Project MKVII Golf R: Part 2 – Bilstein Clubsport Suspension
Project MKVII Golf R has been doing an absolute killer job of being a boring daily driver for the past few months while we slowly decided which aspects of the car needed to be addressed and with which components. While we didn’t have the opportunity to make it to many driving events, we did manage to get some initial shakedown runs in at Adams Motorsports Park at one of their grip events. During that event we got a feel for the car and quickly decided to address the suspension first. The stock suspension on the Golf R is more than adequate for a daily driver and weekend drive fun, but we are going for serious on track performance.
Close to the limit, the car feels a little sluggish on transitions and generally a bit soft and pushy. The car is easy to drive at the limit, but we want to sharpen things up. The stock suspension adjustments are limited on this car, so we wanted to select something that would provide us with some more adjustability as well as more control of body movement.
We reached out to our friends at Bilstein and asked if they would send us their most track oriented Golf R suspension. Bilstein responded with their Clubsport suspension. The Bilstein Clubsport suspension has everything we could have asked for and more. These dampers were developed on the Nurburgring and have some serious track oriented features like spherical bearings on both front and rear shock mounting locations, height adjustability, front camber plates, and independently adjustable compression and rebound settings. We are pretty confident these will help us dial in the Golf R exactly how we want it.
Bilstein spares no expense when it comes to manufacturing their suspension systems, and this high-end Clubsport package is no exception. The monotube shock bodies feature a highly corrosion resistant Triple-C coating that will make sure these dampers will provide years of reliable use. The adjustment knobs are some of the best that we have seen on any suspension. They are large and color coded with 10 adjustments each for damping and rebound. Each adjustment position is clearly marked with large numbers and the adjustment detent has a perfect feel, so it is easy to feel the changes when you are turning the adjusters.
