quattro suspension

[olds_kool]

start a new job on monday which should give me a few spare quid, any recomendations on shocks and springs for my 1.8tqs,
looking for better handling rather than big drop
also looking to fit complete powerflex bush kit, anyone fitted them? any difference?
i was in an 07 plate 340bhp seat leon with factory suspension last week and it wouldve outhandled my quattro easily, so what would make the ultimate handling b5?

 

[billybravo]

K sport coilovers dude but there are loads of diffrent makes out there Koni are good to

Even Tein now make a kit for the B5

 

[stub]

i used powerflex bushes on my escort with brand new shocks an spring. there good an do the job the only thing is the ride can be just that bit to hard for me. better changing them for new standard ones of ones that are inbetween the two mate.

 

[olds_kool]

ive seen tein coilovers on a lexus and you can tell there quality kit, but then again they should be for the price.
i thought they just made them for jap cars

 

[billybravo]

they now do euro specs
but yes great quality on the Teins Check out the K-sport for price and the build of them is just as good as tein if not better

 

[aragorn]

it depends what you want to spend.

The only coilovers worth having are >£800 new, The likes of Bilstein PSS9 and KW V2 or koni would get my vote there.

If you dont want to spend that much, the best option in my eyes is a set of Bilstein B6 shocks, and an eibach pro-kit. Provides just the right amount of lowering, and is slightly firmer than stock but soft enoughto be able to drive properly on our ****** roads.

Cheap coilover kits are far too harsh, and your car WILL handle worse than it does now.

 

[olds_kool]

coilovers the way to go then?

 

[olds_kool]

ill re-phrase that, expensive coilovers are the way to go for ultimate handling?

 

[aragorn]

the only advantage coilovers gives you is infinately adjustable ride height, and the ability to easily change the spring rates

But in general, the quality of the shocks in a £1k set of coilovers will be better than those in a £400 shock/spring kit, however its down to you setting them up correctly.

If you want something you can bolt on and go, coilovers arent the way to go imo. If they arent setup correctly you will most certainly make the car handle worse than a good shock/spring kit.

But a properly tweaked set of good coilovers should be able to outperform a shock/spring kit.

 

[olds_kool]

i used powerflex bushes on my escort with brand new shocks an spring. there good an do the job the only thing is the ride can be just that bit to hard for me. better changing them for new standard ones of ones that are inbetween the two mate.

used them on my old mk1 golfs and made a hell of a difference, thinking with all the control arms on the a4 they should just tighten everything up nicely, cars only got 60k on the clock so would rather uprate than improve if you know what i mean
not to bothered about a soft ride quality as my new commute to work will be by helicopter! but i still want it to handle on the b roads

 

[aragorn]

Well thats the point, and it wont handle on B roads if its racetrack hard.

Anything too much stiffer than stock, and you will start to hinder the cars performance on our roads, as the suspension simply wont be able to keep the tyres on the road.

My brother had a nova with some Avo (iirc?) coilovers fitted to it, it was so stiff that instead of the suspension actually doing its job and keeping the wheel pressed onto the road surface, it used to skip around and understeer badly on rough tarmac, simply because it was so stiff.

I had koni adjustables on the front of my old Astra, and they were set to full soft. Its an odd feeling becuase if you stiffened them up, the car would FEEL as if it handled better, it sat flatter thru the corners etc, but the actual point of grip loss would go down.

There are so many factors which affect how a car drives, and good coilovers will help you to get the most from the car.

 

[olds_kool]

i know what you mean, i had avo coilovers on a golf, was solid and handled dreadfully so replaced with the recommended koni adjustable shocks and eibach springs, but strange thing was i replaced front first, had them on soft and the grip was awesome but when i replaced rear it wasnt quite as good so ended up removing front arb and uprating the rear arb to get the same effect,
that car was a play thing and hopefully if this job works out i wont need a daily driver

will price them up, but id rather pay for something thats going to work, anyone running them?
what else should i be looking at arb's, stiffening drivetrain?

 

[aragorn]

i had a nice table somewhere that showed how stiffening/softening various components changed the cars handling

the thing with the golf with stiff rears and soft fronts probably worked well because the stock car understeers by its very nature. If you take an understeery car and stiffen the rear end by fitting a fatter ARB or harder springs, you'll make it less understeery, and more tending towards oversteer.

obviously your getting the maximum from the car when its going to understeer and oversteer at the same time, so stiffening the rear on an understeery car is what you want to do

On the A4, you can fit a larger rear antiroll bar quite easily if its a quattro, but you have to watch the rear subframe for cracks. I wouldnt touch the front one, as the cars already understeer prone, and uprating the front would only make it more so.

 

[jcb]

get your car's geometry done "properly", then get some decent wheel tyre combination.
I went from stock 17"'s to 18's and 235/40 profile Michelin pilot sport2's.
massive difference.

I also had the entire front and rear suspension polybushed. sharpened up turn in to a huge degree. the combination of harder bushes and stickier low profile tyres with correct pressure transformed the handling.

I also now run KWV3 coilovers, the damping is set to one 2 clicks off full soft front and 4 clicks off full soft at the back. rebound is set differently front and back as well but I forget what I did with it. written down somewhere.

around a 1 and 1/2" drop all round, makes it look good too!

Aside from my recent inability to choose the right tyre size for the 8.5" rims I now have (doh!) the ride is firm yet forgiving, cornering is predicatble and neutral, almost no understeer with a slight hint of oversteer if you floor it mid corner.

KW V3's are slightly less than a grand if you shop around. at speed they are by far the best units I have ever had (used Koni/eibach TA's, Bilsteins, etc) The quality fo the build is great, fully stainless, only issue I have is the locking rings are plastic coated and the plastic is easily chipped on the teeth if you are heavy handed (which my mechanic clearly is!) and the springs have a some of the powder coating coming off at the very top. The strut unit itself is still in great condition after 2 years of running.

Didn't touch the ARB's as it corner very flat as it is. Need bucket seats now to keep me in the seats!
If I was going to do anything else I would invest in some adjustable rear upper arms to control rear camber.
The stock drivetrain mounts are pretty soft and worth an upgrade, but that comes with upping the power rather than handling. next on my list