1.9TDi PD130 suspension upgrade

[michaelab]

Hi,

My first post on the forum, looks like there's a lot of useful into and knowlegeable people here :thumbsup:. Anyway, here's my question:

I recently got myself a 2nd hand A3 1.9Tdi PD130 and I'm liking it a lot but compared to my previous car (BMW M3) I'm finding the handling a bit soft and it gives me no confidence at all in fast corners so I'm looking to upgrade. I discovered that one of the options on the car chosen by the original owner was "comfort suspension" . Can anyone tell me is that just softer springs or are the dampers also different? If it was just the springs I could just upgrade to some stiffer springs (eg Eibachs). If not I'll have to do the whole 9 yards (springs and dampers or possibly coilovers).

The car is currently on 15" wheels with 195/65 tyres so obviously the first thing is to upgrade to 17" wheels with 225/45 tyres which will give me a lot more grip and should improve the handling somewhat.

Any suggestions welcome.
Cheers,
Michael.

 

[michaelab]

Anyone????

Michael.

 

[DPM]

Welcome mate! Firstly how many miles has it got on? It's probabley better to get a matched spring and damper kit and this will improve the handling somewhat and also make the car look better. Depending on what you want out the car and how low you want to go, there's many options available. As for the wheels, what did you have in mind?

 

[rickquattro]

Hi Michael,

Welcome to the forum... I have just crawled out from under a stone after work but I may be able to help having just done the suspension on my car.

Bilstein dampers and Eibach springs with the R32 Arb's give a complete different feel as you would expect. The car is less crashy, more supple and has less roll in the corners. I think it drops a little over teh already lowered Sport suspension. From SE spec, it would give a considerable difference...

Hope this helps.

 

[TDI_Boy]

R32 Arbs on a 2wd car arn't going to help much...

Personally, I would go for 17" rims, with an Eibach Sports kit (springs and Dampers - gives about a 30mm drop) and then an uprated ARB on the back. This is the setup I had on my Golf, and I was very pleased with it.

Cheers
Mark