For those that were interested: Weitec Ultra GT kit fitted, 50mm drop

Prawn

Prawn

My other car is a MINI!!!!
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Righty then,

Many of you will not care about this at all, but there are a good few who do :)

I bought myself a Weitec ultra GT 50mm lowering kit, consisting of shocks and springs, from DPM.

Many of you guys asked me how the kit was, and requested pics when I got it fitted.

So here it is! its not settled fully yet, and seems to be getting a little lower each time I drive itl I've only covered 150miles on the new kit so far, so time will tell how low its going to settle.

My old top mounts were 15mm thinner than the new ones I fitted! So its instantly gone UP 15mm from those, before going down with the new kit.

For a 50mm kit, its not sitting as low as I expected yet, but thats not such a bad thing, I was worried it would be too low, but I think its about perfect.

The ride is transformed too! its gone from soft, crashy, and very uncomfortable, to firm and sure footed, yet still surprisingly WAY more comfy than before.

overall, i am SERIOUSLY happy, and will be fitting the 30mm version of this kit to my mums A3 in the new year.

Excuse the poor pics, my phone camera doesnt deal with funny lighting too well!

Ill update this in a few weeks when its finished settling, if its going to any more.

sideoncm9.jpg


A3_at_spice.JPG
 
no rubbing AT ALL, and its not even close to rubbing anywhere currently.

I am going to space the wheels a little to fill the arches a bit better.

Going with 5mm on the front and 13mm on the back I think, and I am confident it wont rub then either, theres LOADS of room in the arches
 
Why would we not care? Looks ace!
Tho, its all about the handling, and sounds like your are happy with that too.

Now go enjoy your car.
 
Looks good dude, amazing how just a stance can transform the look of a car.
p.s...who cares about the people that dont care!
 
thanks for the comments guys, I am VERY happy with the handling so far, I am yet to find any draw backs from the changes I have made.

the car is now on 152k, and was until recently on entirely original suspension!

Ive fitted new wishbones with standard bushes, new ball joints, new track rod ends, steering rack tie bars, and rear beam bushes, along with a pair of Eibach 22f 25r anti roll bars, and some 312m black diamond discs and ferodo ds2500 pads. SO glad I went for the ds2500 pads, I fitted a set of Black diamond 312's with black diamond fast road pads for a mate 3 weeks ago, and they are rubbish! Mine are amazing

To say the difference is huge, would be an almighty under statement! It is now a totally different car, and it's still running on ***** tyres.

I'm currently running pilot sport Ps2's on the back, and some pilot HX's on the front, which really arent up to much (needed a cheap tyre when my bushes died and wore out a good falken in a week!)

I can only imagine when its on F1's in a few weeks time the grip will be rediculous. So far I've only driven it in the rain, and the wet weather grip is astonishing.

The ride is also amazing, I've just been down a cobbled road which used to make my steering wheel shake, and my teeth wobble, yet tonight with the new kit it was perfectly smooth, its just amazing.

The comment about people not caring was half aimed at the S3 crowd (watch your backs boys, I'm after you!), and partly because If we all greated a new topic about every single mod we did, the forum would be 10x bigger! I just thought on this occasion its worth it, as to my knowledge nobody else on the forum has yet fitted the Ultra GT kit.


Next up: ditch the TDI style tailpipes on my milltek for something better looking. going to try and make myself some simple slach cut polished stainless tailpipes from a length of 2.5'' stainless! then when im happy, cut off the downturned and weld in the new ones with a slight bumper cut out.
 
Nope, fwd and light weight with decent suspension is where its at!

This corners stupidly well in the wet in fwd form.

I think if i could go any quicker when the roads are wet i would be a national danger!

Also, since fitting the new shocks and springs, i dont get nearly as much wheelspin, as the wheels are no longer bouncing!
 
Sounds good Prawn...thanks for the write up.

I'm considering the Weitec stuff for the vRS.

It that kit of yours the fixed damping kit?

Did it come with shortened dampers?
New bump stops?
 
