After buying my 2001 Golf 1.8t, I realized very quickly that the suspension needed to be upgraded, and as soon as possible. My main complaints were, under steer (when in a turn the front end wants to push out), the bucking horse syndrom (acceleration and braking make the car rock back and forth like riding a bucking horse), and the car just didn’t feel nimble enough on its feet. I started to do my home work and called every place that I could find, getting people’s and shop’s opinions. I finally figured out what I wanted to go with and what I thought was going to make the largest improvements for my money. I ended up going with the following products, H&R race springs, Bilstein struts, Neuspeed lower and upper tie bars and a Neuspeed 25mm rear sway bar.
The H&R race springs and Bilstein struts were the best thing that I could have done to my car. The combination is a match made in heaven. The H&R spring really keep the car flat and much more neutral when ripping through the twisties, and the Bilsteins do an excellent job of controlling the race spring. One of my concerns when thinking about doing the upgrade was the decrease in ride quality, but the H&R race / Bilstein sports did not let me down. It is much more aggressive now, but not harsh. The car rides great and the feeling of control is much more at hand.
The rear sway bar was the next big improvement. I went with a 25mm sway bar because I wanted to keep the car more predictable. Everyone always thinks that the bigger the better. The 25mm does a awesome job of reducing understeer and keeping the rear much flatter in the turns, yet it also communicates back to the drive well, letting the drive know when it will break loose well in advance.
Finally, the Neuspeed lower and upper tie bars. As far as the upper tie bar or upper strut bar, this is not a necessity for someone to get. The new A4 Volkswagens have a double fire wall which makes the front of the car much stiffer. Adding an upper tie bar will only add about 20% more rigidity to the cars chassis. I mainly did it because it was polished and looked sweet when I pop my hood. The lower tie bar connects the sub chassis together. I truly can’t say how large the improvement was from this piece. I did the entire suspension at once. When I sat down and figured out what I wanted to get, a number of turners told me that if I was going to do the whole suspension, do the lower tie bar as well, that it was a must, so I did!