How do I improve my A3's handling - recommendations please?

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gwilo

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I've got a 2002 A3 1.8T and I'm pretty impressed with it - the engine especially. I've had it around a year and planned to upgrade to an S3 but have decided I can't really afford it for a bit now. Since it needs a bit of work doing to my A3, I thought I may as well have a bit of fun as I go. Like I said, I'm impressed with the engine and plan to re-map etc a bit later but, first things first, it handles really badly. It's been a while since I did any modifications and would appreciate some advice on how to improve the handling. I'm fairly sure the bushes need replacing and I'll definately get a strut brace - so what do you reckon - Powerflex bushes and some new stiffer/lower springs? Or are we talking coilovers? All suggestions and experience would be welcome.
 
Deffo fully polybush the wishbones first then budget coilovers because they are excellent value for money and perform very well. Then id look into bigger anti roll bars. Personally wouldnt bother with a strut bar.
 
That's great cheers. I won't bother with a strut brace then and just concentrate on coilovers and the bushes. Much appreciated.
 
audi upgrades
wider tyres. better quality tyres. reasonable sidewall to tyres. Ie, not 25 or 60, but 40-50.

lower 25mm ish.

as said new bushes
 
Great stuff - all will make a big difference no doubt. Thanks v much.
 
If you want the car to sit low and appear feel better, while actually probably reducing mechanical grip, the cheap coilovers are where its at.

If you want the car to handle better, then i'd avoid cheap coilovers.

The reason for this is quite complicated, but first you need to consider what the suspensions job is. Its there to keep the tyres in contact with the road surface.

The problem with cheap coilovers is the spring rates need to be very high to allow you to slam it right down, and this in turn means the damping needs to be very high to control the stiff spring. These two things mean the car will be very firm with minimal roll, which makes it feel "like its on rails", however this doesnt actually make a good handling road car. Real roads arent perfectly smooth, and the undulations, bumps and rough bits our roads have dont agree with stiff suspension. The car will have a tendancy to skip/bounce over these imperfections, and as a result reduce mechanical grip. This means that while the car FEELS better, you'd quite likely have had a faster, safer car on the original suspension, as its much softer and more compliant, keeping the wheels in touch with the ground much better.

You should start off with getting yourself a decent set of springs, and then a good quality set of dampers. I'm a fan of Eibach's Pro-Kit, as they provide a nice amount of improved stiffness, while still being compliant enough for fast road use. For dampers, Bilsteins B8, and Konis "Sport" dampers are both good options.
 
Start off with new bushes on the wishbones and rear axle, this will tighten it up loads. Then, you need to look into new suspension itself, if lowering much a new front arb will be needed to avoid fouling the driveshaft, this will be best complimented by a rear arb to restore the balance of the car. A rear arb is one of the best things you can do on the a3, as it will dial out all the nasty understeer they suffer from as standard.

As for coilovers, many people, myself included use jamex or jom budget coilovers, these arnt the best, but they're almost so cheap they are disposable. If you want to go a bit better, look into weitec hicon gt's.

Do that little lot, and you'll be very surprised at how it changes the while
Car
 
Sorry aragorn i disagree, me and a mate both fitted coilovers at the same time, me with racelands and him with joms. Both cars (a quattro a3 and a fwd a3) DO handle better they dont just "feel" better at all. I dont even know where your coming from with the "skipping" comment, surely your just describing the characteristics of understeer? Which, combined with my polybushes, has almost completely disapeared since fitting my coilovers.
 
I think aragorn is correct in saying that coilovers will skip a little bit over bumps as they are stiffer compared to bilsteins and such.
However on the track or smooth tarmac coilovers will be great. I dont think this comes down to budget specifically, just the stiffness of the coilovers you choose.
Either way the car will handle drastically better than the stock suspension, several things come into play: budget, where your driving the car, how hard you want the car to be.
 
That's all really good advice - learning a lot. I'll have to have a long hard think then about the kind of ride I'd prefer, I reckon. This is by the far the best forum I've been on for replies/advice. V much appreciated.
 
i have coilovers on the rocco and it skips and bounces around bends when it hits a bumpy bit. pretty scary at times! on a smooth road though. very nice. i'm still getting them for the a3 though :) also if you lower too much it changes the angles things were designed to work at so has an ill effect. normally people recommend 25mm for best handling.

front wish bone bushes made hell of a difference on mine too
 
aragorn said:
If you want the car to sit low and appear feel better, while actually probably reducing mechanical grip, the cheap coilovers are where its at.

If you want the car to handle better, then i'd avoid cheap coilovers.

The reason for this is quite complicated, but first you need to consider what the suspensions job is. Its there to keep the tyres in contact with the road surface.

The problem with cheap coilovers is the spring rates need to be very high to allow you to slam it right down, and this in turn means the damping needs to be very high to control the stiff spring. These two things mean the car will be very firm with minimal roll, which makes it feel "like its on rails", however this doesnt actually make a good handling road car. Real roads arent perfectly smooth, and the undulations, bumps and rough bits our roads have dont agree with stiff suspension. The car will have a tendancy to skip/bounce over these imperfections, and as a result reduce mechanical grip. This means that while the car FEELS better, you'd quite likely have had a faster, safer car on the original suspension, as its much softer and more compliant, keeping the wheels in touch with the ground much better.

You should start off with getting yourself a decent set of springs, and then a good quality set of dampers. I'm a fan of Eibach's Pro-Kit, as they provide a nice amount of improved stiffness, while still being compliant enough for fast road use. For dampers, Bilsteins B8, and Konis "Sport" dampers are both good options.
Click to expand...


Good Reply Aragorn.

DC
 
I have Jamex on my A3, they feel really good and changes direction like a fly, just don't slam it down as far as they will go, it just makes them too bumpy because you are at the bottom of the shocks travel, make sure you buy the kit with the adjustable drop links included, not really keen on poly bushes, new standard rubber bushes are more plyable and soak up rough roads better, although they won't last as long.
 
Great info aragorn. I would agree with you with a stiff setup may "feel" like the car handles alot better but may not be the best handling setup for fast road driving.

When I used to do track testing, we would set the dampers very stiff and gradually soften the dampers first till the driver felt the car felt good and was getting good data back. I prefer a soft setup on my go kart also, no body like a stiff damper setting as it will make the car twitchy plus skip over bump which on the road can be very dangerous. Soft damping will communicate more feedback to the driver and absorb more of the bump, got to find the in between of both.

Saying that im running FK coilover and for the money they are great, however when you press on, on bumpy surface, the damper feel like they dont no what to do but for the money you pay you cant grumble.

Before you even think about suspension get proper tyres first if you havent already. If you get some coilovers setup up your static weight distrubution (corner weighting) and wedge (cross weight), dont just deck it if your going for a properly setup A3.
 
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