coilovers question

You could try PMing 'JaminBen' if you don't get any replies...I seem to recall he has KW V3s so may be able to offer some advice.

Yes JaminBen's got coilovers fitted. I've got the Eibach sportline kit fitted to mine which is -55mm. Not had any problems.

J.

A3simon said:

Sorry for all the questions but heres another i posted in the handling section but got no answers

I recently bought some coilovers (KW V2) for my A3 quattro S Line does anyone know how low i can go i aint wanting it too low just enough to lose the 4x4 look

Click to expand...

Don't forget to cover all the adjuster threads with something like waxoyl, or you'll never adjust them again after the winter!!

Hello fellas,

I hadn't been on this forum in a long time!

What kind of A3 are you using the coilovers on? From the pics it looks already lowered? I can see a "Quattro" badge and an "S-Line" badge. What engine lies under the bonnet?


Regardless of engine, and as MB stated, there will be no suspension bits fouling. There will however be tyre fouling on the front fender, if you have 225 section rubber on a wheel with an ET under (numerically) 48.

I use 8x18 ET45 wheels with 225/40/18 tires, and they rubbed in front. The contact point was a metal tab which secured the fender liner. I'm pointing at it in the pic below:



Remove the screw from the tab and fold it back and up, into the fender well. Be careful doing this, as the fender is very thin.


As far as height goes, I went for 40 to 45mm lower than standard. I highly recommend you do a full alignment after having driven a few hundred miles. Make sure rear camber is brought back to spec, as the rear camber gain curve is very steep (camber gained in compression - meant to compensate for body lean in turns).

If you enjoy lift-throttle oversteer (think Pug Gti), then go for -1.0 rear camber. I tried 0.0 rear camber, but the tire fouled the rear fender:




Still, with rear camber set at -1.0, the rear comes 'round gently when provoked which helps counter understeer. -1.0 looks like this:

.

Also, rear toe can be set to 0, again for a mobile rear end and less understeer. There is a slight tradeoff in straight-line stability but if you like an agile car then this is a must.

In the front, sadly, there isn't much to be done. I have set toe to 0 here as well, and at -45mm ride height, static camber is -1.1 or so. I wish rasied balljoints were available, which would bring static camber to 0.0, and leave the 1 degree of camber gain for compression (body lean in turn), because as is there is no more camber to be had: we start our turn with max neg. camb.

What else? Oh yes, do use KW's recommended settings and go from there. Adjust very very slightly and try to keep a written record of all your adjustments as it is very esy to lose track of things.

If possible, go have your car corner-weighed. This will equalize your left and right weights as seen by the tires, which will maximize straight-line braking and equalize left and right turn grip potential.

Longacre are great scales:

Here you can see the car sitting on one of four scales, while the technician adjusts wheel geometry using the tried and true fishing nylon wire method:



all four scales feed into a cross-referencing table:




Don't worry about driving with the V2s on salty roads. I did all last winter, and the stainless finish is still perfect. I fitted my V3s @ 20,000 miles (by then my Quatro-GmbH S-Line dampers were shot, and my car now has over 60,000 hard miles, of which five track days. The suspension is, to this day, flawless.

Do look into a performance Haldex module once your suspension is tuned to your liking.

Cheers,
Ben.

No worries Simon: it's a pleasure taliking about cars and possible mods...

I really like the way your A3 is set up the S-Line kit looks great in white, and the RS6s have grown on me.

Your RS6s, which are specific to the A3, are 7.5x18 inches, with a 54mm offset (ET54). That puts the centerline of the wheel 54mm towards the inside of the car or 54mm away from the mounting surface of the wheel.

The lower the number, the more the wheel "sticks out" of the car. Normally, we should be expressing our offset as negative offset and place a "-" before the number, because inherently offset is positive, whereas we're talking about negative offset. Usually, the higher the number, the further OUT the wheels goes... There you go: more info than really necessary, ha!

If you want to compare wheels and how much they'll "stick out" and move the centerline away from ideal (aka OEM, aka as factory-designed), then here's one way to go about it: my original wheels were 7.5x17 ET56, and now I have 8x18 ET45.

