Gordon, txs for the insight. I'm Still in a quandary about what to do. I have ordered some OEM-ish bumpers and will see how much free travel I have left with them applied, this being a concern I thought about, understanding the lower posture of the car vs std VW. These OEM things do seem kinda tall and so are going to use up some of the suspension travel. Maybe I can put them on and cut them down a little? Upon reflection, I'm pretty sure I must have hit some kind of hard stop this summer when on that cruise in PA. was it the diagonal arm hitting the metal plate on the shock tower? was it the shock bottoming out? Can't say for sure, but it was a definite hard knock.