xixon

I'm still on a quest for enlightment... :-)

I have a '02 A4 1.8TQM with regular suspension and 16' tires. I love this car all around, from the care to detail of the interior finish toi the handling on the road. Nonetheless, I've gotten a little sensitive about the amount of body roll I get on tight curves, and the "floating" feeling I get sometimes on the highway.

I didn't go for the sports suspension afraid the ride would be too harsh. So here's my Q's: Is there a good alternative to the current normal suspension w/o being as harsh as the sports suspension? 2) Will a sway bar by itself (using regular suspension) reduce both these symptoms without penalizing on comfort?, and 3) Does the normal suspension have different settings, maybe a lightly harder one?

Regards, and thanks in advance.

Dustin A4

Do a search on:
Eibach
H&R
Koni
Bilstein

It all depends on what you want and how much you want to spend.

Raistlin

But it looks like our alternatives will make the ride more uncomfortable. Most aftermarket shocks will be stiffer than the stock sport shocks. Bilstein's are the "closest" to the sport shocks, but they are not out yet. I think (my opinion) that the Eibach springs would be the best to get for comfort reasons.

I am probably going to go with Eibachs and Koni shocks. The Koni's are stiffer than the Bilstein's but the Koni's are adjustable.

Dustin A4

Or if you do it yourself: time plus alignment.

I plan to blow the factory shocks first. Shocks on my Honda lasted 200K there is no reason these should not last 100K with the "soft" Eibach springs. They are "progressive" thus most of the time in normal driving they should work the shock in the same manner as the standard springs.

What do you think?

Raistlin

Even with using the Eibachs. It is a very tough call, stock shocks could last you a while or not long at all.

I just can't discount all the people who have been telling me to do shocks at the same time. If u buy the Koni's from SPP they are only $410 (I believe) I will probably leave them on the softest setting. There is practically no additional charge to install the shocks with the springs. But if your shock wear out in less than a year you will be paying that same price to install shocks. And they will have to take out the springs on front of car. Which should not cause a problem, but any time to take something out and put back in always makes me think it could weaken that part. IMO

Young Audi Jedi

neuspeed springs are avail, but wait for the bilstein shocks to put on together

Bob Petruska

I'm also annoyed at the floating feeling and body roll. My non-sport '97 A4 felt better. But at 3K miles I can say the car is starting to settle down more than when new...it could also be that the temperatures are around 90 the last 2 weeks and this lowers the shock oil viscosity so that may be a factor.

Dustin A4

Bilstein's may not be out until 2003.

Gandalf The Silver

Raistlin mentioned leaving the Koni's at the softest setting, so Bilstein's may be overkill

Raistlin

At least that is what people have compared them to. The Koni's get a 50/50 review, half the people love them, the other half hate them. So who knows what the right answer is. And of course, the Bilsteins are not out yet and there is no ETA on when they will be out.

Since I did not get the sports package, I would like a susp. that is better than that. So I think the Eibach/Koni combo would be pretty good (IMO)

I am still debating about the springs, either the Eibach's or Neuspeed sport springs. I think I may go with Eibach's because of name and reputation. And I don't want to go too low. I do a lot of commuting and too low of a car just brings more scrapes and bottoming out.