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Suspension
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Many
people start with lowering springs as a starting point.
It helps the handling of the car and gives it a more aggressive
stance. I, personally, used Neuspeed's sport springs because
they were one of the only companies to offer lowering springs
specifically for the Cabrio, not just generically for the
Golf 3/Jetta 3 (Vento) models.
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Some also choose
to add sport shocks in addition to springs to improve handling.
There are many companies out there that sell these (such as Koni,
Bilstein, etc.) and some are even adjustable to make the ride firmer
or softer, depending on your needs and driving style.
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The third
option is the most expensive, but the most flexible. These
are the threaded coil-over suspensions. These are shocks with
a threaded pirch with an integrated spring that is full adjustable
for ride height and and firmness. |
Upgrading
the sway bars and adding an upper strut tower brace are also ways
of improving handling. The most significant of upgrades would
be the upper strut tower brace. After I added this item to my
Cab, the car cornered extremely flat with a minimal amount of
body roll. I bought the ABD Racing bar based on looks. It was
my second choice to the Eibach polished bar (I was unabled to
get that bar for my car because all American OBD-2 four cylinder
A3 VWs have a taller throttle body and the motor is at a different
angle than previous models and the bar would not clear the top
of the motor. Bummer!
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Racing 28mm hollow rear sway bar was added later. The car
comes from the factory with a standard solid 20mm front sway
bar. The addition of the 28mm rear sway bar gives the Cabrio
a rear-end push through corners, maybe a little too much push
with the 20mm factory bar. I will be upgrading the front with
an ABD Racing 22mm solid bar to compensate. Since I auto-cross,
I don't want to stiffen up the front end too much. I want
the car to be nimble around corners. Some die-hard auto-crossers
remove the front sway bar all together and use just a fat
rear sway bar...that seems a little too extreme for my tastes
(on a street car). I am all about the reliability and driveability
of my Cab! |
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Next
- Wheels & Tires
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