I'm not looking to make the GTI a pure sports car... I'll occasionaly autox it and get it on a track maybe on rare occasion. I'm more after a nice blance of Grand Touring (after all the GT in GTi stands for Grand Tourismo) and sports car. I'm too old to deal without things like AC, cruise control on those long highway trips, and my nice leather interior.
The car as it comes stock, has a very capable and tweakable motor. But the MKIV GTIs are nose heavy piggies with a gross tendendcey to understeer and a front suspession geometry which is screwed up (lowering these cars more than .5" to a 1" accelerates the roll center below ground and at a much faster rate than how the CG drops) and stock shocks which do not hold up well to enthusiastic driving.
So to get the car more neutral, a rear sway is a must and better springs and shocks improve handling prowess a good deal. This should give me a set-up that strikes a good balance between reasonable ride comfort and very good handling (for a FWD compact dar that is! :-) ).
Brembo's are sweet.... must be tough to find the right stuff for the Ferrari. I can get a stage 2 13.1" floating rotor/alum hat with Porsche 4 piston calipers front brake kit for $1,500. A more modest 2 pot set-up which would reduce unsprung weight by about 3 lbs would cost half of that.
Unfortunately I will not be at the Denver show. :-(
Happy Listening,
Rich Brkich
Retailer & Audio Asylum Industry Liaison