Ahh the wheel bouncing! not too keen on that.. i'm glad yours is front wheel drive , gives me something to look forward too! and i have decent tyres..

would you recommend i change all the bushes too? god knows when that was last done.. :|
 
Prawn said:
Also, since fitting the new shocks and springs, i dont get nearly as much wheelspin, as the wheels are no longer bouncing!
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, it's the same in an S3 on standard shocks, any bump on the road during braking would kick the ABS in, and accelleration out of a bumpy corner, you can feel the car twiching as the Haldex kicks in. After fitting the Bilstein shocks, car feels more planted at all times with little to no effect on ride comfort, standard stuff is just too rubbish basically. :icon_thumright:
 
Ess_Three said:
Sounds good Prawn...thanks for the write up.

I'm considering the Weitec stuff for the vRS.

It that kit of yours the fixed damping kit?

Did it come with shortened dampers?
New bump stops?
Click to expand...

Cheers Glen, my kit is indeed the fixed damping kit.

I've had several fully adjustable suspension setups on previous cars, and I keep loosing sight of the fact that the A3 is still technically just my dailly driver, with the mini for fun.

I had to draw a line somewhere, I was originally going to get the Hicon TX coilovers with adjustable damping, but decided against it.

This kit is a matched shock and spring kit, and yes, the dampers are shortened. Adjustable damping would be great for track use, but for road use, this feels spot on as it is. Firm, yet comfy

They didnt come with new bump stops though, I replaced the top mounts, top mount bearings, and bump stops for about £24 from GSF.


Sam- definately have the bushes done! It only cost me £90 in parts for new wishbones, track rod ends, steering rack tie bars, and metal drop links, and it made the world of difference. the car feels so much sharper, and at first, I was quite randomly finding my lane discipline awful, as tiny inputs gave huge changes of direction!

Also, a word of warning to those with high mileage: I assumed having done wishbones/bushes/arbs/brakes/shocks/springs that my sus would ne enar perfect, but when we pulled it apart to fit the weitecs, we found that both my CV joints were near enough destroyed! They had covered 152k, but still, I am very glad I've had them replaced before its mapped.

Jojo: the abs kicking in over bumps is REALLY annoying, its nice to know it's doing it's job, but the pedal dropping under your foot is horrid!

Now I just need to decide what size spacers to fit, it could do with a little filling out at the back.

Anyone got any tips on how to work out what size will be best? Im thinking 13mm, as it looks like ive got a good bit of space in there, but I wont want to shell out a load on spacers and find it rubs.
 
Looks 100000000% better!

I'm going to have to have a drive to see how comfortable yours is...
 
Prawn, excellent write up mate, and the car looks really good, i think thats the drop i want. i was wondering what a 50mm drop looks like and now i know.

You say the ride is firm but comfy? When u say firm do u mean, u can feel every stone u go over?
 
not, its firm, but literally, very comfy. I can drive down a cobbled road at 25mph and just glide along in perfect comfort, I really dont feel the bumps at all. its jsut planted and sure footed, yet comfy at the same time.

Overall, I am very impressed

Damian: most people going 10mm/15mm have S3's, If I went 10mm at the front it would look silly, as the et 32 TT wheels are almost flush with the arch as it is, so 10mm would be overkill.

I think itll take 5 on the front, and somewhere between 10 and 15 at the back, I'll get 3 mates to sit in the back and drop it down then take a tape measure to it :)
 
We do alot of 10mm front and 15mm rear for A3 drivers aswell mate, sometimes even 10mm front and 20mm rear! Forgot you had the TT rims on though! 10mm will probs do the job on the back.
 
Nice-one prawn you finally got some pics up, You'll have to let me have a go in yours and see how it compares to my H&R'S.

Now hurry up and get that remap will you :)

Jason
 
Cheers for all the comments guys, Dave and Jason, I will probably be at the next No Rice next weds, so if you guys are around, come and say hello!

