Old Library

I've had my NS race springs on my car now for about 2 weeks now (and about
1000miles). Since I've been out of town a lot, Monday was the first time I
had to really test the car out.

I got the springs from EuroTech (Les had them in stock). I originally
wanted the NS Sport springs, but Les convinced me to go with the race
springs instead since I had the Koni's already. Here are my impressions of
the setup. Just keep in mind I don't have anything to compare it against,
except a bone stock '98 suspension, and a '98 suspension with Koni's and
factory springs.

Ride Quality:
I have to say, I'm really surprised that the race springs didn't totally
destroy the ride quality. The Koni's seem to be a perfect match for the
Race springs though. With the Koni's set on full soft, it feels like the
springs are doing most of the dampening. The car rides fairly soft, with
just a little bounce to it. With the Koni's turned to full firm, the car
rides much, much stiffer, but still isn't harsh (sharp impacts over bumps)
at all. I found that for the street, 1-1.5 turns towards full on the
Koni's kills any of the bounciness, and makes for a great ride.

I drove down a few roads that are like a washboard, and studded with
potholes, to get a feel of how the car handled nasty roads. Surprisingly,
it still wasn't harsh at all. The car also wasn't skittish if I hit fairly
nasty bumps in the middle of a curve.

Ride Height:
Though I didn't take any measurements, it looks like the car was lowered
about 1.75-2". The tires fill out the wheel wells much better, but the car
isn't even close to what the riceboys run. I didn't want to lower the car
too much, but it really looks much better now. Haven't even scraped the
front spoiler on anything (yet).

Handling:
The difference in handling is amazing, even compared to when I had Koni's
with the stock springs. I think I would have been really disappointed with
the Sport springs (too soft). The car handles really well even with the
Koni's set to full soft, but the firmer the Koni's are set, the flatter
the corners become. I don't think I'd get much more out of sway bars,
especially for what they cost.

Overall:
I'd recommend the Race springs over the Sports to anyone that already
has/is going to go with Koni's. I don't know how they'd work out with any
other shock/strut. I'm really happy with the way the car handles, rides,
and looks. No lawnmower look, no harshness, and *much* better cornering.

FWIW, I upgraded to the Toyo Proxes T1 Plus tires in 215/45's on my car
when I had the springs put on. Drastic improvement over the stock GA's.
They look much better, and handle terrific in the rain. Cheaper than
the SP8000's too. I have two GA's with full tread (only 5k mile son them,
still have the little "trees" on them) for sale, if anyone's interested...


Jeff Traenkner
Network/Integration Engineer
IKON Technology Services
Tampa, Florida
(813) 261-2000 ext.181




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> Hey Jeff,
>
> Did you put the 214/45's on the stock rims (15")?  If so, are you
> getting any rubbing problems?

Yeah, the Toyo's are on the stock rims. I don't *think* they're rubbing. I
don't see or hear any rubbing, but I won't know for sure until I get a
chance to jack the car up a little (this weekend when I change the oil).
BTW, I like the Toyo's even better the more I drive the car now...


Jeff Traenkner
Network/Integration Engineer
IKON Technology Services
Tampa, Florida
(813) 261-2000 ext.181



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This is just my impressions of the Konis/NS Race Springs for those too
impatient for my long message ;)

Initial impressions: Whoa! These things kick major ass! Neuspeed Race
Springs are 350-400lb dual-rate F, 300lb linear rear. These are
certainly not for everybody, but they are *exactly* what I was looking
for. The car was lowered >2" and looks great, but the handling is where
its at...with Konis on full firm there is *no* rocking on hard
acceleration, almost no nosedive on braking, corners flat as can be (I
still have stock sways), and is not *too* harsh ;)  Keep in mind this is
on Florida roads and I'm going to continue using 15" wheels. I think it
might be unbearable with 17" and maybe even with 16". I drove 90 miles
home on I-75 with the Konis on full firm and the ride was a little busy,
but incredibly stable. I was pretty worn out after 1.5 hours of it,
though. I drove it today with the Konis on full soft and the ride was a
*little* bouncy, but really as comfortable as the stock suspension with
63k miles was. I'll give a full report toward the end of the week as I
tweak the Konis...I have a 90 mile round-trip commute to work everyday
to try it out :)  The car is completely transformed, and IMHO it should
have come from the factory *this* way! I honestly find it comfortable
and completely practical for street use, and we're going to hit all the
local autocrosses with the newly suspended VR6's, too! I also don't
think I'll need bigger swaybars, and if I do, they will be the smaller
22/25 bars.


