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RichA3Turbo said:
Cheers Glen,
I will be doing this soon. May go for shock spring combo as to be honest, with coilovers i may never change the settings which would make them pointless.
Will have a good look at the front setup next time i have the wheels off and see what setting are ajustable.
Cheers
Rich
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A matched spring & damper combination will be fine...but you may not end up with an especially pleasing ride height.
If you can find a set of springs that gives a 'nice' height, you're onto a winner.
Dampers will be fine if they are anything quality: Bilstein, Koni etc...
I don't have adjustable dampers on the S3 and don't feel the need for them..I can't comment on the range of adjustment available for the A3...but on my Mk3 GTI I do have adjustable dampers - and needed them in order to accurately set the chassis balance up the way I like it.
This is probably more important on a FWD car as you can't use the drive that a 4WD car affords you.
I would probably be tempted to go with adjustable damping at the very least...that way you can run the front soft enough to make the ARBs work, and run the back hard enough to assist turn in.
Also with you sprinting on the 1/4 mile...cranking up the rear dampers will help prevent weight transfer during hard acceleration - helping stop wheelspin. The old "turn the back dampers right up" trick! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
David R and I discussed the front camber issues of the A3 at length some time ago - it's not particularly adjustable.
Even the balljoint offers less adjustment than on the S3.
So, what to do?
Eccentric pillowball top mounts? That'd give camber options...but they'd be harsh and noisy.
Longer bottom arms?
Will the S3 arms / balljoints fit?
If they fit the subframe, they'd offer wider track at the bottom and hence lots more negative camber...but would that be too much negative camber?
Would the S3 balljoints fit the A3 hubs? Are the diameters the same?
Something to think about...
To add negative camber..it's simple:
a) move the tops of the struts inwards
Or
b) move the bottom of the hubs outwards
Neither are easy - both may prove to be impossible!
As a starter, I'd be looking to see just how much you can adjust the position of the bottom balljoints.
If you can get (or make) about 10mm, you should get a degree or so...I think the A3 bottom arms are steel fabrications so it's possible that a specialist will be able to slot the balljoint holes then weld in some machined strengthening plates to return the strength to the arm.
Worth a look at least.
Making a car handle really well, that doesn't want to do so is never easy...or cheap.
Anything's possible...How far do you want to go? How long have you got? How much do you want to spend? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif