New Suspension! (long)

[Tom and Teecy Matthews <tmmatthews@worldnet.att.net>]

I finally did it...Konis and Neuspeed Race Springs went on the car
yesterday. First, a little history...

Apparently there is a global conspiracy against Konis for the VR6. I
called RD a month ago and they had ONE set of rears in stock, and fronts
were en route from Europe, due 31 August. I called Les at Eurotech in
Tampa, FL and he said he'd go ahead and get the rears for me and place
an order for the fronts to be delivered directly uopn arrival. I call
Les last week to make sure all is cool, and the fronts had just come
in...but the wrong ones! A frantic search ensues, with Les and I calling
everyone who might have front Konis we could get in 24hrs. Les finally
calls me at 5:30pm Friday and says he has some.

The day at the shop Saturday was great. I was there from 9am to close,
and at one point we had a F-red '95 VR6, a T-red '98 VR6, a white '95
VR6, a black '98(?) VR6, a black '95 VR6, a P-blue '98 VR6 Turbo, and a
blue DE in the parking lot. At the end of the day we got a pic with all
but the T-red and black '98, as well as the white NeoBug and Frank's
mostly silver Scirocco. It was interesting to notice that 4 out of the 5
VR6's in the picture had 15" wheels and 4 out of 5 had dual headlights
(Hella, 'Zwo, and Abt). I'll post the pics, it should make for a good
comparison between the lights. I also got before and after pics of my
car that I'll post. Anyway...I was scheduled for an install, 2 guys were
supposed to swap springs (NS Sport for Race, Jeff Traenkner and Eric
Dotson, both listers), and one maybe for a suspension (Jamal Mardini,
also a lister). My car was done early...very quickly, too. Les and Frank
both worked on the install and it was over in a snap. I went out for a
test drive and a 5.0 Mustang conveniently passed by as I left the
parking lot. He tried to shake me, but couldn't put any distance between
us until we slowed for debris in the road and he caught me low in 2nd
gear  :/  One of the guys involved in the swap decided the sports were
too soft so he kept the race, which left the other party in a bind
because I go the last set of race springs in stock...sorry, Eric!  :)
Jamal got a chance to drive a car with Konis/Race and Bilsteins/Sport,
and decided after much debate and consternation to get the
Bilstein/Sport combo. If the swap would have gone off, Les and Frank
would have done 4 suspension installs that day!

Initial impressions: Whoa! These things kick major ass! Neuspeed Race
Springs are 350-400lb dual-rate F, 300lb linear rear. These are
certainly not for everybody, but they are *exactly* what I was looking
for. The car was lowered >2" and looks great, but the handling is where
its at...with Konis on full firm there is *no* rocking on hard
acceleration, almost no nosedive on braking, corners flat as can be (I
still have stock sways), and is not *too* harsh ;)  Keep in mind this is
on Florida roads and I'm going to continue using 15" wheels. I think it
might be unbearable with 17" and maybe even with 16". I drove 90 miles
home on I-75 with the Konis on full firm and the ride was a little busy,
but incredibly stable. I was pretty worn out after 1.5 hours of it,
though. I drove it today with the Konis on full soft and the ride was a
*little* bouncy, but really as comfortable as the stock suspension with
63k miles was. I'll give a full report toward the end of the week as I
tweak the Konis...I have a 90 mile round-trip commute to work everyday
to try it out :)  The car is completely transformed, and IMHO it should
have come from the factory *this* way! I honestly find it comfortable
and completely practical for street use, and we're going to hit all the
local autocrosses with the newly suspended VR6's, too! I also don't
think I'll need bigger swaybars, and if I do, they will be the smaller
22/25 bars.

Eric is getting race springs put on in 2 weeks with his NS Bilsteins,
and I'm sure he'll write a review of it. He drove my car and Jeff T's
car with the race springs (and mine with the G-Chip) and he loves them
both. I'll also be picking up my wheels in 2 weeks: Borbet 15x7 Type S.
15 lbs each! I'll run them with Toyo T1 215/45R15 tires.

I'd also like to thank Les for the hard work in tracking down the struts
for me and giving me a killer deal on the parts and install. Next up on
the mod list is an AWE short shift, and 268 cams or an exhaust.

Now I need to figure out where to put the "Koni Improved" badge!

Tom M. Matthews
tmmatthews@worldnet.att.net
'95 GTI VR6 08 G-Chip, Konis/NS Race, 15" Borbet Type S and Toyo T1
(soon!), DE Interior, Whipple Mount, NS F Strut Bar, K&N, smoked Hellas,
misc. appearance schtuff, Kenwood/Sony/Infinity Kappa/JL Audio, and a
glove box!