Tom M. Matthews
&#116;mmatthews&#64;worldnet.att<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>
'95 GTI VR6 08 G-Chip, Konis/NS Race, 15" Borbet Type S and Toyo T1
(soon!), DE Interior, Whipple Mount, NS F Strut Bar, K&N, smoked Hellas,
misc. appearance schtuff, Kenwood/Sony/Infinity Kappa/JL Audio, and a
glove box!
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I finally did it...Konis and Neuspeed Race Springs went on the car
yesterday. First, a little history...

Apparently there is a global conspiracy against Konis for the VR6. I
called RD a month ago and they had ONE set of rears in stock, and fronts
were en route from Europe, due 31 August. I called Les at Eurotech in
Tampa, FL and he said he'd go ahead and get the rears for me and place
an order for the fronts to be delivered directly uopn arrival. I call
Les last week to make sure all is cool, and the fronts had just come
in...but the wrong ones! A frantic search ensues, with Les and I calling
everyone who might have front Konis we could get in 24hrs. Les finally
calls me at 5:30pm Friday and says he has some.

The day at the shop Saturday was great. I was there from 9am to close,
and at one point we had a F-red '95 VR6, a T-red '98 VR6, a white '95
VR6, a black '98(?) VR6, a black '95 VR6, a P-blue '98 VR6 Turbo, and a
blue DE in the parking lot. At the end of the day we got a pic with all
but the T-red and black '98, as well as the white NeoBug and Frank's
mostly silver Scirocco. It was interesting to notice that 4 out of the 5
VR6's in the picture had 15" wheels and 4 out of 5 had dual headlights
(Hella, 'Zwo, and Abt). I'll post the pics, it should make for a good
comparison between the lights. I also got before and after pics of my
car that I'll post. Anyway...I was scheduled for an install, 2 guys were
supposed to swap springs (NS Sport for Race, Jeff Traenkner and Eric
Dotson, both listers), and one maybe for a suspension (Jamal Mardini,
also a lister). My car was done early...very quickly, too. Les and Frank
both worked on the install and it was over in a snap. I went out for a
test drive and a 5.0 Mustang conveniently passed by as I left the
parking lot. He tried to shake me, but couldn't put any distance between
us until we slowed for debris in the road and he caught me low in 2nd
gear  :/  One of the guys involved in the swap decided the sports were
too soft so he kept the race, which left the other party in a bind
because I go the last set of race springs in stock...sorry, Eric!  :)
Jamal got a chance to drive a car with Konis/Race and Bilsteins/Sport,
and decided after much debate and consternation to get the
Bilstein/Sport combo. If the swap would have gone off, Les and Frank
would have done 4 suspension installs that day!

Initial impressions: Whoa! These things kick major ass! Neuspeed Race
Springs are 350-400lb dual-rate F, 300lb linear rear. These are
certainly not for everybody, but they are *exactly* what I was looking
for. The car was lowered >2" and looks great, but the handling is where
its at...with Konis on full firm there is *no* rocking on hard
acceleration, almost no nosedive on braking, corners flat as can be (I
still have stock sways), and is not *too* harsh ;)  Keep in mind this is
on Florida roads and I'm going to continue using 15" wheels. I think it
might be unbearable with 17" and maybe even with 16". I drove 90 miles
home on I-75 with the Konis on full firm and the ride was a little busy,
but incredibly stable. I was pretty worn out after 1.5 hours of it,
though. I drove it today with the Konis on full soft and the ride was a
*little* bouncy, but really as comfortable as the stock suspension with
63k miles was. I'll give a full report toward the end of the week as I
tweak the Konis...I have a 90 mile round-trip commute to work everyday
to try it out :)  The car is completely transformed, and IMHO it should
have come from the factory *this* way! I honestly find it comfortable
and completely practical for street use, and we're going to hit all the
local autocrosses with the newly suspended VR6's, too! I also don't
think I'll need bigger swaybars, and if I do, they will be the smaller
22/25 bars.

