Fit S-line Shocks And Springs On My Audi A3 Se

plasma

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Hi guys,

I have an '06 A3 2.0 TDI SE. The handling and body roll is awful and I'm looking for a cheap way to lower and improve handling. I am thinking of sourcing some second hand S-line springs and shocks. It will lower my ride by around 25mm. May look strange with my stock 16 inch alloys but I'm looking to upgrade them to the 17's and widening the tyres to 225.

I spoke to my local garage and they can fit all four shocks/springs and align for £120 inc VAT.
As for the parts, I have found this on Ebay:

eBay - Item # 271578426530

So it's a 2009 s line shocks/springs so it must be the face lift version. Would this be a direct fit on my pre-facelift A3? For both its £100, and hopefully I would be able to source the rears for around £80 so total is £300 including fitting. Not bad for damper and springs upgrade. Any suggestions?
 
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S line suspension is horrid just like every other Audi suspension.

Do it properly or don't do it at all, doing things "cheap" never pays off imo.
 
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Why is the stock s-line suspension so bad? I know it many people claim it to be too harsh and each to their own but I prefer a harder ride. Maybe it is because of the 18 inch wheels, which I have not got. But I'm sure it would be a remarkable improvement on my stock SE suspension setup?
 
I put AP coilovers on and the ride is much better imo! :)
 
Plasma, I have the 2.0 TDI Sport, and I think the suspension on this is the same as the s-line, unsure about ride height etc but stiffness. It is quite stiff, but no different to the bilstein coilovers I had on my MK2 Golf Gti, I too, like a firm ride... I genuinely don't think its too bad... I'd check for posts of people modding an s3 and see if you can buy their existing sus setup... worth a try... good luck bud!
 
Peaky83 thanks for the input. As far as I'm aware Sport suspension and S-line suspension are different. The S-line is 10mm lower than the sport and uses different dampers too.
 
Basically, I feel the springs are too hard and the dampers are too soft, therefore it wallows, jumps, skips and bounces around. Based on a3 sport, s line and s3 suspension which I have all experienced.

Invest in some half decent suspension like AP or better to get the most out of it.
 
Standard S Line suspension is lower than sport but is softer, unless the car was specced with the no cost option of S Line sport suspension, then its hard as nails. All of my family drive A3s or TTs and I have been able to direclty compare back to back, mine has the standard S Line and my mums has the S Line sport suspension, the difference is phenomenal, it is so much harder.

Edit - you're right thought smurfworth Audi suspension doesn't instil any confidence, you start to push and it starts to do a bit of a dance which can be disconcerting on uneven roads
 
So basically what are everyones thoughts on Apex suspension? Because I can get all four shocks and springs from Apex for £299, 30-35mm lower. I think this is a good deal, but how are Apex?
 
Basically, I feel the springs are too hard and the dampers are too soft, therefore it wallows, jumps, skips and bounces around. Based on a3 sport, s line and s3 suspension which I have all experienced.

Invest in some half decent suspension like AP or better to get the most out of it.
Are you sure you have that the right way round? Wallowing I would have thought would be down to the springs as it is a constant force and the dampeners being too hard would tend to make the car not absorb any sudden bumps.
 
Standard S Line suspension is lower than sport but is softer, unless the car was specced with the no cost option of S Line sport suspension, then its hard as nails. All of my family drive A3s or TTs and I have been able to direclty compare back to back, mine has the standard S Line and my mums has the S Line sport suspension, the difference is phenomenal, it is so much harder.
I wonder if my A3 has the s-line sport suspension. I had an A4 s-line before hand which I thought was pretty good but the A3 is noticeably harder especially over things like cobble stones.
I had a A6 s-line as a courtesy car a couple of years ago. That car was bad, the corner really used to dip when turning into a corner and it really didn't inspire confidence. A stock A4 handles much better by comparison.
 
I may be interested in buying you old shocks and springs if you go this route :)

Cheaper than new fillings and back surgery required from my A3 Sport's (lack of) suspension.
 
http://www.gnjmotorsport.com/ap-20m...back-2.0tdi-quattro-3.2-v6-quattro-07-03.html

These are the ones I am thinking of buying, but the 30 or 35mm variant. Anyone had any experience with these?

I don't know why everyone says Audi Sport or S-line suspension, whatever it maybe is so hard, when truly in relative terms it really isn't. My other car, 330i M Sport with the 255 18 inch rear run flats give MUCH MUCH harder ride than an Audi A3 Sport. Different strokes for different folks I guess, I just happen to prefer a stiff/harder ride rather than a soft/wallowy ride.

Car before the bimmer I had Honda Civic Type R EP2. The ride of that literally shacked my teeth and bones, although if I'm honest the bimmer is equally as bad because of those runflats.
 
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http://www.gnjmotorsport.com/ap-20m...back-2.0tdi-quattro-3.2-v6-quattro-07-03.html

These are the ones I am thinking of buying, but the 30 or 35mm variant. Anyone had any experience with these?

I don't know why everyone says Audi Sport or S-line suspension, whatever it maybe is so hard, when truly in relative terms it really isn't. My other car, 330i M Sport with the 255 18 inch rear run flats give MUCH MUCH harder ride than an Audi A3 Sport. Different strokes for different folks I guess, I just happen to prefer a stiff/harder ride rather than a soft/wallowy ride.

Car before the bimmer I had Honda Civic Type R EP2. The ride of that literally shacked my teeth and bones, although if I'm honest the bimmer is equally as bad because of those runflats.

Everyone loves ap coilovers so give it a try.

Basically what your saying is, you wouldn't know good suspension if it came up and slapped you in the face. It doesn't have to be hard to stop wallowing, even hard suspension can upset the handling causing the car to skip around.

I can say from experience of having £200 cheap crap JOM coilovers, £400 mid range ap coilovers and £1150 H&R coilovers, the h&r is by far the best comfort and handling wise, the ap is the best overall considering what you get for the price and the JOM is by far the worst handling you'll come across. None of which mentioned are "hard" though, as none are adjustable dampening.

If you want a hard/stiff ride, get adjustable dampening.. You really do get what you pay for.