Which suspension for my 8L?

D

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I've pulled up a search on "which suspension" or "Shocks/ springs or Coilovers" etc etc. and- pulled a blank.


Suggestions on shocks/ spring kits please. Budget of around £350 - £400 at a push.


Dont really want coils as the ride will be too harsh and i'll just loose comfort which I do not want.


In short, Just want the car slight lower (maybe 25 / 35mm) and stiffen up the whole car.


I dont know where to start! Help! :sorry:



Thanks for your responses.

Joe



:scared2:
 
Wietec Ultra GT here, spring and shock kit, 40mm drop...lovely.
Thats on an A3 though, not an S3.

T
 
All:

I have a 2002 plate BAM S3 @ stage 2.

(and 18" LM reps for referance / taking the diameter into consideration if needed)
 
I'd consider the ap coilover kit mate been in two s3's now with them fitted and cant fault it one bit, not harsh at all IMO, the kit is £400 too.
 
Thats a good price Damien I've not considered your kits before because everyone else goes bilstiens and HR springs.

I would definitely get one of these kits if one of my standard shocks was knackered as its a hell of a lot cheaper than the Billies and springs seperately and probably not much more expensive that getting all new OEM items!
 
Damian whats the cheapest you can do adjustable tie arms for?
 
gaazzaone said:
I'd consider the ap coilover kit mate been in two s3's now with them fitted and cant fault it one bit, not harsh at all IMO, the kit is £400 too.
Click to expand...

I agree with you there. Spoke to a few people at ADI who were running ap's and they said the same, not harsh even when they are wound right down. Il be getting a set from damian soon.
 
I've got H&R coilovers on my a3 tdi sport, Cannot recommend them enough! Really did not expect them to be this good. Ride is very comfortable, not harsh in the slightest. It’s firmer over standard, meaning less rebound as you go over bumps, but absorbs them very well, car feels flatter and more planted through the corners too.

Only thing is the rears drop quite low on the highest setting so you have to drop the front quite a bit to even out the ride height, but as I wanted little arch gap its fine for me.

Clearance wise, you can’t go over middle humped speed bumps at 20mph+ as you can with standard setup but can easily get over them at less than 10mph which is adequate. Can go down the worst road in west London too at good pace, not something I could do with my previously lowered car.
 
I'l quickly hijack this thread. I am looking at uprating my sus 8l 1.8t. now to get into my car park at work I have about 10mm to spare as I pass over a crest into the undergroud. And that is with me on my own with three people in she will scrape.. Are there kits avail that keep the car the same height I assume there must be. I had a quick look at dpm and couldn't see them, Damien any suggestions?
 
gaazzaone said:
I'd consider the ap coilover kit mate been in two s3's now with them fitted and cant fault it one bit, not harsh at all IMO, the kit is £400 too.
Click to expand...
one being mine and yes there as described by gaazzaone
S3 Nattie said:
I agree with you there. Spoke to a few people at ADI who were running ap's and they said the same, not harsh even when they are wound right down. Il be getting a set from damian soon.
Click to expand...
mine are as low as there go on the rear and as low as i want the front with out killing my car and there still really smooth i love the ride on my ap's, i had coilovers on my last car and they were crashy and harsh but not this set up its just like a shock and spring combo
 
Ive got the KW kit Damian recommends above. I didnt want coilovers as Id never want to adjust the height and every car Ive been in with them fitted has been given a harsh, crashy ride (not AP coilovers, coilovers in general). But ride quality is subjective.

Id genuinely defy anyone to tell the difference between any damper and spring kit from a reputable company. Unless you are doing alot of track work, the difference would be so minute, the average driver would be none the wiser. Obviously, everyone recommends the kit they have fitted to their own car as most people arent going to say I paid £xxx and my car drives like ***** are they?!
 
vetch said:
Ive got the KW kit Damian recommends above. I didnt want coilovers as Id never want to adjust the height and every car Ive been in with them fitted has been given a harsh, crashy ride (not AP coilovers, coilovers in general). But ride quality is subjective.