Eric is getting race springs put on in 2 weeks with his NS Bilsteins,
and I'm sure he'll write a review of it. He drove my car and Jeff T's
car with the race springs (and mine with the G-Chip) and he loves them
both. I'll also be picking up my wheels in 2 weeks: Borbet 15x7 Type S.
15 lbs each! I'll run them with Toyo T1 215/45R15 tires.

I'd also like to thank Les for the hard work in tracking down the struts
for me and giving me a killer deal on the parts and install. Next up on
the mod list is an AWE short shift, and 268 cams or an exhaust.

Now I need to figure out where to put the "Koni Improved" badge!

Tom M. Matthews
&#116;mmatthews&#64;worldnet.att<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>
'95 GTI VR6 08 G-Chip, Konis/NS Race, 15" Borbet Type S and Toyo T1
(soon!), DE Interior, Whipple Mount, NS F Strut Bar, K&N, smoked Hellas,
misc. appearance schtuff, Kenwood/Sony/Infinity Kappa/JL Audio, and a
glove box!
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This is still a killer setup. I'm up to 2 turns firm front and rear, but
will try an extra 1/4 turn F and back off 1/2 turn rear this week.

Corners ever-so-flat. Keeps the tires planted. I'm still jazzed about
not having the rocking chair effect when accelerating. The car *feels*
faster when accelerating from a stop. I assume it is getting power to
the ground more efficiently. I've been getting pretty good spin on the
1-2 shift lately. I think I *may* try a 25mm rear bar and keep the stock
front, but it handles amazingly well as is. It is almost completely
neutral in turns. I'm also thinking that some of my suspension "bounce"
is from the Dunlop D60's. If I push the car from the side I can see the
sidewalls flex, but the suspension barely moves. The tires are almost
dead so I'll let you know if the Toyo T1's are any different.

The ride is far from harsh. The only things that have given me pause are
*serious* pavement height changes i.e., where they have begun
resurfacing the road and the is a 2" height difference, and speed bumps
at parking lot speeds. The latter is really just an annoyance. The front
end of the car comes down pretty hard on the backside of the bump.

Again, highly recommended if you have good roads...and a good back ;)

For those who were wondering what the lowering was: 320mm arch to center
all around, with rear Konis on the middle setting (may bump up a notch
this weekend). This equates to 50-60mm drop from the springs, plus my
19mm drop from the Konis.

Tom M. Matthews
&#116;mmatthews&#64;worldnet.att<img src=/i/dn.gif border=0 width=35 height=15>
'95 GTI VR6
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I'll try and make this short. Rule #1, drive your strut bolts loose with an
impact BEFORE you get into jacking the car up, taking the wheels off,
loosening up the strut alignment bolts etc. (Duh!!). We had to throw it back
together and drive down to the local geeerage. The car has 36K on it, about
18K with Konis and stock springs. The strut bearings were shot I suppose.
They were very greeezy with grit in there. Rule #2, replace your bearings
anytime you get into it. This is what caused me to get the springs, I was
going to get into it to change the bearings, might as well get springs too!
Prior to the change, the car had slop in the wheel, a horrendous thunking
noise when going over speed bumps. The top of the strut would turn by hand
and there was quite a gap between the top of the strut and the metal hole in
the fenderwell for lack of better terms. I also had some similar noise in
the rears. They seemed to have come on gradually at the same time. I believe
that the rears may have just been loose.
Results: too low for my taste but that may be a sacrifice for the handling.
My god what a transition. Taking 90 degree turns at medium speeds is like
driving a go cart. Very minimum body roll. I drove with the Konis at full
soft, a bit too bouncy. Then at full stiff, way to harsh. I have them at the
halfway mark and its still a bit too much, I may back off about a 1/4 or 1/2
turn. Haven't really gotten into any serious driving yet. I'm anxious to put
the R1s on next weekend. One small problem...my exhaust is hitting the swing
arm (?) in the rear of the car. I have the Konis set at the lowest setting
of the 5. I'm thinking about putting it back to the middle.
Later
Allen


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