56-45=11, so the outer lip of my wheels stick out 11mm further out (and we have moved the contact patch of the tire that much further out, which modified the scrub radius, and which in turn influences on bump steer, effective spring and dampening rates etc...).

But wait, we also have to factor in the wheel's width. Going from 7.5" to 8", we have added 1/4 inch to each outer/inner edges. So our outer edge really sticks out 11mm + 1/4", so a total of 17mm further. (phew!)



The GenII HPP (2nd generation Haldex performance part) is this blue thing:




Haldex is the name of the Swedish company which produces the electro-hydraulically-controlled clutch pack which turns our fwd cars into awd cars.

Picture the front diff, which distributes power between the front wheels. Now picture a 90° power take-off followed by a longitudinal driveshaft, which runs under the car towards the rear diff. This is what turns the rear diff and thus the rear wheels.

But, before reaching the rear diff, the shaft turns a clutch pack. When this 'pack is fully open, the rear diff sees no movement, no torque. When fully closed, the rear diff sees just as much torque as the front diff, and the car is now a 50:50 all-wheel-drive automobile (yay!!!) lol

Now, what opens and closes the Haldex clutch pack is 1) a difference in rotating speeds between the front and rear diffs and 2) an electronic signal from the Haldex Control Module.

In 1), picture the car on a grippy, straight bit of road. The rear wheels, simply dragging along, rotate at the same speed as the front wheels and thus both diffs turn at equal speeds. There is no speed difference to build pressure within the clutch pack, and the car is essentially fwd.

Now picture it accelerating hard, and the front wheels starting to rotate faster than the rears (slipping!). Well, that speed difference builds pressure within the clutch pack, which closes it, and which sends torque to the rear wheels. Now we're awd, and we're not slipping anymore.

I hope the following gif shows on your screen. As you can see, this MkIV R32's front wheels start to slip, then the rears catch up (GenI Haldex). Our GenII works the same way.


The pressure is built mechanically within the 'pack by pumps rotated by the the difference in speed, but it can also be augmented electronically by independant, electrical pumps. That is where the control module comes into play: plugged into the car's CAN system, throttle, steering, and engine torque inputs are taken into account to apply +/- pressure to the 'pack. In effect if you mash the throttle, the control unit won't wait for slip: it will lock up the 'pack before slip can even occur. (Not to be confused with the "Pre-X" system used by Volvo, which can actually lock the 'pack at a full stop: ours still needs some rotation).

And that's where this "GenII HPP" thing comes into play. It is a different control module, sold by Haldex, which has a different program built into it, and more agressively valved pumps. The program tells the 'pack to close sooner and with greater force, and the pumps are calibrated to do just so. The end result is that the car is now MORE awd, MORE OFTEN. And that, my friend, means more neutral acceleration in turns, less understeer, and generally more fun. Still with me?

Here's the unit:









Here are the instructions. The neat stuff is on page 5, and I'll get right to it:












The original Haldex unit, as seen under the car: The black driveshaft comes from the front diff and feeds torque to the Haldex unit, which sits right in front of the rear diff:


Remove and replace: simple plug & play:


The new unit in place:




OK, see those lovely graphs? Notice how there are three "modes" for this HPP? Well, it needs a switch installed to access all three modes, which I haven't gotten around to installing yet. By default it is in the "sport" mode. But, driving with this intermediate mode is already a lot more rewarding, so I can only imagine that the "race" mode will be even better.

If we are very lucky, then this race mode keeps the 'pack locked when braking (the control module opens the 'pack during braking, even with the HPP in "sport" mode). Keeping the 'pack locked under braking would make for very fun tail-happy antics under braking in slippery conditions...

As soon as I have my switch installed, I'll let you know if that is the case or not.

Cheers!

The price seems within what most are asking... The clincher is whether they will do a switch for you. Ask them, and if thgey don't know what switch you're talking about, go se someone else. The whole point of this GenII hpp is to have it switched, so as to toggle between "std" "sport" and
"race" modes.

But in any case, I would do this only after adressing the rest of the suspension.

Cheers,