of gain.

depends more on the application of the car, as to wether or not it's worth the bucks.

It's not just there to put the power down. It makes a big difference going around a corner. I've got one in my little 1300 and I've not found the limit yet. You can go into a corner far quicker than before. Too quick most of the time. I've got the Gripper which a plate diff, plus it's set for gravel with preload, so it's a handful to turn the steering wheel when stationary and it sometimes snatches the steering wheel straight mid corner. It also helps under heavy breaking when the diff locks stopping one wheel from locking up independantly.

for normal road use i wouldn't really bother. i'm sure you used to be able to get stiffer springs to tighten up the std gti diffs but i couldn't say where from. perhaps someone else on here can help.

Anyone used these?

 http://www.flatlander-ipp.co.uk/phantomgrip/phantomgrip-vw.shtml

I have an magazine article by tim stiles who knows something about mk1 golfs and reckons its about the best mod you can make.

Yeah an LSD is defo a good mod for ur car, if ur still running std susp then I wouldn't even think of getting an LSD until this is sorted, ?350 on some bushes and suspension is ur best bet, will defo help the handling/putting power down and half the price of a quaife.

handling wise, there is not much wrong with standard suspension, if all in good order. monies are better spent on uprated arbs and good quality tyres before lowering kits.

mk1-400 said

Anyone used these?

 http://www.flatlander-ipp.co.uk/phantomgrip/phantomgrip-vw.shtml

that looks a good price, i wonder what the quality is like ? i  would be tempted if anybody has any  good feedback about them.

Looks like a plate type lsd which i understand is not best suited to a front drive road car. on one of the other sites they were discussing the peloquin which is a torque biasing lsd and made in america so with the weak dollar may be a good price.

The Phantom grip is just 2 steel plates with a pair of die springs between them. It exerts a constant force on the diff side gears so it's just like adding more friction into an existing diff but with no control over when and where it acts. It's not really comparable to a 'proper' plate diff.

Yeah its the 2 blocks in cut-away pic. There's mixed reviews on it really, some say good, some say no difference. Some people have run over 12 months with these at various power levels without any problem but quite a few box builders claim they have eaten a few transmissions! Bit of a gamble then but the only vw example ive found so far is a guy running a 17psi 1.8T passat and its still going strong.

 Some people have also said that these shim kits are good for the money, aiding traction if both wheels have grip but lose the effect if 1 spins, ?50 ish! both 40 + 80% ones,  might be worth a look?

http://peloquins.com/products_80.html

wooders said

handling wise, there is not much wrong with standard suspension, if all in good order. monies are better spent on uprated arbs and good quality tyres before lowering kits.

 I've my first mk1 coming tomorrow so I cant comment but i'd take ur word for it, I meant the same as u, there are other areas of the handling that can be looked at before splashing the cash on a full on lsd. I had a fwd A3 with 210hp found this handled the power no problem with a good suspension set-up, 17's, etc but standard diff, have had some cars with uprated/aftermarket LSD's though and they are awesome, worth every penny and i'd recommend it as a mod sparkstu. Just keep a firm grip on the wheel as they can sometimes make ur car a bit "nervous" on these wonderful billiard table smooth UK roads of ours !   :wink:

to be fair, i would say that a lsd or atb is a worthwhile addition even with a standard engine. my gti will spin in first and second if i let it. they can be a bit of a handful sometimes though. if like me 99% of your driving is mild and placid, it may not be the best area to spend that money.

i have just started work for a company which as a sideline builds  WRC rally cars for mitsubishi  rallyart, and a chap is going to find out a price of a quaiffe diff for me, should get a good trade discount./ maybe group buy?

Check out the Peloquin. It's American so the exchange rate will be in your favour. For a good price on the Quaife, see if anyone is already offering a deal on ClubGTi. Found these on ebay. Same concept as the Quaife and Peloquin.