First car/ first build!!

[smarty98]

Bump

[smarty98]

Bumpp guys help lol

[Kyrin]

First off welcome to the forum! I'm also new here, also a high school student that has the same struggles as you. I know where you're coming from with the money struggle, and I have some advice: either find a job that gives you more hours or pick up a second job. I did the latter to help with saving for car parts. Also, save every penny you earn, don't spend more than you need to. Mind you this doesn't mean you should drive from school work and then stay home all the time! Treat yourself once in a while to something nice for saving money. Before you know it you'll have your car exactly how you want it.

As far as Racelands go, I've heard mixed reviews of them. check out Google to see what others think on other forums as well. I would say try to save up for something that will be more beneficial in the long run, I don't think Racelands have any dampener adjustments, so you're pretty much stuck with the harshness of the ride quality.

Good luck with the build man! And props to buying your first car with your own money, it's a really good feeling knowing that you put in work for it.

[smarty98]

First off welcome to the forum! I'm also new here, also a high school student that has the same struggles as you. I know where you're coming from with the money struggle, and I have some advice: either find a job that gives you more hours or pick up a second job. I did the latter to help with saving for car parts. Also, save every penny you earn, don't spend more than you need to. Mind you this doesn't mean you should drive from school work and then stay home all the time! Treat yourself once in a while to something nice for saving money. Before you know it you'll have your car exactly how you want it.

As far as Racelands go, I've heard mixed reviews of them. check out Google to see what others think on other forums as well. I would say try to save up for something that will be more beneficial in the long run, I don't think Racelands have any dampener adjustments, so you're pretty much stuck with the harshness of the ride quality.

Good luck with the build man! And props to buying your first car with your own money, it's a really good feeling knowing that you put in work for it.

Yeah man im really excited to see what comes out of my build. Blah blah mk4 blah blah. I KNOW, ive got a ton of shit for having a 1.8t mk4. But oh well man i love it. I think im going to call my boss and try to get some more hours. I only work 3-4 days a week. I should start working atleast 4 weekdays and 2 weekend days. Really just want to lower it and get some vette wheels or porsche twists, little baby tire stretch cause i cant afford to have a tire fly off. Better safe than sorry. And i want a badgless grille and hood eventually. Should look really cool. Its ashame the vw guys near me magically stopped talking to me once i actually needed some help with installing some stuff on my car... Thats why im so scared to build anything because i have no one to help. Also no knowledge besides what you guys can help me with..

[RosaParksMyCar]

Yeah man im really excited to see what comes out of my build. Blah blah mk4 blah blah. I KNOW, ive got a ton of shit for having a 1.8t mk4. But oh well man i love it. I think im going to call my boss and try to get some more hours. I only work 3-4 days a week. I should start working atleast 4 weekdays and 2 weekend days. Really just want to lower it and get some vette wheels or porsche twists, little baby tire stretch cause i cant afford to have a tire fly off. Better safe than sorry. And i want a badgless grille and hood eventually. Should look really cool. Its ashame the vw guys near me magically stopped talking to me once i actually needed some help with installing some stuff on my car... Thats why im so scared to build anything because i have no one to help. Also no knowledge besides what you guys can help me with..

besides my older brother, who I have to drive 5 hours to see, I have no help with building my car. I spend hours every day researching online about my car and installing aftermarket parts. Use the Search option on this forum, because surprisingly you'll learn alot by reading other peoples builds on similar cars. Trust me man, the internet is one powerful resource.

As for working, If you aren't getting an amount of hours you're satisfied with you might want to look for a second job. I was looking for a second job but then the other person I work with got fired and left me all alone, so the only time im not working is Fridays and Saturdays. 40+ hours a week.

Once you get a decent income I feel this car is going to be badass

[RosaParksMyCar]

I work at domimos pizza so i dont really have much money as it is, but i would need coilovers, then a respray hopefully and then some sort of wheel fitment for more of the stance look. Once i have all those things it will pretty much be the way I want it to be, then i can really start screwing around with other things. But how much would the coilover sleeve and shock setup run on average? If its a couple hundred more and if its really worth it, i would just save. Also i dont have much knowledge about cars besides basic stuff. I think installing coilovers is something i could easily do but im not sure about how different the whole shock and coilover sleeve is.

http://www.racelandus.com/coilovers/vw-coilover-kits/volkswagen-golf-mk4-primo-adj-damping-coilovers.html

[smarty98]

Bump

[rice4life]

Less bumping, more research!

