Suspension Upgrade (drop 40mm) on A3 1.8t 1999

shawshankuk

shawshankuk

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Hello,

I bought my A3 about 3 months ago. I noticed that it had already been lowered (not sure by how much) but I also noticed that it has the original dampers which I think are well past their life time since the car has done 65k miles and is 7 years old this Jan.

I dont have the biggest budget in the world but want to change the lot. When I say I dont have the biggest budget I mean I have about 180 quid. I know this isnt a lot to fork out on suspension but I seen this on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/sports-suspension-kit-Audi-A3-8L1995-1999-40-40-60-40_W0QQitemZ280063043958QQihZ018QQcategoryZ40192QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280063043958

Its within reach of my budget but I'm unsure as there doesnt to seem to be any brand which I can relate to.

Has anyone and took the plunge with a kit like this from Germany? If so, was it worth the money? I dont want coilcovers as adjusting my suspesion doesnt interest me plus I want a ride that doesnt shatter my teeth.
 
With suspension it's pretty much, you get what you pay for and with that kit i'd say the car would handle like a bag of spanners! Stick with well known and tried names like H&R, KW, Eibach and Koni. They cost more but they'll last longer, give a better ride and be worth that extra time saving the pennies!
 
yep and of course he can do you a great price on H&R, KW, Eibach and Koni if you pm him :)
 
I have tried Eibach 1.2", H&R 1.2", Koni 1.5"(yes springs) and Eibach 1.8"

From all above, best ride (and lowering) for me was Eibach 1.8" drop. Not stiff of you have adjustable shocks and in min adjustment. Fully adjusted shocks give you a very stiff/track behaviour.
 
What kind of prices are we talking about here? Has anyone else ever bought a suspension kit from the link on the first post or similar?

Its a summer project but to want to get it bought now while I have the money.
 
I got a full FK/Koni coilover kit for approx 450quid, if thats of any use to you.

I rate it as very very good.

Fully adjustable for damping, fully adjustable for ride height aswell.

Basically, you can set it to whatever works the best for your style of driving / asthetics :)

HTH
 
hello shawshankuk
you say that your A3 is already lowered, how do you find the ride quality with just the springs changed? do you want to improve the ride quality? is that the purpose of the upgrade?
i wonder if that ebay kit will be an improvement over what you have now even though i know people say the h&r kits etc are the best
 
audi upgrades
I can't remember which out of the 4 choices of kit mine are, but they do feature Koni dampers, which some of the cheaper kits they sell dont feature.

HTH.
 
Im not sure how much my car is lowered by. If there was a decent days weather I would post a pick. I might get round to that on sunday if im not too drunk. so keep an eye out.

The reason I want to change is due the shocks being the original but the springs arent. Im sure they are past there time (7 Years old) and I think going for the shockSo basicall its been lowered the cheap way which I dont like so want to make sure the ride quality is at its best by buying a full new kit. Im only going to lower it by 40mm all round maybe lower but I have Rs4 18's and Im not sure how much lower it could go without having to get the arches rolled. Has anyone here got pics of there car lowered 40mm all round to give me an idea?

Also, I was looking on ebay the other day and I seen this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290043964048&rd=1&rd=1

Does anyone know if this is a needed tool? or is it trying to be something it isnt. I've done suspension on my 2 older cars but havent come across anything like this and wondered if it was worth buying as I dont want to get have way through doing my suspension and find out I cant go any further without it.

Damn I can talk. I think I might just give my maw a tenner and get her to do it.
 
hiya
Not sure about the tool and if you really need it, have a look at the retaining nut on your car and see if it matches up?!

I think the £300 fk coilover kit doesn't have height adjustable rears so thats what you must get with the more expensive fk kits.
have a look at www.europerformance.co.uk, they seem to have a lot of different kits for sale
also for jamex http://www.rennsport.co.uk/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1327

You will also need another mod so that the driveshalf doesn't hit the anti roll bar which loops over the drive shalf. This can be done with either a new anti roll bar with larger hoops or new drop links to raise the old anti roll bar. Whiteline do buget solutions for both at £130ish for the arb and £70ish for the droplinks. The droplinks are easy to fit but the new arb is more tricky.

As for rolled arches etc, you really don't need to worry about this, i used to have an A3 lowered about 80mm with 18x8 alloys and it wasn't a problem. If you are running wheels with audi offsets you'll be fine.

let me know what you end up getting and how it goes
 
With regards to coilovers, i think others will agree with me that they are a bit extreme for normal road use, ride quality will be rubbish at best, they'll be far too hard and i reckon you would be better off with a decent spring/damper combo

Should also save you a bit of money while your at it. Have a read back through the posts on here as there's loads of useful suspension questions that'll help you decide which combination will work best for you.

Also with a 40-45mm drop you shouldnt have to carry out any other mods, any lower and i think thats when you require the tie bar mods etc. Maybe some1 can correct me on that
 
rodenal said:
Also with a 40-45mm drop you shouldnt have to carry out any other mods, any lower and i think thats when you require the tie bar mods etc. Maybe some1 can correct me on that
Click to expand...

This would be useful if someone could confirm this before I go ahead with my upgrade.

Does anyone have pictures of their cars lowered by 40mm? if so can you post some pics to give me an idea? Thanks
 
1.8T cars have larger driveshafts on the drivers side which is what causes the problem, so it isn't a problem on 1.6's etc. My 1.8t has been lowered around 40mm and has settled down a little bit more now the springs have been fitted. If i put full lock on you can hear the driveshaft rubbing and also if there is a large undulation (not pot hole) in the road when traveling at speed.
At 40mm it will not hit the arb too badly and my has only really started to be a problem now the springs have settled down so i would fit your new suspension first and see how it goes, if it does start to know you can then do the roll bar.
Also all suspension kits are slightly different and one makes idea 40mm isn't always the same as anothers!!
If yours is lowered 40mm already, i guess you don't have any problems with the arb at the moment?
 
vbpicgallery.php
I dont have any problems at the moment with the ARB.

My car looks like its is lower at the front than the back though.

As its dark out at the moment I cant take any pics but I will get that done tomorrow morning and maybe some could give me an idea? I think it might be 40 front 30 back but who am I to know, Im only a carpet fitter he he.

Watch this space tomorrow.

Cheers guys
 
Ok, pictures are in my gallery if anyone would mind taking a wee trip and having a look. Not sure how to post em up on the forum.

Hopefully someone has an idea of what my car is lowered by as I bought it like this. Possibly lower at the front.

Cheers
 
I'm no expert but i'd say 40mm, and it looks pretty much the same at the back too
 
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