Lovely looking car that - good job, Sir!
I'm kind of going for the reverse look on my Avant at some point this year.
I'm kind of going for the reverse look on my Avant at some point this year.
2.0tfsi special edition project
- Thread starter Ricky Burrows
- Start date
I fitted these last weekend and im really happy with them, stance is just right for me and the ride is better too.
A word of advise would be to remove the shocks without touching the pinch bolt. I made that mistake and it cost me all day and an unexpected bill!
Thats my avant with the eibachs fitted.
Good luck!
Looks good Alex is that with the suspension settled? yes I’ve heard nothing but great things of this pinch bolt lol stupid question but I’m assuming it’s on the front shockers?
Perhaps not fully settled as they've only been on a week. Im fairly new to this lowering business.
I found it best to remove the strut and hub carrier(knuckle) as a whole, then separate the 2 upper control arms whilst its off the car, leaving the strut to be worked on separately.
I attempted to refit the upper control arm bolts the other way around (the bolts faul against the bodywork in standard fitment) to aid when stripping in the future, but unfortunately the bolt doesn't align whith the hole due to the change in the number of coils etc of the new springs.
Is the ride a lot stiffer Alex? I’m a fan of a stiffer chassis and a minimum amount of body roll as possible, the standard suspension is to soft for me so I’m hoping the springs alone are good enough.....for now anyway lol
I personally found the standard s line suspension to be a little crashy. The eibachs seem to have reduced that crashyness and feels more supple in my opinion.
As for body roll, i think that too is reduced but that could be a mental thing. In theory body roll should be fractionally reduced as your lowering the centre of gravity slightly.
Im planning on coupling my springs with bilstein b8 shocks in the near future as they have good reviews from b7 owners. I may also invest in some stiffer ARBs to reduce pitching through the turns.
Sounds like there just more of aesthetic then, yeah I’ve heard a lot of people using the bilstein shockers on a previous car I had super sport dampers and springs from a company in Germany and the car handled amazing! So I may be tempted to get the super sport shockers for the Audi and see how they are if I’m not happy with the eibach springs on there own.
The springs will make a difference but keep in mind the oem damper were not designed to work with even shorter springs, you are effectively loosing more damper travel when using even lower springs.
The B8's are actually shorter dampers made for use with shorter springs hence why they are a perfect match, far better ride quality and still giving that firmer handling, it's a win, win situation.
Larger ARB will help aswell with body roll but with firmer springs and better dampers you may not really need it.
In a way just changing the springs is double work as you need to take it all off again to swap over dampers, yes its way better than the complete oem setup but not as good as doing the whole lot in one go.
I did the springs first and found it a big improvement but whole new ball game with new dampers to suit.
The B8's are actually shorter dampers made for use with shorter springs hence why they are a perfect match, far better ride quality and still giving that firmer handling, it's a win, win situation.
Larger ARB will help aswell with body roll but with firmer springs and better dampers you may not really need it.
In a way just changing the springs is double work as you need to take it all off again to swap over dampers, yes its way better than the complete oem setup but not as good as doing the whole lot in one go.
I did the springs first and found it a big improvement but whole new ball game with new dampers to suit.
To be honest i bought lowering springs for aesthetics, not performance, it just so happens they have mildly improved ride etc.
If i was looking to vastly improve handling id be splashing out on a nice expensive set of shiny coilovers. That being said these b7s do suffer from a rather heavy nose unfortunately.
I know what you mean Alex, that was my first move when I swapped over the s-line springs to the H&R ones, the bus looked so much better and did feel less crashy but it is not until you change the dampers that you relise how poor the s-line setup is.
Its not really a performance thing for me as the B8's are not the really that sporty to be honest , but they are miles apart from the oem setup, you get a far superior ride quality with a decent looking ride height without getting to far into gokart performance setup, something the s-line should have been from the factory.
anyway as with most things , all personal preference really.
Its not really a performance thing for me as the B8's are not the really that sporty to be honest , but they are miles apart from the oem setup, you get a far superior ride quality with a decent looking ride height without getting to far into gokart performance setup, something the s-line should have been from the factory.
anyway as with most things , all personal preference really.
That’s the same reason as me Alex I just got the springs to sort out the odd stance it has from factory, it will be a bonus if it makes any significant difference to handling.
Totally agree Rob I changed the springs on a previous car I had then I added the dampers at a later date, the springs made a huge difference but the dampers just refined everything and felt like a totally different car, really made it flat round the roundabouts and on the country roads, even going over speed bumps there would be no rocking back and forth even if it was minor with just the springs, if money wasn’t an option I’d definitely go for the dampers and springs but funds don’t allow for that at the minute unfortunately.
Totally agree Rob I changed the springs on a previous car I had then I added the dampers at a later date, the springs made a huge difference but the dampers just refined everything and felt like a totally different car, really made it flat round the roundabouts and on the country roads, even going over speed bumps there would be no rocking back and forth even if it was minor with just the springs, if money wasn’t an option I’d definitely go for the dampers and springs but funds don’t allow for that at the minute unfortunately.
You have the optional "valcona " leather seats chap, so swanky and very nice, it is the top of the line trim level aswell, but then with a special edition only the best will do.