It all depends what you are looking for when looking for coilovers. It's all up to you. If you want it to look good, get the racelands, or some JOM's or some shit. Then proceed to throw it on some beater wheels until you save up enough cash money for some legit stuff.

Or you could save up and do it the more expensive higher quality route and not worry about anything for a long while. It's all up to you.

Since you haven't been lowered before, getting used to driving low is a pain in the ass at first especially if you have it set up extremely stiff. In my old elantra I tried lowering springs first(big waste of money) then moved up to getting some coilovers built. The coilovers I had made got me more than low enough, and even though I liked tucking tire it was not for a beginner like I was. I hit everything on the ground just about, speedbumps were a big no-no and my fenders were getting raped by my tires. Oh yeah, I also worked in south central LA, home of potholes and bumpy roads. It was too low for me at the time, so I had to raise the front .5" and it was a huge difference. Driving with a hangover was also not fun, driving while genuinely sick was even worse for the first few months, driving with passengers that got car sick easily was just plain annoying.

Like the saying goes. "Low is a Lifestyle".

Make sure that you are ready to make a commitment to being low. The first few months was hell(at least here in California) but after that you will love it.

It also gains you a lot of attention. I never had stretched tires and ridiculous fitment, but I got plenty of unwanted attention(not from cops, but from people on the street).

You should probably start a new build thread when you are ready. Consider what I have said, and commit to it if you are ready. Only you know what you want to do.




Or you could just avoid all of that and go with bags.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Or you could just avoid all of that and go with bags.

Indeed.



But, if budget is an issue, and it sounds like it is, bags are not inexpensive. $2000 to $2500 is what I'd want to budget on a MKIV, and that's if you install it yourself.

IMO, save up, do it right the first time. My first build all those years ago was on a high school fast food budget, and you wouldn't believe the time and money I blew trying to half-ass it.

And if you're worried about not having help, none of this stuff is terribly difficult. Lots of us are self-taught, myself included.

[Tuck&Poke]

I would get FK's. They're slightly more, but I like them much more. Honestly they're all shit in the sub $1,000 range, but they're the least shit. If you can swing a few hundred more, BC makes nice stuff. You're probably gonna want to take care of all the bushings while you're down there. Some decent strut bushings, audi 90 bushings will get you a little lower, but from my experience they blow faster, and you can do the R32 lower control arm bushings. Some places sell the whole arm with the bushing installed already so you don't need to press it out.

[Robitussin]

Glad to hear that from someone who actually knows what hes doing. I would just like to get these raceland ultimos and lower it. Is there any specific demension i should lower it to so there is now scraping or rubbing?

Glad to know there is actually people who think I actually know what I am doing But i guess i do know quite a bit for a 16 year old But on a serious note, you aren't going to find the perfect ride height first try, but the glory of coilovers is their adjustability. So you should first get it lowered to the height you want, drive it around and see if it rubs or scrapes, if it doesn't rub/scrape you can try your luck and go lower, if it does you can raise it up until you are okay with the amount of rubbing/scraping or it is completely gone. Hope this helps!! lol

[SnazzyQ]

Glad to know there is actually people who think I actually know what I am doing But i guess i do know quite a bit for a 16 year old But on a serious note, you aren't going to find the perfect ride height first try, but the glory of coilovers is their adjustability. So you should first get it lowered to the height you want, drive it around and see if it rubs or scrapes, if it doesn't rub/scrape you can try your luck and go lower, if it does you can raise it up until you are okay with the amount of rubbing/scraping or it is completely gone. Hope this helps!! lol

+1 on all of this.

Also since this is a first car/first build chances are that you dont really care about the ride quality so I would say just pull the trigger on the Racelands and slam the balls out of the car.

[smarty98]

Bump/ what do you guys think of either c4 vette wheels or some cheap xxr 536's or str's?

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Cheap reps are never a direction I would choose.

Vette wheels are tried-and-true on these cars. You won't win many originality points, but you won't with knockoffs either, and at least with Vette wheels you'll be rolling on something quality.

I suspect if you searched hard enough you could find some quality used wheels that fit your budget.

[Robitussin]

Cheap reps are never a direction I would choose.

Vette wheels are tried-and-true on these cars. You won't win many originality points, but you won't with knockoffs either, and at least with Vette wheels you'll be rolling on something quality.

I suspect if you searched hard enough you could find some quality used wheels that fit your budget.

^This. Believe it or not, Craigslist is a great place to find wheels, whether you are looking for OEM or aftermarket wheels. I found my style 5s literally the first time i got on craigslist to look for wheels, and i live in the middle of Kentucky.