At Big SoCal Euro I took a driving course and hit the skid pad and the slalom with my MkV GTI and Yokohoma AD08′s. After the skid pad the tires were a bit torn up. These are not cheap tires, but you can’t put a price on experience, right? Well, at least that’s what I’m telling myself. In reality, getting on the skid pad is the equivalent setting piles of cash on fire since you can literally see your investment go up in smoke.

Now, with my tires worn, I was a bit concerned about the performance on the mountain roads. Perhaps, that’s not the best place to be testing your ride’s responsiveness, so “kid’s don’t try this at home.” The drive was organized by Steven, and 4 cars, including mine, showed up. Anymore than that gets pretty tough to manage, especially when you’ve got traffic and bicycles on the road.

My suspension and brakes are both stock, so that makes me more susceptible to brake fade and body roll. Still, I had no problem keeping up with the pack. The car handled great and the tires lived up to their name. Early in the drive I was able to break the tires loose a bit, but after they warmed up they were super sticky. It was actually quite impressive. I could no longer spin the tires going into 2nd gear with hot tires. And, like any other driver, this just made me want to push the car even harder… so I did. The toughest stretch was on Alpine Road going into Palo Alto, but still the car stuck to the ground.

The drive was great, but if I were to do this weekly, my next investment would be in some shocks and HP+ brake pads. The car handled extremely well, but at times I got a little more bounce than I would have liked. My next performance part will likely be the Koni FSD shocks. I want shocks that perform but also maintain a great ride quality since my back isn’t in the greatest shape and I still need to go from point A to point B comfortably.

Do you have the Koni FSD shocks? Or, have another suggestion for a suspension kit? Leave your feedback in the comments below.