Track Car Suspension Manufacturers

Hey All,

I know some of you seriously race cages, was wondering what brand of coilovers you recommend. As I start to get a little serious with the GTI on track, I currently have a ST XTA coilover setup, but it's a pain to do any adjustments to them as you have to drop the entire suspension to change the rebound settings.

The GTI is my daily, but it only does about 3 miles a day, so basically #racecar

I was looking at the Bilstein B16/PSS10 as a replacement, or are the XTAs fine? Is KW v2/3 a better option or are there others that may tickle my car's fancy?

 

Last time I went full retard with my VW suspension I went with Spax. No idea on what they are doing today but back when I was a mouth breathing "tuned" VW knucklehead it was what I thought I wanted.
Great when the surface was smoothish or when you could fully push the car into a corner or trying to hang the ass end out but holy shit, miserable when I had to run up 95 to Baltimore.

 

Upload some photos, I need motivation to work on my MK3 Vr6 that's been sitting for 5 years now..

Sorry nothing useful to add

 

This was in another thread, but I've already upgrade the #'s

 

I can set you up with a pair of MCS’s they are local to Atlanta. amazing in house facility and I know the guys at the shop.

But they aren’t cheap....

Other options exist. It’s mainly your budget and what’s your end goal because why upgrade down the road when you can service them and upgrade them at the same time.

MCS’s also rebuilds basically all other suspension as well.

Let me know if you have any other questions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Huge fan of the red wheels! First saw it in Germany. . .instantly became a fan. Totally digging it on your GTI!

 

Thanks!

Yeah I went with red wheels for the track wheels since GTIs always had some red in them. The only issue now is that my new Big Brake Kit, the calipers are silver, so I lose a little of the red matching. We'll see how long before I feel I need to powdercoat them. I'm thinking a day or two

 

JRZ. Better mortgage the house....

https://www.jrzsuspension.com/

What rims are those..please tell they are RPF erryONES...lol

 

damn....uhh I drive this car to the train station everyday, so maybe let's keep the budget a bit less.

They are not RPF1's as they don't have a great offset/width in a 5x112, or one that I want to pay for.

Those are Konig Hypergrams, and under 18 pounds for an 18x8.5 running 255/35-18 (F) and 225/40-18 (R) Bridgestone RE-71R's

 

I ran KW V2's on my Subaru because they still utilized the factory top hat mounts keeping NVH low for a daily driven car. Once paired with swaybars, the car handled great for being 3200lb. However, out of the box, it still felt undersprung when using sticky track rubber (I never bothered messing with different springs on that car).

I had a set of Xida coilovers (Tractive body with Hyperco springs) on my Miata which were developed by a Miata race team out of Cali. With track focused spring rates, the car was nearly unbearable on the street. I would feel every single crack in the road and RR tracks/overpass expansion joints were bone jarring.

 

Go big or go home....

They are the bees knees....

KW is good at a better price point. Moton is an EX JRZ guy and might be a little cheaper.

Ive heard good things about MCS.

I had bilstein on the BRZ. Way better than stock but still a little soft for track day use.

Just tell the kids no college and get the JRZ. America needs plumbers and electricians anyway...

 

Get Bilsteins if you don't want to spend a lot. They are good compromise between track and street. I had them on my Cayman which was track only and they worked good.
Easy to rebuild, revalve or get parts for. Some are pain in ass like KW. Some shocks are bad design and always leak.
I rebuild shocks for local car guys and see all kind junk.

 

Koni yellow, man!

 

They really don't have a coilover solution that I like. For autoX, definitely would have considered

Sent from my smatrfone

 

my buddy has SACHS coilovers on his MK6, as well as boxster brakes through adapters.

he also put an LSD in his trans and a bigger turbo.

he was tired of the tire bill tracking his ZL-1 camaro, so the GTI it was.

 

I looked into the Sachs but they seem to have an issue on this platform that I'm not sure if it's been resolved.

Currently I have:

• the performance pack GTI which has the OEM "LSD."
• Golf R Turbo so that's been upgraded from the stock GTI turbo with custom engine tune (which gave issues at the track) and a APR TCU/DSG tune
• Upgraded HPFP because of those issues
• Intercooler/Intake/Full Turboback exhaust
• Ordered StopTech 355 mm 4 piston BBK . Currently have the GTI Clubsport S brakes and they are not up to the task at the track.
• Currently have the Clubsport S Rear Sway bar, upgrading to something a little more thicker soon (24-26mm)
• ST XTA coilovers, which are made by KW, but I remember seeing that they are not easily rebuildable, which TWF2 confirmed, and well they are soft also and not easily adjustable

The car is a bunch of fun and it was great being faster than a R35 GT-R, a Viper, X6M and whatever else was slower.

Love the little Golf punching above it's weight. The SV650 of cars

 

Now why'd you have to go and call SV's ghey? Cause thats what sport hatches are ghey.



What brake pads and fluid? that can have a huge effect on brake performance at a TD.

 

"ghey "

Fluid was Motul RBF 600 with stainless steel lines
Brake Pads and rotors were the Euro Clubsport S GTI setup. Which was supposedly used for the FWD Record at the Ring (when it was the record holder) but the pads were down to the backing at the end of the day. Also they are cross drilled, which I suspect didn't help.

The SCCA has a Time Trials thing which is awesome. It's basically like a qualifying session the entire session. Try to get your best lap. Then you're gridded later in the day by that time. So it's just above a trackday as you have a transponder, recorded times and all that jazz.

They also have a Time Attack which they close down most of the track and run a section of it, so it's AutoX on Track, which was also fun, but I really digged the Time Trials format. It made the day much more competitive than a regular TD/HPDE, without the wheel to wheel racing.

 

so what Bilstein set up would you recommend for my e46 m3 that I am setting up for 60% street/40% track duty? Pss10?

Any experience with ohlins coil overs?

 

Yea, PSS10 is I think their top of the line.
Hard to go wrong with Ohlins. Had local guy with Ohlins on his Lotus. He damaged shaft. No problem buying shaft and fixing it, he was back on the road in few days.
There is more involved than simply buying shocks. You need to consider whole car. What ride height you want to run, what spring rates, what geometry...etc. Some shocks will not work for some geometry. It gets complicated with cars, too many things .
This is reason I would never buy 90% of import shocks or shocks that are not user rebuildable (or suspension shops don't work on) or shocks where company making them will not sell you parts for it (like KW).
Find shop that is known for setting up M3 and ask them what they recommend.