I think its just about done settling now too, and I'm really happy with the height. It doesnt look obviously lowered really, it just sits nice and squat, without looking too modified, which is the sleeper look I am going for :)

Got postage proof for the FMIC at last too! so who knows, it may even show up before xmas!
 
Ive just been paid on friday so Im about too order a kit myself. As mentioned in previously in another thread. Which would you guys (dpm and prawn) recomend. 30mmm or 50mm. I drive on crappy bumpy roads back and forth too work every night. So i was thinkin 30mm just to keep the car sat on the 18" nicely.
 
As you can see Prawn's sits nicely on the 50mm kit but if your abit worried and as you say drive on crappy roads then the 30mm kit is a nice all round kit. It's really down to yourself.
 
Prawn,

Do you want some 5mm spacers? I've got some off my mkIV golf sat in the garage. I'm local to you on the south coast as well.

J.
 
Prawn mate what FMIC have you gone for?
Nice pic is well car looks great.
Can any one tell me what this NO RICE is in Guilford? I used to go down there on a Sunday years ago when they used to have the meet in Burger King car park.
 
evening chaps......

Daz, get the 50mm kit, without a question. I have found since fitting this kit I can actually take LESS care about hitting stuff.

Being firmer, its not bottoming out any more, and feels much firmer. its really not THAT low, On the old suspension I used to scrap the front bumper 2-3 times a day on my route to work, and in the last week with the Weitecs I am yet to hit anything, and I am much more confident going over speed bumps now. I drive down some seriously crappy single track lanes rat running to avoid the Hindhead traffic every morning!

I reckon the 30mm kit will hardly look ANY lower at all, which is why I'm going to put it on my mums A3, she doesnt want it dropped too much.

Big_mo, I got my FMIC from tuner-stop in california, It should be arriving this week with any luck.

http://tuner-stop.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=71&zenid=78bb69c1f7ff0638e53d7711cd48d1fa

the kit is awesome, but the guy selling them is a complete ******.

My money cleared into his account on August 10th! And being so far away there is nothing I can do, I have e-mailled him every day, but ah well. I finally have proof of postage!

No Rice is a car meet in Guilford, aimed mainly at VAG stuff, and basicly aimed against chavs and general 'ricers'

Its a great laugh, and you see some seriously sweet cars!

Come along, Wednesday 12th of this month :)
 
Yeah thats looks ok. Dunno if i want one yet tho. If i did get one what would it do preformance wise on a standard 1.8T engine?
Woooooooooow thats taken so long to over. Sounds like a ****** is well. Dunno if i should get one off them just incase they dont send it and keep the money.
That meet sounds good is it always on? Can not make it to this one as i am going to Arsenal play. Is it busy down there then? Where abouts is it?
 
Prawn the car looks good!

My shocks are knackered, but rather replace the car Nick style than replace them! ;)

No Rice on the 12th sounds like a plan, I would come down! Will see if Dave fancies that too! Would be good to catch up Prawn!
 
Prawn and DPM with dropping the car 50mm is there any issues with it hitting the ARB or would anything else need changing? Im going to put new bearings and rubber boots around the bearings when I change over. Is there anything else you would suggest changing?
 
With the 50mm drop you are hovering around the ARB rubbing issue area. It all depends what kit you use as some 50mm kits will rub on the driveshaft on full lock but some will just miss it. We do a ARB that will solve this problem but you may not need it.

Prawn you've got a different ARB on already don't you?

Damian @ DPM
 
I personally wouldnt go for the extra expense on your 1/8 NA Daz,

It will rub slightly on 50mm i guess, as when i first had mine done on 55mm It rubbed on Full lock. Wasnt anything major though, im guessing over time it would wear the driveshaft though?

You can by ARB drop-links which are a LOT cheaper option.

Personally i went for the H&R Arb Kit coupled with my H&R Shocks but as you said before you just want it for getting to work and you want it to look a bit better ARB'S will be a waste of time.

Id buy the shocks and see how bad it is, or just get a set of droplinks too they're not expensive.

Hope this helps.

Jason
 
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