£300 Budget for Suspension

bouncer--daz

bouncer--daz

A dog is for life....not just for friday nights!
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Ive got a budget of £300 for my a3... does anyone have any suggestions? Im not guna use the car for track days and im not looking for a hard ride. I use the car for work most nights on A-roads... so I want good handling but also comfort. Suggestions...links.... advice please.
Currently have lowered springs on standard shocks... the shocks have had it though and Im fed up of the bouncy ride.
 
from what you have said, i reckon there is only one option....

Weitec Ultra GT kit.

Weitec are a sub brand of KW, so you can be assured quality is top notch, they also have a name for being particularly good in terms of maintaining a comfortable ride.

the Ultra GT kit costs £300 from DPM, and comes in either a 30mm or 50mm drop.

It consists of weitec dampers,and weitec 50mm lowering springs.

Check out UK-mkivs or ed38, loads of the mk4 guys are running weitec stuff, and it gets great reviews every time.

I just ordered my 50mm drop Ultra GT kit from DPM yesterday :)


I reckon for £300 its as good as you will ever get. the only other options in that price range are cheapy unheard of brands, or Jamex coilovers, which get a pretty mixed review, and are apparently rather harsh.

Enjoy!
 
I second that.

I'll be interested in what you think of them.
 
I'd say spend another £100 an get a set or fk coilovers :icon_thumright:
 
I'd 3rd the Weitec kit, we sell loads of them and one of the most comfortable aftermarket sports kits available!

Prawn, yours should be with you very soon via a nice UPS driver!

:icon_thumright:
 
Excellent advice i have just learnt on lowering my A3, does anyone have pics of their cars with this setup, either 30mm or 50mm drop
 
Sam-K said:
does the weitec kit on 50mm sit alright.? well.. for example. i have 17" TT 6 spoke wheels.. would it rub at all..?
Click to expand...

You should be ok with 17's and doubt that you'll get rubbing with a 50mm drop and definately won''t on a 30mm drop. Just depends how lonw your wanting it.
 
Shame you could have had my H&R Combo off me im going to get a set of FK Coilovers soon,

Ive got the H&R Pro kit 55mm front 45mm rear, Payed 3-400 for the kit i think.

Jason
 
A3_Turbo said:
Shame you could have had my H&R Combo off me im going to get a set of FK Coilovers soon,

Ive got the H&R Pro kit 55mm front 45mm rear, Payed 3-400 for the kit i think.

Jason
Click to expand...

WHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have heard nothing but bad news about FK coilovers.

Dave runs the FK konig sports, and apparently they are OK, but the FK highlines most people get seem to have NOTHING but trouble.

The adjusters seize up in no time, and the rears have a habbit of exploding and leaking a treat.

Seriously Jason, get yourself onto UK MKIVS, and check out just how many people have had problems with FK coilovers. They sound shocking!

If you have to get coilovers, why not look at the Weitec HiCon GT kit? its only £480 (compared to about £400 for the FGays) and is FAR better quality.

In my opinion, changing from an H&R cup kit to FK coilovers is a massive downgrade. Dont go there.

I'll get pics of mine up as soon as theyre fitted, which will HOPEFULLY be mid next week.

Sam- I hope there are no rubbing issues with TT 6 spokes, as I'm running them too!

I'm hoping to drop the car on this weitec kit, then, once its settled down after a few weeks, measure up to see if I can afford to space the rears 10-15mm, to match the way the fronts fill the arches perfectly :)

I'll keep you guys updated.

Cheers Damian! Did they come in stock today then?

Nick
 
I've heard nothing but good things about fk coilovers :think: that's why i bought mine. I think they're superb and very highly recommended.
 
fair enough....

From what ive heard, on both ed38 and UK mkivs, they give a VERY harsh ride, are very poor quality, seize up, and the rears FAMOUSLY explode and leak fluid.

I wouldnt touch them with a really really long barge pole.

Weitec for me, it was not a decision made lightly, i spent months researching all the different brands.
 
I've heard about the seizing up problem, but to be honest i've just set mine at the height i like and left them. Rides comfortable, handling's excellent and no problems in the 2 years of having them.

Took me a while to decide on which coilovers i was going to spend my hard earned cash on. I flicked through performance vw one day and every featured car had fk's so i went with them.

But then different people different experiences i guess.
 
Which FK's do you have Jim? its the highlines I have heard of the problems with, the Konig sports using koni dampers are apparently very good, but cost a lot more!
 
I've got the highsports paid £359 for them, we sold a set of £750 koni coilovers to a guy with a civic once an he had nothing but problems with them. Might be down to the batch :think:
 
Intersting Read....

The only reason i wanted to get coilovers was that i have the H&R cup kit its 55mm on the front and 45mm on the rear, I wanted it all level really just dont like how it sits.

So i asked about some 55mm springs for the rear and im told they dont do them?

So only other option really is coilovers surely?

Ideally id like to get the 55mm springs on the rear and have it all level but if they dont do them then ive got no choice really?

Weitec it is for me then....

Jason
 
Interested in pics when you get the turbo, you going for the 50mm?
(whats the dif between 30/50mm and 50mm?)
 
Nick the kit will be with you tomorrow. For some reason Weitec sent it straight to me even though i said send it to you so you get it quicker, never mind. Sorry for the delay bud.