Funny you say that Rob at the time i was looking to buy this car I thought it was a bit odd that it had all black interior i never really seen that on the others I seen for sale so it ultimately was one of the things that made me choose this car and there heated which is a bonus
I always thought s line was top of the range until after I already bought the car joined this forum and quickly found out there’s many, many variants and extras on an s line so if this is a good spec then I must of got a bit lucky because I had no idea what to look for, I just new I wanted a red car that had leather and low miles lol.
I always thought s line was top of the range until after I already bought the car joined this forum and quickly found out there’s many, many variants and extras on an s line so if this is a good spec then I must of got a bit lucky because I had no idea what to look for, I just new I wanted a red car that had leather and low miles lol.
I didn’t actually use a cleaner Alex, I just hoovered the seats and the interior is never muddy so was fairly clean to begin with so I just put the rejuvenator over them it was only about £7-8+vat from auto smart.
Funny you say that Rob at the time i was looking to buy this car I thought it was a bit odd that it had all black interior i never really seen that on the others I seen for sale so it ultimately was one of the things that made me choose this car and there heated which is a bonus
I always thought s line was top of the range until after I already bought the car joined this forum and quickly found out there’s many, many variants and extras on an s line so if this is a good spec then I must of got a bit lucky because I had no idea what to look for, I just new I wanted a red car that had leather and low miles lol.
I was the same , when I went to view my old bus the first thing I looked at was the interior and sat in the seats , so many people never really consider the seats as being that important , but in reality they are one of the most important parts in a car that an owner uses, or interfaces with.
One can buy the best spec car around but if the seat are rubbish and feel rubbish then you wont enjoy driving it, comfort is a massive part of the equation.
I had a nice 2000 year Vectra v6 sri 2.6 with leather sports seats, they looked the dogs but after 10 mins in them it was enough, even gave me neck pain in the process.
Since that episode , seats are super important.
As you may have read I changed my black valcona for black S4 recaro's, which are very nice .
If there was one I would change on the recaro's it would be the leather, the trim is black nappa , its very nice but just lacks that suppleness of the valcona on my s-line seats.
But in an ideal world i'm never going to find that spec , so very happy to make do with nappa instead as the recaro's are brill.
If there was one I would change on the recaro's it would be the leather, the trim is black nappa , its very nice but just lacks that suppleness of the valcona on my s-line seats.
But in an ideal world i'm never going to find that spec , so very happy to make do with nappa instead as the recaro's are brill.
I agree. My seats looked in rather clean and in good condition but after a good old scrub they looked 100x better. I used R+R customs leather cleaner which provided a good matte finish which i personally like. The difference shows up more on the grey inserts.
Very true Rob seats have always been a top priority for me, it’s nice having a faultless looking exterior and when you open the doors it’s just as nice a feeling of not better seeing a classy interior.
Yes I did see them, the s4 Recaros are amazing! I’m a big fan of them, personally I love the nappa with leather, I had alcatrana recaros in my accord type r and I was a massive fan of them so I’d love the s4 recaros in my car, along with carbon fibre trims, flat bottom steering wheel and a double din alpine headunit oooo that would be good lol.
I’ll check the rear seats airbags in a minute will be good to know
Yes I did see them, the s4 Recaros are amazing! I’m a big fan of them, personally I love the nappa with leather, I had alcatrana recaros in my accord type r and I was a massive fan of them so I’d love the s4 recaros in my car, along with carbon fibre trims, flat bottom steering wheel and a double din alpine headunit oooo that would be good lol.
I’ll check the rear seats airbags in a minute will be good to know
Very clean Alex.
Thats nothing, wait till you see my stripy floor mats!
An update on the lowering springs...so! I advised the garage to avoid the pinch bolt....few hours later I get a phone call the knuckle has snapped because they were trying to remove the pinch bolt (obviously didn’t pass the message on I gave him) so they need to replace it, I said why didn’t you avoid it and take the shock out and he replied we can’t get it low enough without removing that pinch bolt...long story short I won’t be having the car back today they are giving me a courtesy car f.o.c as I know them but I may fall out with this garage if they give me an unexpected bill...not pleased
Well that's not good at all Ricky.
After you giving them instructions not to touch the bolt and they still went that route, I would be having serious words and looking for a reduced bill based on there failure.
The job can be done very easily without messing around with that bolt.
They say they could not get lower enough is pure rubbish , I have done mine at home numerous times without issues.
Anyway sorry to hear they have messed up and hope they do the right thing for you now.
After you giving them instructions not to touch the bolt and they still went that route, I would be having serious words and looking for a reduced bill based on there failure.
The job can be done very easily without messing around with that bolt.
They say they could not get lower enough is pure rubbish , I have done mine at home numerous times without issues.
Anyway sorry to hear they have messed up and hope they do the right thing for you now.
Thanks Rob yeah I hope they do aswell I give him a lot of work and I’m just around the corner from him so I’m hoping he will do good with the bill
Just been told it’s going to cost £300 for the part let alone the other side!! This is turning to be a nightmare.
A serious chat with the garage is required Ricky, the problem now is that unless you can prove you specified not touching that pinch bolt you may have no way to argue the point.
Not a good day chap, really feel for you chap.
Not a good day chap, really feel for you chap.
Thanks Rob, it is the boss who I’m dealing with and he’s said “nervously” that I’ll have to pay the part but I’m shocked at the price I ended the phone call quickly as I’ll be on my way to see him in person in a bit but that seems very expensive I assume that’s a price for both sides, I hope so anyway, it is stuck in his ramp now aswell so we seem to be at a 50/50 I’ll keep you updated on the outcome
