After a lot of deliberation on whether I should go shocks + springs or coilovers, I ordered a set of KW springs from Germany to go with some sports struts I already had in a suspension kit I'd bought from FK, the struts are said to be made by Koni and to actually be Koni sport 'yellows'. The FK hightec kit came with springs but I read they made the ride a bit hard. Most reviews of people running this FK set up were from the US, using it on MKV's Golf/Jetta's and quite a few had swapped the FK springs that came with the kit for H&R/ Votgland/ Eibach springs claiming it improved comfort significantly. The FK rear struts are adjustable over a small distance to get the front and rear sat at the same height, helpful as it's a problem that I read a few people having when lowering with springs alone.
The KW springs I got drop the car a conservative 35-40mm from standard ride height. IIRC A3 sport ride height is 15mm lower than standard so I should get a 20-25mm drop on top of this. The unforgivable wheel arch gap had to be eliminated once and for all, lol and I'd seen 3.2JU's SB on 19's with 35mm H&R springs which sits just how I'd like mine to.
Still unsure whether coilovers would have been a better option but this kit was £350 all in and the only coilovers I would have wanted were Wietec's GTs or Vmaxx's damping adjustable costing circa £600 due again to trying to improve comfort as well as getting a nice drop... At nearly double the cost with my budget for mods looking rather weak after a full 2005 - 2010 conversion springs and shocks it was, lol
Most people I spoke to that supply suspension told me that this set up would be more comfortable than a set of budget coilovers so the trigger was pulled.
There isn't much in the way of reviews on KW's springs on the net, and most here seem to go for either H&R or Eibach. I read that the H&R springs can be a bit hard, and Eibach didn't have a 35-40mm drop. They have the pro kit which looks a lot like the drop on an s line (25mm from standard) a little to conservative! Though I read the pro kit rides very nicely. As KW's rep is solid and I wanted a more comfortable ride than stock or what H&R's were perceived to ride like, I thought I'd give them a whirl.
Should be getting them fitted along with some S3 front brakes and the FK struts tomorrow if all goes well. Also need to sort a leaking inner CV boot so hoping the car will feel a lot better than it currently does on 19's and stock sport suspension that has seen 96+K
around the unforgiving roads of London.
One thing I noticed immediately was how light compared to the FK springs that the KW ones are, haven't weighed them but they feel at least 3x lighter than the FK ones!! They're also a bit shorter say 1cm than the FK ones which are 30cm. Here's a couple pics of the springs, will update once they're fitted tom (FK = red KW = yellow)
The KW springs I got drop the car a conservative 35-40mm from standard ride height. IIRC A3 sport ride height is 15mm lower than standard so I should get a 20-25mm drop on top of this. The unforgivable wheel arch gap had to be eliminated once and for all, lol and I'd seen 3.2JU's SB on 19's with 35mm H&R springs which sits just how I'd like mine to.
Still unsure whether coilovers would have been a better option but this kit was £350 all in and the only coilovers I would have wanted were Wietec's GTs or Vmaxx's damping adjustable costing circa £600 due again to trying to improve comfort as well as getting a nice drop... At nearly double the cost with my budget for mods looking rather weak after a full 2005 - 2010 conversion springs and shocks it was, lol
Most people I spoke to that supply suspension told me that this set up would be more comfortable than a set of budget coilovers so the trigger was pulled.There isn't much in the way of reviews on KW's springs on the net, and most here seem to go for either H&R or Eibach. I read that the H&R springs can be a bit hard, and Eibach didn't have a 35-40mm drop. They have the pro kit which looks a lot like the drop on an s line (25mm from standard) a little to conservative! Though I read the pro kit rides very nicely. As KW's rep is solid and I wanted a more comfortable ride than stock or what H&R's were perceived to ride like, I thought I'd give them a whirl.
Should be getting them fitted along with some S3 front brakes and the FK struts tomorrow if all goes well. Also need to sort a leaking inner CV boot so hoping the car will feel a lot better than it currently does on 19's and stock sport suspension that has seen 96+K
around the unforgiving roads of London. One thing I noticed immediately was how light compared to the FK springs that the KW ones are, haven't weighed them but they feel at least 3x lighter than the FK ones!! They're also a bit shorter say 1cm than the FK ones which are 30cm. Here's a couple pics of the springs, will update once they're fitted tom (FK = red KW = yellow)
