Gti6 Front Suspension Recommendation

[Clapton_Is_God 21 1 Cars]

Hello All,

 

I've been searching this for a while but the more I read, the more lost I seem to be.

 

The time has come to buy the front suspension for my 205 fitted with a GTI 6 engine and I need some help. The rear is all standard aside from a 30mm drop and Xsara B4 shocks. I want to lower the front to match and need to find something that will drop the car and be suited to the extra weight of the engine. It will be for road use only.

 

Any advice or experience would be gratefully received as I'm rather clueless when it comes to this sort of thing.

[j_turnell 136 3 Cars]

I've recently got my gti-6 on the road and i'm running koni adjustables with eibachs and grp n top mounts. My overall setup is quite a bit different to yours but from just a damping point of view the koni's feel a bit too stiff on the front. Great on smooth tarmac but not so good on your average bumpy b road. I could definitely go quicker with a more compliant setup. I do have some sprintlines and some b4's spare so i may give both of those ago but keep the koni rears as they are fine.

 

It's trying to find a good compromise between comfort and good overall handling. I have read good things about bilstein challenge spec dampers but I've not tried these personally, it's a big outlay to potentially not be happy with them. I will be keeping the eibachs as they seem to work well.

 

If your running b4's on the back and standard torsion bars i'd give the eibachs and b4 fronts a go and see how you get on they are pretty cheap new. I'm sure someone must already be running this setup????The eibachs drop close to 35-40mm with a 6 lump so should work well with your rear ride height giving a positive rake. I'm going to give the b4's ago next and see how they fare. It's easy to go to stiff.

[Anthony 1,002]

I personally found that the extra weight of the GTi-6 engine was quite noticeable with softer dampers, to the point that my Skip Brown Bilstein's felt horribly out of sorts.

 

I found that Eibach 7001's (ie the 205 GTi ones) sat a little too low with the extra weight for me, although others (like James above) clearly find them fine. Perhaps I'm just getting old! Something like a 206 GTi Eibach spring has been suggested if you want something to sit a little higher and cope with the extra weight, although I didn't get around to trying that before removing the engine.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

I've got B4's and eibachs on the front, and xsara b4's on a lowered back. I like it.

 

Worthwhile changing the top mounts and bearings whilst you're at it.

 

Can measure height if you like.

[j_turnell 136 3 Cars]

Has anyone tried the 206 springs Anthony? My wishbone angle is slightly up from horizontal.

[Anthony 1,002]

At least a couple have used 206 springs from memory... "Fangio" is one, can't remember the other.

 

Interesting about the wishbone angle as I'm sure they're almost level with an 8v and it unquestionably sat lower with the weight of the '6 - were yours new, as I'm wondering whether its a case of mine have sagged a little or something with age?

[j_turnell 136 3 Cars]

Sorry I didn't explain that well. The ball joint is above the height of the inner bush as you'd expect with the added weight. As you mention they are level with an 8v roughly. That's with new pug bushes. So ideally it does need to come up a bit, or get a correction kit from bridge craft.

 

I will be moving the battery to the boot, every little helps.

[Anthony 1,002]

Ah, that makes more sense

[Clapton_Is_God 21 1 Cars]

Thank you for the input guys and sorry for the late reply (life has got in the way this week).

 

That's given me plenty to think about!

 

Dobboy....... if your offer of measuring your front ride height is still ok, I would be grateful thank you :-)

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Will do, no probs, from road to top of the arch arc?

[Clapton_Is_God 21 1 Cars]

That would be spot on, thank you. There's no immediate rush, when ever you get a chance would be great.

[welshpug 1,655]

wheel centre is better, not road to arch.

[Clapton_Is_God 21 1 Cars]

If that is a better, more accurate way of measuring it then please do that.

 

Thank you.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Hi Clapton, I've measured the height for you.

 

From road to uppermost part of front arch is ~585mm

 

From centre of wheel to uppermost part of arch is ~325mm

 

 

my tyres are 195/50/R15

[welshpug 1,655]

 

challenge spec cars minimum ride heights.

[Clapton_Is_God 21 1 Cars]

Great stuff!

 

One day I'm actually going to finish this project and stop asking questions. Until that day........thank you both/all for your help :-)

[j_turnell 136 3 Cars]

Interesting stuff, my front ride height on the same springs as Dobboy is 315mm. Has your xu10 gone on a diet? What's your wishbone angle like Dobboy?

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Interesting stuff, my front ride height on the same springs as Dobboy is 315mm. Has your xu10 gone on a diet? What's your wishbone angle like Dobboy?

I'll check the wishbones, no not diet. In fact has battery and VTS box in it. Shocks (B4's) are fairly new and so are springs if that makes any odds.

[Wes 86 1 Cars]

on my gti6 205 i have got 306 gti6 b4 front struts with the eibach springs. the 306 struts are ment to be a bit stiffer over 205 ones. they have been on there for years now with no problems.

[welshpug 1,655]

fresh top mount rubbers, non domed strut tops, different spring pan heights , a few things could easily do 10mm

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

Yeah new GrpN top mounts too.

[j_turnell 136 3 Cars]

fresh top mount rubbers, non domed strut tops, different spring pan heights , a few things could easily do 10mm

 

The konis must run a slightly different pan height or slight variance in the springs. Built up with grpn rubbers and strut tops aren't domed. Also running the xsara box and battery up front. But yeah you're right 10mm isn't a lot

Edited February 18, 2016 by j_turnell

[welshpug 1,655]

yes, I do recall a set of konis from a 306 were ever so slightly different to the Peugeot stamped o.e dampers I took off my zx 16v a few years ago.

 

I think recently there has been a problem with 306 bilsteins where the locating peg is too low!

[Anthony 1,002]

I think recently there has been a problem with 306 bilsteins where the locating peg is too low!

Has that still not been fixed?! I know Kev at Kamracing (Batfink on here) reported it to them many months (possibly years) back now as he asked me to double-check the measurements against an OE shock.

[welshpug 1,655]

I've not seen any new dampers recently but a while back Bilstein were saying they were fine! was a lad on the gti6 forum in contact with them