Jay@Boston

The Car
2000 A4 1.8TQ

History
1.) Stock sport package
2.) Stasis/Hyperco 450f/500r linear-rate springs with Bilstein Sports
3.) Street Sport - Stasis/Hyperco 450f/500r linear-rate springs with custom-valved (touring spec) Stasis Konis
4.) Motorsport - Hyperco 500f/600r linear-rate springs with custom-valved Stasis Konis. (Bump and rebound adjustable all four corners).

1.) Too much body roll and too much understeer. You all know this already.
2.) Go-kart. I sensed almost NO body roll or dives under hard braking. Excellent on the track but absolutely brutal on Boston streets (ride quality really is not acceptable... I was embarrassed to give people rides). I could literally hear/feel the chassis getting lose. Further, I don't think the Bilstein's rebound damping can handle such high spring rates. On hard and fast corners, I can really feel the tires skipping over the irregularities on the surface of the road/track. This setup would make a good autocross car given the pinpoint turn-in with almost no body-roll. You may have to replace the Bilsteins every year or two.
3.) Much more civilized than #2 and better handling than #1. The car still understeered and experienced some body roll... still much better than #1. The "double-digressive" touring valving truly makes a difference. Passengers NEVER commented on the ride quality - this is good. The ride quality and the handling characteristics are very similar to my friend's CLK with the AMG suspension.
4.) Having experienced #2 on the track, I was not satisfied with #3's performance on the track. However, I was not willing to go back to #2's harshness on the street. Therefore, I thought #4 would be the perfect solution (flexibility to change the damping rates).

Increasing the rear spring rate by 100lbs (600lbs from 500lbs) is noticeable, even with Stasis' "double-digressive" damping curve. However, the ride quality is still MUCH better than #2. I don't think you can achieve this level of ride quality with such high spring rates with any other setups out there (disclaimer: I have not experienced H&R, Koni or any other coilover setups). On the street, I run 2 clicks out of 12 clicks for compression damping for all four corners - Boston roads are that bad. I would think the 500f/600r setup for an A4 1.8T is similar to 600f/700r for an S4.

Track
4/1/03 @ Lime Rock Park w/ BMWCCA - Motorsport kit installed late March. 7-8 clicks out of 12 up front for bump and 4-5 clicks out of 12 @ rear for bump. I pretty much left the rebound setting at the lowest level. Only two runs... it snowed in the afternoon. I ran roughly 4 seconds faster than the last time I was here (Street Sport Setup / I had an instructor with me the last time - about 170lbs / slightly better street tires today / I'm a little better driver today). Temperature was in the mid-30s. Not an ideal environment for a product review. One thing I can definitely tell you is that the understeer is completely gone... the car felt very neutral. Around the Big Bend (turn 1), the car felt like it was "floating" - more on this later.

4/19/03 @ Lime Rock Park w/ BMWCCA - Temperature in the 60s and sunny.
I ran 10 clicks up front and 7 clicks on the rear (little higher than recommended). Rebound setting for the rear was 4.5 sweeps out of around 12 sweeps. Disclaimer: I do not run with the advance group... ran with the "Experienced" group (above novice and intermediate). The car just felt much more in control/stable with this setup than the setup I hand on 4/1/03. I was about ½ second slower than 4/1/03 (I had an instructor with me this time / net, net, the car was about 3.5 seconds faster than pre-Motorsport setup / I'm guessing roughly 2 seconds can be allocated to non-suspension related factors like tires and my driving). The car is perfectly neutral. Get on the power too early (left hander), the car pushes a little. "Chuck" the car into a corner (turn 4) and the back-end comes out. Regarding the "float" comment above, the car turns in a very "fluid" way... no tire skipping but very gentile and smooth slides that are easy to modulate with the throttle (I guess tire selection will impact this as well / I run max performance street tires and I'm comparing it to the way the car behaved before the new suspension setup). I guess this is the advantage of relatively high linear spring rates but very digressive damping (let the springs do the work and have the dampers to just keep the springs from walloping versus low spring rates and relatively more linear damping curve). I focused on improving my speed/time/line rather than focusing on "fighting" the understeer. My instructor swears I was 6-7 seconds faster per lap by the end of the day (I must have been really slow in the morning... working on very little sleep). I've never had so much fun/confidence at a track before. I can no long blame the way my car handles but only my driving skill. The next time out, I think I'll run 9 clicks up front and may increase the rear rebound by 1-2 more sweeps.

Now, only if we can figure out where that clunking/clapping sound is coming from. My car sounds like a 30-yr old clunker. The sound is coming from the rear suspension. Paul from Stasis thinks it MAYBE because the upper perch housing for the rear may be slightly too big for the springs or there is slight possibility that the retainers for the spherical bushings may not be the right size (possibly misplace upper vs. lower / according to Ryan, Stasis has revised the retainers since I got my kit in March as well). Keep in mind, these are all speculations and there may be absolutely nothing wrong with the perch housing size or the retainers. I should have the new parts delivered to me by early May. If there's nothing wrong with them, I'm not sure how I'm going to fix this annoying sound (I definitely will not keep the car the way it is... the sound is unacceptable). Unfortunately, this means the total install, extensive-reinstall and re-reinstall will cost me over $1000 in labor - not happy. I'll follow up on this in about a month.

Stasis Alcon B-type Brake Kit.
Something always goes wrong with my brakes at a track (glazed pads, nasty pad deposits and warped rotors). I used to run the A8 setup with Kerr Friction race pads. Last August at Watkins Glen scare the crap out of me. My pedal would go all the way down and it would pulse like crazy. I didn't know if the car would slow down in time. I had to skip out early. I did not boil the fluid. Something funky happened to my ABS system (when my mechanic cycled the ABS system, bubbles and dirty fluid came out). Anyway, I went all out and got the Alcon B-type kit from Stasis with the Winston Cup Brembo racing rotors. No fade, better pedal feel and modulation. Yes, these will suck your eyeballs out, period! This is my favorite mod.

Liam in Montreal

good stuff. I could have used those for the tarmac rally tomorrow

RKA

H&R Coilovers - they did a magnificent job matching the shocks and springs, the the result is much better than number 2. Still, you have the feel of a Bilstein shock, so some of the nasties noted in #2 remain. My suspicion, after driving with a Stasis kit in my S4, is the Koni shocks Stasis uses are much more fluid, and they help smooth out the ride.

Your comment about 4/19 at Limerock regarding the linear springs, and digressive shocks were particularly insightful. It's a different feel. Most other suspensions I've tried have used progressive springs and a Bilstein-derived shock. The tuning in those set ups seems to rely heavily on the shock to limit wheel travel. My observations are very much in sync with yours. The stasis kits use the shock to dampen the spring oscillations, not limit spring and wheel movement. It just feels very different.

Great write up!!

skabaru

I think that mine are dieing... but they do hold quite nicely on the autox.... and that is really great in my opinion...

that is good that you posted this, as I was thinking of moving to #3, but I am won't based on your review....

I was thinking of the Motopersona Coilovers. H&Rs, 500/625s.... harsh, but handle great.

I am still young enough that that is ok....

skabaru

btw, I am on about 30,000 miles on my 450/500s

Ray Khan

than say A4 street H&R coilovers....and the ride with the 450/500/bilstein setup is very harsh. I want to step up to a coilover when the funds permit.

Jay@Boston

If you go with the motorsport valving with the same #3 setup, you'll get a much better handling (less roll and dives) car without the #2 harshness.

skabaru

I am also looking into calling in on the lifetim warranty of the bilsteins...