question about 2006 B7 Quattro ARB and specific model fitment.

[Charlie Farley]

Hi all,
a question for those in the know.
Recently purchased a nice original 2006 B7 Avant 2.0TFSI Quattro S-line Special Edition, i had trawled through threads on here about upgrading the rear ARB to an RS4 item etc, decided to go with it last week , ordered the parts etc a little bit more than expected but not silly money.
Been under the car this evening to do upgrade and i have encountered an oddity with the ARB allready fitted.
I was about to loosen the bolts but looking at the bar it looked allmost the same size as the one i had just purchased, right then, out with the vernier guage.
here is what i found, the item fitted at present is 20mm thick not the 16mm quoted in other threads, wanting to be 100% and used another guage and its deffo 20mm thick.
I asume then my avant is allready running an s4 ARB and the fitted bar is the original fitment from the factory, i have checked with the previous owner and he never touched under the car, the bolts etc have never been off the clamps etc.

I had noticed that the car rolled very little in corners so maybe this is why, will i gain much more by fitting the rs4 bar if not i'll take it back a get a refund.

I was wondering wether it was a factory fitment on the special editions version with the sport suspension, anyway , it was fitted from new so maybe just a one off.....saves me a few quids though.

rob

 

[Giosabcsl]

Hey again Rob,

Let me start off by asking what is the part number for the bar you ordered?

Also were ever you read about the car having 16mm. You were clearly on the wrong website or reading the incorrect information.

So let me help you in your quest.

The 16mm bar only came out on the SE editions and that doesnt stand for "special editions" its the basic version under Sline
The 18mm bar came out on the Sline
The 20mm bar if memory served me correctly came out on the later 2005/2006 special editions as the special edition got a lot of the revised parts as the b7 dtm and earlier special editions the bushes used to crack and a lot got replaced to the 20mm which was standard fitment on the Audi S4.

As for the RS4 should be 22mm thick. So either your vernier gauge needs calibrating or you got the wrong bar ordered.

 

[razza1]

Not a special edition thing, had two in the past and neither had a thick bar

 

[Charlie Farley]

Thanks for the replies .
I ordered the parts via my local audi dealer using part numbers stated in posts on this B7 forum, when i ordered them i asked the parts guy to confirm what i was getting, and the part numbers were for RS4 bar etc, its deffo 22mm

As for the bar sizing, also info from this B7 forum, but i suspose like most things one should allway double check item on siad car before assuming info is pretty well generalised.

So the 20mm must be correct on my car then as my gauges are spot on, i must say the car is very tight on bends etc ,really planted with very liitle roll atall.
I suspect you are correct in your specs as my has the cross-drilled disk as on the DTM's , suspension is really firm too.
I stick with current bar then as it seem to be the best compramise to be honest.
thanks for the help guys, Gio you are a total knowledge bank on these car, thanks for the info.

rob

 

[EddyP]

Apart from ARB, dampers and springs was there anything else different in terms of suspension between the models?

Mine is only an SE and I did the RS4 ARB a couple of weeks ago, which has made a big improvement, but it's still a bit like a barge, would like to get it firmer, already got some H&R lower springs to go on next, but wondering if anything else was changed in terms or geometry or anything.

 

[Giosabcsl]

Gio you are a total knowledge bank on these car, thanks for the info.

You not the first to say that :thumbsup:

 

[Charlie Farley]

I cant really say as this is my Audi a4, well its my first audi full stop.
But i can deffo say my avant goes round corners like its on rails, it feels more like a hot hatch than a large estate car. I've had a fair few car of differing types and know all about rolling in corners and crap suspension etc, this avant is brilliant , dont know why it is so good but hey, i'm not complaining, saves me spending cash on upgrading parts as its allready what i want...
rob