Id genuinely defy anyone to tell the difference between any damper and spring kit from a reputable company. Unless you are doing alot of track work, the difference would be so minute, the average driver would be none the wiser. Obviously, everyone recommends the kit they have fitted to their own car as most people arent going to say I paid £xxx and my car drives like ***** are they?!
Click to expand...


I'm thinking about the KW kit. In your opinion how's the ride compared to the standard set up? Cheers!
 
Ive never driven an S3 with a standard setup, mine had aftermarket suspension when I bought it, but it was rather old and tired. All I can say is, my S3 has been my daily driver, Ive put about 3000 miles on the car with the new suspension and the ride is firm, but not crashy in the slightest; its comfortable and it handles better than any other car Ive ever driven or been in. Although, as Ive said I have nothing to compare it to.
 
Kev just said the coilovers he had on a previous car was harsh and crashy, so not everyone will recommend things they bought for there car.

Most people do tend to go for the look with coilovers as springs and dampers only offer a set ride height. I do agree that the average driver wouldn't tell the difference between the two.

I don't know why everyone seems to think coilovers are mega hard and will ruin your car ride quality. Go for a respectable set ap or weitec seems very popular.
 
vetch said:
Ive never driven an S3 with a standard setup, mine had aftermarket suspension when I bought it, but it was rather old and tired. All I can say is, my S3 has been my daily driver, Ive put about 3000 miles on the car with the new suspension and the ride is firm, but not crashy in the slightest; its comfortable and it handles better than any other car Ive ever driven or been in. Although, as Ive said I have nothing to compare it to.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

The number of potholes around here is astonishing...
 
Personally i see no point in putting coilovers on a car unless

a) you are going to hoon it around a track periodically during it's life
b) you you want adjustable ride height

I want neither and even if i did want to hoon it around a track i'd stick with spring/shock combo's like H&R/B8's as they are tried and tested - Proved by many.

In my opinion you buy cheap you buy twice. It's always been the case when i've bought anything on the cheap.

20mm + is usually the required drop to add tie bars. Many many companies i've spoken to have ALL said the same thing. if it's below the 20mm threshold, you'll just about get away with it.

H&R springs are 25mm therefore need the tie bars. This does bump up the cost somewhat but worth it in the end!

G
 
Mr G I do agree with you to a point but I think coilovers are an alternative to springs and shocks for those drivers that want to fine tune their ride height.

I have to admit that 99% of people who buy coilovers just stick them on the lowest setting and just leave them. I have 2 mates with BMW E36 M3s who go to the Nurburgring once a month, they both have coilovers and neither of them have bothered to ever adjust the ride height!

Also In my experience cheap doesn't always mean poor qaulity, there are some bargains to be had and a lot of companies do bump up their prices more than others.

When it comes to these cheaper spring kits or coilover kits I dont see any problem in purchasing them if those people that have had them before can vouch for their performance and quality. If loads of people on here were moaning that the AP coilover kit (for example) kept failing as the quality was poor then I would be worried.

Each to their own and all that but I there's no way I'm going to splash out nearly £1500 for a suspension setup for every day road use when I can get a similar setup at half the price.
 
Nutty said:
I'l quickly hijack this thread. I am looking at uprating my sus 8l 1.8t. now to get into my car park at work I have about 10mm to spare as I pass over a crest into the undergroud. And that is with me on my own with three people in she will scrape.. Are there kits avail that keep the car the same height I assume there must be. I had a quick look at dpm and couldn't see them, Damien any suggestions?
Click to expand...

All the kits we do lower the car so you best option may be to just uprate the dampers and keep the standard springs.

Damian @ DPM Performance
 
DPM said:
Yeah they're the ones for the Quattro. Give us a shout if you want a set as we're doing free delivery at the moment.

Damian @ DPM Performance
Click to expand...

How much to my door, pm me if you want.

Whats the difference in these and the weitec ones?
 
I have std dampers at the min, with eibach springs (could only afford the srings when my standard ones cracked at the back) however, im not looking to replace the dampers as the OEM ones are tired and the ride is too sloppy for my liking. Im thinking of just putting new OEM dampers on for insurance purposes and for the ride height of my car (just allows me to get over the speed bumps). would this be a sensible option? or would there be some aftermarket dampers that will wive me the same ride height as OEM shocks.
 
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