NEHA

I wont post it here since it is rather long and exists on my web site already, but here is a link to my chronological rebuild and ongoing work log: http://home.comcast.net/~walterclark1/gti/gti_web_4.htm

Incredible amount of effort and skill going from the roll over at Ascutney to the rebuilt car. There is a lot of detailed information in your project that is great for someone building a like car. Nice work.
Steve

About a month ago I modeled my front suspension geometry after reading some disturbing stories about what happens to the geometry and handling of strut cars with lowered suspensions. What I learned was that with the ride height I use, my front roll center was about an inch above the ground. The prevailing opinion is it should be somewhere around 4" for my car.

Just before we went on our annual 2 week windsurfing vacation (returned this past Saturday) I located an outfit that sells a ball joint lowering kit and a kit that permits an equal lowering of the tie-rod end. I needed to replace the drivers side upright and hub so that it exactly matched the passenger side so I could use a single kit (the upright with larger bearing and ball joint on the drivers side was bent in the Ascutney rollover and I swapped in an old smaller original unit to get the car back on the road). I found a good used one at Force 5 yesterday and installed a new bearing and hub. I installed the ball joint extenders yesterday. Today I completed installing the new tie rod end bushings so I can invert those ends and lower them the same as the ball joint to keep my bump steer under control.

Now I have a 4.4" static roll center and the lower control arm and tie rod are parallel. This should translate to a more predictable handling car with better turn-in characteristics.

How did you model the geometry? I've seen several software packages that I'm interested in.

I would assume walter is talking about these?

KevinGale wrote:How did you model the geometry? I've seen several software packages that I'm interested in.

I used Solidworks, since I have it for other purposes already. Of course I had to build my own "suspension" but with a strut system that is pretty easy and Solidworks lets you define line, points and objects relative to the 3d drawing axis and/or each other so you can simulate movement.

rabbithead wrote:I would assume walter is talking about these?

Nope, these from PMW:


Plus the bump steer correction kit:

Where did you get the parts? I have a hard time weeding through the "euro/street tuning" sites and fine VW racing sites where they talk about REAL suspensions instead of "slam it to the ground" where the handling goes out the window. I want to lower my Golf IV, but having a hard time find good information to do it right.

Go to CT and my friend at Addictedracing.com could set your car up very nice He has all the right tools and the knowlage to use them.

Not to rain on your buddy's parade - but we're pretty technical hillbillies! And if he has not seen and driven these roads, some of his setup tricks may be the last thing you want - A trick Auto-X setup for a front-drive (extra toe-out, more neg.camber) will be a way-scary handful on a crowned road.
Steve is mostly disgusted with the amount of hyperbole in the catalogs - and I share in that disgust! Many of the long-timers here have evolved to very hard-core sources for their parts, simply because they understand our needs better.