TerminA8r

with this, or a similar setup up here in the Pacific NW and ask to ride along for a test drive.
Oooops, I think I just asked. Anyone??!! I'll bring my VAG-COM.

Thanks for your time Sarge,
Man I need some typing lessons, this is taking to looong.

ryoung

In general, stiffening the front springs only will cause the front tires to lose grip entering a corner, and the rear tires to gain grip. The result is that our already understeering nose-heavy A8's will understeer even more. Front and rear springs (and shocks) need to be balanced to maintain a reasonable compromise of good handling thruout the various phases of a corner. <A HREF="https://forums.audiworld.com/a8/msgs/36145.phtml">Load Distribution Revisited</a> discusses this in much more detail, actually, maybe too much detail.

GHart81

Has anyone looked into the Eibach Sportline series?

I have the same desire to lower that ugly gap in the front. I am leaning toward the Eibach springs with the Eibachs and Bilstein Sports shocks. I looked into H&amp;R's but they are simply out of my budget for the better part of this year. I think that this solution would be good for a car that will not see a track situation but I do drive very aggressively. Any thoughts???


Also TerminA8r....where did you order the springs from?


Thanks,

G. Hart

ryoung

In 2001, I bought my Alcon brake kit for Vortrag, who then proceeded to go out of business three weeks later. Vortrag sold the rights for most of their Audi stuff to <A HREF="http://www.stasisengineering.com/suspension.shtml">Stasis</a>, a new Audi tuner at the time. I then called Paul Lambert at Stasis to discuss other possible S8 upgrades, suspension in particular.

Like almost everyone on the planet, I wanted better handling (which usually means stiffer springs and shocks) but I didn't want to pay for this with a bone-jarring teeth-rattling ride ... the standard S8 suspension was just about perfect in this respect, and I really didn't want to go stiffer.

Shock absorber Basics:

First, it helps to think of these tubes as dampers, not shock absorbers. They dampen the rate that the springs compress in bump or extend in rebound, which is why stiffer springs require stiffer dampers. The damping force in lb is usually proportional to piston velocity as you can see in the first chart.

The handling of a car is surprisingly sensitive to changes in damping at pistons speeds of less than 1 in/sec. Racing shocks are normally independently adjustable in both bump and rebound, and it's amazing how a couple clicks of adjustment can change the handling of a car from severe corner exit oversteer to neutral. Note in the chart, though, that a change in damping at low piston speeds will also change the damping at high piston speeds.

<img src="http://www.circletrack.com/techarticles/p158052_image_large.jpg">

The shocks we use on our Formula Continental are 3-way adjustable - low speed bump, low speed rebound, and high speed bump. I adjust high speed bump to allow Don to drive over apex and track-out alligators without the bumps literally throwing the car off the track. The dyno curve of one of these shocks looks similar to the chart below of a damper with digressive valving. [BTW, the cost of a set of these shocks is $4+k.]

<img src="http://www.circletrack.com/techarticles/p158053_image_large.jpg">

I suggested to Paul Lambert that perhaps a damper with digressive damping could allow stiffer springs, but reduced damping at the higher piston speeds. Since the rough ride from hitting broken pavement, tar strips, etc all result in high piston speeds, I was hoping that digressive damping would allow stiffer springs and shocks (at low piston speeds) but no ride penalty at high piston speeds.

Well, Stasis now sells suspension upgrades for the A4/S4 and A6/S6 that use stiffer springs and digressive shocks. If you do an Audiworld search on "Stasis coilover", most report that there is no better suspension upgrade, and that even with stiffer springs, ride is actually improved over stock with much more control. Perhaps I should give Paul a call and ask him what happened to the A8/S8 suspension upgrade!

Sarge

Very, very good information. I did not know Stasis did this. Who makes their dampers?

Sarge

Ah, I see KONI. What do you think of Koni? I never liked their off-the-shelf hardware.

A8CT

Thanks Sarge, I will give them a call..

ryoung

I don't recall seeing any problems reported in the other AW forums with Stasis/Koni shocks.

The last time I used Koni shocks was on a '73 Saab Sonnet. They were the entry level yellow body, rebound adjustable only, but I had no problems. These are quite a few notches down from the essentially race shocks that Stasis uses in their Track Sport, and especially their Motor Sport, coilover kits.

We use Penske shocks on our Formula Continental; Ohlins is another popular shock in our racing class.

Bernes

Vel it's -1c here now and the road is icy,
My timeing belt needed service so i skipped the winter meet.
i did't the brakes , timeing belt , transmision fluid, and 2 control arms.

Im takeing the car to see it's "homeland" this summer (Germany).

TerminA8r

Sounds like you are good to go. How did the transmission fluid look?