As said above, you hear very different views on FK. Some have had no problems and some have had nothing but problems. I've personally had three top of the range FK sets on different cars and found them very harsh and bouncey. We also use to do alot of sets to customers when the whole rush of FK happened but since have stopped doing them because of problems with seizing up and poor quality. This isn't to say we havn't sold sets to people that havn't had any problems and have been very happy. It just wasn't worth our while to keep selling them as if we can help it we don't want customers to have a problem with anything we sell at all and this is why we strongly now recommend Weitec to customers. Around the same price area as FK without any of the problems and alot better quality.

As also said above by Nick, FK is a big step down from H&R A3_Turbo.
 
Prawn said:
from what you have said, i reckon there is only one option....

Weitec Ultra GT kit.

Weitec are a sub brand of KW, so you can be assured quality is top notch, they also have a name for being particularly good in terms of maintaining a comfortable ride.

the Ultra GT kit costs £300 from DPM, and comes in either a 30mm or 50mm drop.

It consists of weitec dampers,and weitec 50mm lowering springs.

Check out UK-mkivs or ed38, loads of the mk4 guys are running weitec stuff, and it gets great reviews every time.

I just ordered my 50mm drop Ultra GT kit from DPM yesterday :)


I reckon for £300 its as good as you will ever get. the only other options in that price range are cheapy unheard of brands, or Jamex coilovers, which get a pretty mixed review, and are apparently rather harsh.

Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Mate get some pics up as soon as its fitted, i need to see if i would be able to get over the humps without ripping the bottom off my car. what size rims do you have?

humps is a problem down here in london as they seem to be nearly everywhere, its ok for u guys u have nice flat roads up north especually them country roads.
 
I got FK Konigsports, which has Koni stamped all over the yellow dampers, and the reason I got them is because they were at the time, the cheapest height and rebound adjustable set.

They are AMAZING on the track set to full hardness.

They are a PITA on UK roads even set on full softness.

And I had a knacked one which FK needed to replace.

I wouldnt buy another set.
 
Thing is guys as I said... Im only running a 1.8 non-turbo and its just for gettin to work and back... in comfort and too impress a few ladies... if I wanted speed it would of been the S3 all the way. So im steering away from coilovers... I dont want too **** around changing the height etc. No need for it for what I use the car for. Im currently running on a 40mm drop and that suits me fine. Just the standard shocks are on their way out. Going to fit the kit myself with new bearings and bushes. Then my local garage is going to slap on some new ARB bushes and finish things off with the lazer tracking. So hopefully she should be running smooth after that.... more comments welcome:icon_thumright:
 
daz i had a set of fk high sports on my mk4 and they there very good for the money with no problems over the couple of years i ran them,
on ms3 i run PI coilovers and they were about £325 tothe door and they seem pretty good at the moment (6 months).
 
I'm not daz :)

dont bother, you will only set the height once.

Most people want coilovers to go really low, and without chaning the front ARB, you cant go very low anyway! so why bother?

If you go any lower than 50mm it will become a PITA to actually drive anywhere around town, and the lower you go, the more harsh the ride gets traditionally.

Go with a decent shock/spring kit thats within your £300 budget.

The only one I can think of under £300 is the weitec!
 
What do people think about a 50mm drop? does there need to be any arch rolling? whats it like on a full car?
 
Another thing to consider is on a 50mm drop you may need a new front ARB as it may rubbing on the driveshaft on full lock with the car loaded up. You can buy aftermarket ones from H&R & Eibach which will solve this but that is extra money. This is why some people go for the 30 kit but on the other had alot of people get away with no rubbing at all with the 50mm kit. Depends what you use the car for and if it's ever full of people or a heavy load.

HTH

Damian @ DPM
 
Just to add my experiences.

I used to use Weitec kits, but had a few issues. I have to replace two rear assemblies as they started knocking. I don't know the exact reason, but something inside causes the shock piston to move a fraction before being damped.
Also had a front shock adjuster fail on me.
This was a few years back, so these issues may have been fixed now, but I personally wouldn't get another set.

FKs now, cheap.......yes, but for me the ride has been perfect. No crashing or overtly bouncy.
I'm only lowered approx 25-30mm, so perhaps this is a factor.

The reason I went for coilovers was to set the corners weights on my car properly. A friend and I initially set them up at his garage, and found that the rear perches had to set quite differently to each other, which I don't think would be achieved with a standard spring and shock combo.

I've adjusted the FK's height a couple of time recently. They have been on the car for 2 years, and so far no seizing. Just make sure if you get a set of any coilver you copper grease the threads.

I guess it all comes down to what you want out of your car.
 
I have no idea how people can get around with a 50mm drop. I was running at -35mm and the front subframe area that hold the dog bone moung was craping on driveways, carparks etc.
My car seemed to handle really poo that low also. I think I was getting excessive camber change due to the front lower arm being beond the idea angle.

I'm looking at fitting S3 front hubs with the lower ball joints and a rear ARB to sort some of the camber issues out. Just can't decide on which rear arb at the mo.
 
Any-one fancy a H&R Cup kit for an 8L A3? lol

Right i'll be ordering a set of coilovers soonish need to get rid of what i have already ideally to fund them though?

APS think i should go for the 400 pound KW's.

Then theres the Weitec's and mixed reviews on the FK's... Hmmm!!

How low can you go with the coilovers? Lower the better! :D
 
How much for your H&R's? I need a new set of shocks anyway
 
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