RE: Year Round Performance

["Squier, Craig" <craig_squier@arvin.com>]

Hiya Ryan,
I used to live in Upstate NY, but relocated to South Carolina...wheee!
Lowering isn't the problem, nor a tighter suspension setting. But if you
expect to drive in snow or slush, I would leave the factory swaybars as is
and not upgrade them. Putting stress bars in is fine though.
If you do go with a tighter suspension, you will need to swap over to a
dedicated Winter tire, like a Blizzak.

A tighter suspension means that you have little "slop" in the car. In snow
and slush, slop is good, as it tells you way ahead of time when the car is
getting loose and not handling correctly. With a tight suspension,
especially with upgraded sway bars, when the car gets loose, the first clue
you have is when you are sideways at 60mph looking at the guardrail head
on....

The first start with your 98 GLX is to junk the Eagle GA tires. They really
suck.
The are downright dangerous in wet or winter weather, they have terrible wet
traction. If you want an all season tire, go with a Michelin XGT4 or
something,
good all year round and great in the weather and dry.
Next step would be suspension kit. Neuspeed Lowering/Bilstein Sport is the
ultimate way to go, but you might get by with a set of Neuspeed
SofSports/Bilstein HD for a tighter than stock, but more inclined to bad
weather setup.

Hope this all helps...
-Cab

btw. I live in Ulster County for 8 years, Albany for 5 years, and Massena
(way up North) for a year....I have had my lifetime share of winter....

> ----------
> From: 	Ryan E. Mitchell[SMTP:ryanm@twcny.rr.com]
> Reply To: 	jettaglx@igtc.com
> Sent: 	Thursday, April 15, 1999 12:34 AM
> To: 	jettaglx@igtc.com
> Subject: 	Re: Year Round Performance
> 
> Hi all,
>      I'm thinking about lowering my GLX and I being that I live in Upstate
> NY.I'm gonna have to deal with a load of snow.  Any suggestions on weather
> I
> should avoid lowering my car or how far is to far? Anyone with first hand
> experience give me a clue.
>      Also, I'm new to the whole performance thing, (I figured my old Golf
>  with 165K  on it couldn't really use much)  anyone with some inexpensive
> suggestions on how to get my 98 GLX a little sweeter let me know.
> Thanks,
> 
> Ryan "Where are my damn keys?" Mitchell
> 98' GLX
>