Upgrades V1

With the first Laguna Seca track day in the books I began planning and researching upgrades for my GTI. The biggest things I wanted to address was suspension geometry, body roll, tire grip, and engine safety. I came across a local Bay Area company called 034 Motorsport who did my brake lines and fluid and started to piece together parts that I was looking to improve. They were:

034 Dynamic+ Lowering Springs - to decrease body roll. Also anyone installing springs/coilovers please save yourself the hassle and buy on of these strut spreaders!
034 Dynamic+ Camber Mounts - to run a more aggressive alignment (see specs below)
034 Rear Sway Bar - to promote more rotation when turning in and trail braking
034 Rear End Links - same as above
034 Catch Can - to prevent oil being dumped into the turbo inlet
Updated OEM MK7 PCV - to fix the old design which gets overwhelmed with hard braking/turning then creates a smoke screen
034 Lower Dog Bone Mount Insert - to firm up the DSG flex and help with shifting
034 Res X Delete - wanted a little more sound

Installing springs and camber plates.

Found a really cool shop in San Jose called DIY or Die Tech Shop that lets you rent lifts and tools which was really handy to install my rear sway and end links.

Installed the catch can and updated PCV valve in the driveway and was pretty straight forward.

Updated top old bottom

The next step was looking at grip. I have previously run Hankook's 200 tread wear tire on my old Evo X and really enjoyed how it worked well in both autocross and trackdays (see below)

There was however a sale on the Kumho Ecsta V720 on TireRack.com so decided to give those a go. Additionally, I am a big fan of the Enkei RS05rr and picked those up for my dedicated wheel as they are both strong and look good on the MK7 GTI. Specs of the setup are below.

Enkei RS05rr - 18x8.5 +45
Kumho Ecsta V720 225/40/18
Centering rings + lug bolts

Once everything was installed it was time for a more aggressive alignment thanks to Hillyer's Tire and Wheel in Salem Oregon. I can't say enough about these guys. They do amazing work and at an unbelievable price. Alignment specs below. The objective with this alignment was to have more camber in the front for cornering grip as well as keep things stable at higher speeds with the caster adjustments.

All of this in combination greatly improved the overall feel of the car as well as the looks. For now I am not looking to tune the ECU/TCU or make any upgrades in that department but it is definitely something I am looking at for the future. Now that all of this is together and sorted its time to sign up for another track day at Laguna Seca!