I’m looking to lower the car a bit, there’s still too much body roll for me even after installing an H&R rear sway bar. And I want to get rid of the wheel gap (although it’s already small)

I’ve been eyeing the H&R options. The OE sports seem nice but I’m wondering if they’re too conservative or are they right at the sweet spot?

Current wheels are 18x9 with 245/40r18 all weather continental tires.

I’m not really looking to slam the car, but I want the time and money to be worthwhile, so at the same time I don’t want it to be TOO subtle.

I know coil overs are the best but they’re out of my budget for now..

Any advice?

2026 mk8.5 if that matters.

I have my 8R for like a month and i never wanted to do launch control so can you guys tell me is it so bas to do it once in like 3 days and does it matter if you do it alone or like with 3 friends in a car (more weight) ?

Has anyone had the same experience?

Need to find matching dye to apply, worried it might spread in I don't!

Great news. I have the H&R front and rear sway bars. as well as eurocode strut tower bars. No other suspension mods. H&R FSB is on the softer setting. Will test on stiffer one soon.

I just did some testing, and not only do I still have ever EVER slight oversteer, I also have slightly higher grip. A corner that was slipping pretty bad before at 42mph now didn't slip at 42, and 2 other corners, one while moving, and one while starting to move (so under acceleration in race mode NOT drift mode) - I had oversteer. BUT not as much as before. i'd venture to say ALMOST non existent...

So the car is balanced really REALLY well.

If you want oversteer, and you want it to be controllable, then both sway bars may not be for you. But if you are afraid of understeer coming back, then I am here to tell you, that's not the case.

TL:DR; Oversteer is still a thing with both sway bars, just not so much. If you want oversteer for fun, or control reasons, avoid an FSB, if you want sharp grippy turn in and a well balanced car, with micro oversteer, get the H&R pair.

A few weeks back I installed the AWE track edition exhaust on my 2026 Golf R. Not that the year matters, the exhaust works for the 8 & 8.5. This was taken on my meta glasses so audio doesn’t do it justice, but for those who know what stock sounds like, you know this sounds good.

This exhaust deletes the valve, so it’s always on. I always drove in race anyways to “hear” the exhaust more so I didn’t care the valve was taken out, GOOD! This may be too loud for some, but I think most will say it’s how it should sound to match the speed of the car. You hear so much more. The gears shifting (cracks during shifting), and was actually able to hear the burbles, and at idle it sounds epic. The perfect amount of noise.

Someone was asking in my last post about the drone. I did a 4 hour drive, and I will say, there for sure is drone between 2000-3500 RPM. I will say though, I love it. My girlfriend did not, but she doesn’t get it.

Highly recommend for a catback exhaust that sits on the cheaper side of full catback exhaust systems available.

Advice needed wether to put a whole subframe in or just the control arm extension. Im rather impressed by vws design....

The other issue is there is one bolt that might be seized in this new subframe on each lca extension... actually at a loss of words...

2016, 6MT, 30k miles, pristine... It took me years to find it and one second to loose it. Rear ended at a stoplight. Super violent.

Lots of great cars in here! Just finishing the build on my R.. Been working on it since October. Out doing some break in miles tonight and thought I would take some pics!

I've dreamt of owning a Golf R for a long time. Yesterday my dreams came true. I personally loved the 7.5 styling, from the updated head and tail lights to the interior.

Found this beauty with a full VW service history, only 67k on the clock and the oryx white pearl paint that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it.

It's a 6 speed MT, I know the dsg is technically faster but the feeling of a performance car in manual is unbeatable in my opinion.

Came home from a 1-day work trip to find my R covered in hail damage on every panel but the trunk. In queue for PDR and hoping they can get it back to like new considering it's only a year old.

Pictures don't do it justice. It looks like a golf ball depending on the lighting and angle 😞

Drove three hours away from home. Car felt fine, temps all within normal range for whole drive. Immediately after reaching destination I got a CEL. Went to auto zone and had them read code. Coolant level in expansion tank is normal, and again all temps were normal.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any ideas of (hopefully benign) what could cause this? Thanks guys.

I have a NAR mk7.5 Golf R in Canada. I found this unused plug on the drivers and passenger inner tail light. Anyone know what it could be for? Looks to have 3 wires coming out the back.

New (to me) mk7.5

Looking to get some new wheels, exhaust, and probably tune. Looking specifically at cobb for the tune and access port but also wanted to ask what other setups people were running for a solid daily with maybe a little more power than necessary.