Bill S

My A4 Avant (non-sport, 57K) has been riding roughly, jarring the kidneys lately. My mechanic ruled out other causes and said shocks must be going. He suggested Bilstein's, an expensive job (maybe $800 w/labor). He said the Bilsteins will give a much more controlled ride, will last forever, and will ride more firmly but not harshly.

I'm not an aggressive driver and worry that the ride may be too harsh for me and particularly my SO. I really have no complaints about the handling of the stock car, except for floatiness and bouncing over big bumps and on rough country roads.

I need opinions on whether switching to Bilsteins will make the ride significantly harsher. Also, does it seem strange to need new shocks at 57K?

Thanks in advance...

Skene @ PES Tuning

be mating with the shocks... it is not strange for replacement of shocks at 57k.. depending on the amount of abuse from the roads.. your lucky you got that far. If you lived in NYC.. you would probably be replacing them at 45k

WJM

Bilsteins are a good choice...

Clues

There is no need to upgrade to Bilsteins if you are not concerned with upgrading the handling characteristics of your car. Upgrading you shocks will improve the handling but your non-sport springs will still give your car the 'floatiness/bouncing' that you mentioned in your post.

So many AW'ers upgrade their suspensions that you might get lucky and find someone here that is selling slightly used Avant shocks. Ideally, they'd be selling both sport springs and shocks and that way, you'd get a factory ride without the floatiness.

Check the classifieds.

Chris

markbradford

Don't get polyester - your feet will sweat.

WJM

no more crack for you!