C6 Avant - It's Suspension Upgrade Time!

[fishyfish]

Hi all,

I am planning to swap out the tired S-Line suspension from my C6 Le Mans Avant (done about 96K miles, and just makes me cringe on poor surfaces now) for a nice fresh aftermarket setup.

Without wanting to sound bitter, I have utterly given up on waiting for Bilstein to get it's sh!t in a pile and supply the B12 kit I ordered in March(!!), and am now going to fit Eibach Pro-kits (sitting in the garage) with Koni FSDs (expected next week). Hopefully it will turn out for the best anyway, as the missus and offspring may appreciate the ride being a bit more plush than originally planned

Before I book it in for the swap and alignment (planning on going to see Tony at Wheels In Motion, as they seem to really know their stuff), I wanted to see if anyone could offer some advice on what other components should be replaced at the same time... i.e. strut bearings, mounts, bump-stops, spring pads, etc... basically I want to avoid a complete "tear it all out to replace one washer" scenario at the next service in several months time... do it once and do it right is my attitude

The parts guy at the local dealership was kind enough to print me some diagrams from ETKA, and my current plan is to replace anything that is made of rubber or could be considered a "wear item", and any bolts/nuts (as I don't want the install grinding to a halt for the sake of a 50p bolt that was corroded!).

To my untrained eye, I suspect I should replace pretty much everything:

FRONT - 9, 8 (strut bearing?), 7, 10 (strut mount), 5 (bump stop), 6 (rubber dust boot), 4 (no idea what that is), and 9+11.

REAR - 2, 3 & 4 (rubber spring pads?), 22, 21 (strut mount), 23, 20 (bump stop), 19 (rubber dust boot), and 15+16+17


Is there anything else to watch out for? Am I including any stuff that is not needed?

Cheers
Adam

 

[fishyfish]

OK, after being overwhelmed by the number of responses about what bits should need replacing (yes, I am a sarcastic tw@t), I forged ahead based on my intuition, and the deed has now been done, along with a full geometry correction (with a big thankyou to Luke at Wheels In Motion, Chesham, for his marathon effort)!


I have to say, compared to the S-Line setup, the Eibach Pro Kit + Koni FSD combo is bliss in terms of ride comfort... bumps are either non-existent or nicely "rounded off", instead of the kidney-smashing jolts I was previously having to endure. Everything feels nicely weighty and well-controlled, but much more refined and well-mannered... like somebody just turned down the "crashiness" knob about eleventy-thousand notches. I'd go so far as to say it feels more compliant than my previous A4 with SE suspension and 18's. Its still going to take a good while for me to stop my reflex to wince as I approach rough patches though


The down side is that it has taken some tautness off the feel when you are driving under smooth/motorway conditions. I plan to get some of that responsiveness back with a H&R anti-roll bar kit... once H&R get off their buttocks and send it to me (again, another item ordered from Germany way back in March). I do find myself wondering whether I would have preferred something firmer like the Bilsteins or Koni Yellows, but I guess I just need so adjust to the different feel it has now. At least my passengers will find it less tiresome to ride in!



For anyone considering a similar upgrade, here are a couple of tips:


* The bits I did end up replacing were 5, 6, 8 on the front, and 3, 4, 19, 20, 21 on the rear.


* Definitely buy spare pinch bolts for the front upper control arms (WN 104 918 02 + WN 102 723 02)... its almost guaranteed that these will be a right pain to shift and will likely have to be sheared off at the head and punched through (took over an hour of lubricating/hitting/heating/swearing to knock mine out)


* When rebuilding the front struts, *leave out* the washer that goes under the strut top bushing (part 7 on the diagram), as this didn't allow the top nut to wind down properly and put the spring under tension, which caused a clunking/knocking noise upon the first fitting attempt.

* Bump stops were NOT cut, and everything seems to be behaving itself just fine. Be aware, if going from non S-Line suspension, you should order the shorter stops (W8D0 412 131 F + W8E0 512 131 P), not the ones ETKA will specify based on your factory order.



