The last time you heard about the GTI, I was limping it home from COTA after melting the brakes. Not literally, but pretty damn close. As it turns out, I’m an idiot. I’m not sure if something changed between my research and buying them or if I was wrong the whole time, but I thought EBC Red Stuff brake pads were track-capable. As I found out, they are very much not meant for the track. My pads melted and my rotors glazed over. Even though they are pretty much brand new, I’m going to have to replace my brakes, again. But new brakes will have to wait as before I moved, I purchased a set of 034 Motorsports Roll Center Correction ball joints. I decided since I had some space in my garage again, it was time to swap them in and see what would happen.

Before I dive into the installation and how they feel in the car, firstly let’s go over what exactly roll center is, and why you may want to correct it on a lowered car. When you lower a car, you change the angles of the control arms. This can affect the way your suspension handles for better or worse. The simple version of a roll center correction kit is that is moves your control arm back to its original position after a car is lowered. For a more complicated and much-recommended explanation, check out the video below:

On the MK7 platform, installing a roll center correction kit also adds negative 1.2°of camber and some minor caster changes that help with stability and better cornering. Front camber is a must when autocrossing and the MK7 setup does not allow for camber adjustment. Adding some fixed camber would help with general cornering as well as better turn-in. On a front-wheel drive car, better turn-in can be the difference between finishing first instead of last. For these reasons, I decided to roll the dice and try it out.

Installation was a breeze, at least at first. After removing the wheels, all that was needed was a ball joint remover to pop the ball joint out, and then remove the 3 bolts holding it to the control arm. Simply swap them out and torque the new bolts down. Simple right? Well, after reinstalling the wheels I realized a small problem. My alignment was noticeably off. My front end was so toed out that I could see the tread from the front of the car. I gave them a measurement and the car was almost 2 inches toe out. I’m not an alignment wizard, but that is bad unless you are looking to go full Tokyo Drift. Being a modern car, there is not a lot of alignment adjustment that can be done and since I only needed to adjust the toe, I decided to try to tackle it myself with a string alignment.

Tons of motorsport teams do string box style alignments all of the time from WRC to Formula 1. I figured if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me. I headed to Home Depot and bought some PVC pipe, string, some weights, and borrowed some toe plates from my neighbor (if you are reading this, thanks again Cassidy). I set up the box and started measuring the distance from the string to the front and back of each front wheel. After getting an idea of where the toe was, I made some adjustments. It was easier than I thought to adjust but was painstaking as every adjustment required the car to be dropped so the suspension could settle and then remeasured. I only had to do that a few times though before getting it perfect.

Initial impressions are a bit hard to follow as the car turns quicker, but it almost feels looser. I assume that the control arms now have a bit less leverage so they aren’t as underneath the subframe. There is a less sporty feeling, but the car feels just as flat in the corners. Almost as if it is easier to steer but the suspension is able to move up and down without lagging. It’s not easy to explain how it feels, however if it is faster on circuit then I can’t complain. I’m excited to get this thing out at autocross to see if the timing lasers have more to say than my butt dyno. My only real gripe is that there is a significant amount of fender rubbing now. Some of that rubbing is due to my suspension finally settling in as I don’t drive it that much these days. I’ll be raising the car just a tad to see if that helps as fender rubbing is not a good thing. I am happy with the current ride height so I am hoping to not have to lift the car too much. I’ll be sure to report back soon with a longer-term review when I get my new brakes installed. Until then, stay safe and remember: Friends don’t let friends keep their roll center uncorrected.