And finally, the money shot. I'd estimate that its currently about the same as S-Line ride hieght, gaps are nice and even front-to-back, and I've been told it will probably settle slightly lower than this after a few weeks... spot on, in my opinion

 

[ChrisFurlong]

Sounds nice. Post up some pictures once the car has settled a bit.

I want a set of eibach pros or H&Rs, but I think they will be too low for me. I carry a lot of weight in my car quite often, and with my S6 wheels, I've already had to trim the inner carpet.

 

[adrian825]

Hello everyone!

I found this topic more close to my problem and therefore I didn't create a new one. So here's my story...

I have an A6 Avant c6, year 2009 with sport factory suspension(not s-line package) which is killing me on the Romanian bumpy roads.Therefore I'm desperate to increase the car's comfort, but in the same time I don't want cu lower the car even more than it already is.

I read a lot on other posts, that Koni FSD's and Eibach Pro springs will solve my problem.It is necessary to change the springs also? or should I remain with actual factory sport springs. Again, my purpose is to increase comfort without lowering even more the car.

At this moment I have 16'' rims and I found them simply too small for this car in terms of look&design. After making this change in suspension(Dampers+springs) can I switch to at least 17'' rims? I'm afraid to switch 18'''s due to bad Romanian roads.

Can you please indicate how can I choose the springs for my car? Audi A6 Avant, 125KW,year 2009, c6,2.0 TDI

Any advice will be highly appreciate , because this problem is very annoying for me at this moment.

Have a great day,
Adrian

 

[fishyfish]

Hi again everyone.

Another brief update on my suspension mods... the H&R anti-roll bars finally arrived, and I had them fitted earlier in the week.

All I can say is, wow, what a difference! It has added real "weight" to the suspension (in a good way), the car just feels like it is anchored to the road, and responds to steering inputs so much more sharply than before... but hasn't overly compromised the extra softness (in comparison to S-Line) that the Eibach/FSD combination provided. In short, awesome upgrade, and I'm glad I didn't lose my patience and cancel the order.

However, although the H&R bars are excellent in terms of materials and workmanship, I do give them a big "thumbs down" for the dreadfully poor accuracy of their design for the C6 platform.

I noticed a gentle squeaking noise mid-week, which turned into a horrendous shriek last night when returning from work with the family on-board... bad enough that I pulled over to consider whether I should limp the last mile home or call for a recovery truck.

I have just got back from my local specialist garage (who are a great bunch of guys), who threw it up on the hoist and discovered that the ends of the rear bar was fouling the drive shafts when cornering (and was obviously much easier to do when fully loaded with passengers). Simple fix would be to use the "soft" setting hole closest to the tip, says I. Nay, says they... then the bar fouls the underbody elsewhere. Nice one, H&R

Final Solution: shave the ends off the bar, effectively making it non-adjustable, but I was fine with that, as I was never going to be setting it to anything but "hard" on the rear anyway. You could probably be a bit less drastic and grind less off the tips, but seeing as you can't use the outer holes anyway... meh...

For the "pics or it didn't happen" crowd, witness the horror (I grabbed a shot after they had shaved the bar and refitted... sorry, didn't think to get one before they had the bar off)





PS: Yes, the springs have settled tiny bit lower than the original shots, but as my girl is in dire need of a wash, I too ashamed to put any pics up at the moment. Will pop a couple up when I get time to properly clean her up (and show off my shiny new Milltek quads at the same time! )

 

[ChrisFurlong]

I'd love to do this with mine, sounds awesome. But it's funds over function ATM.

Looking forward to further pictures.

 

[aleung2]

Great thread. Im in the same boat but i think i only need to replace the shocks as the springs are fine and don't want any lower than the S line height.

However, In can't find anywhere that sells the FSD dampers for the C6 except for the states so I assume they're discontinued or something.

What are the best alternative for comfort? Bilstein B4 is the only alternative I can think of.

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