audiophilitis

Also, stock and MTM/Eibach have higher spring rates on the front, i.e., 348/292 (f/r) for stock and 460/400 for MTM -- whereas H&R Coilovers have higher spring rates on the rear, i.e., 400/450. Anyone know which gives a less harsh ride - higher front vs. higher rear spring rates? TIA.

KAOS, AZ (Papa Smurf)

I would say that springs affect the ride quality the most. It would be close, but since you can get springs with ratings over 1K then I would say springs can end up being the biggest affect.

What about hydrolics? Solid suspension baby.

Audiboy

for NorCal folks, they can go visit Penske in Livermore and see what I mean

KAOS, AZ (Papa Smurf)

After thinking a bit more about it, can I change my answer to both

Corey S

Especially at high speeds (highway), the shocks determine how "tight" or "floaty" the car feels. At low speeds (around town, driveways), the spring rate plays into it a lot more, but shocks can still effect the harshness. It's obviously a lot more complicated than this, but in general it's true.

For the most part, all the aftermarket suspension kits are designed to have the shocks work properly with the springs they are sent with. It so happens that if the springs are stiffer, the shocks need to be tighter (especially rebound) for the system to work properly. If you only upgrade your spring rate, then your car will most likely start feeling floaty, especially at higher speeds.

On Sharon's car, even with 800/1200 springs, we can adjust the shocks full soft and get a fairly smooth ride. I would say that ride harshness wasn't a whole lot more than stock, but the car bounced quite a bit on big waves in the highway. Just turning up the rebound alone fixed the bouncing, and it still had an ok ride. Once we started adjusting our compression properly for racing, you can kiss that good ride goodbye. ;-)

Also, having a stiffer spring rate in the front or rear (especially the rates you're talking about), probably isn't noticable in terms of ride quality (assuming no variations in shock valving). What you will notice, however, is the handling changes. A stock S4 tends to have a lot of understeer, and you can dial some of that out by stiffening the rear springs more than the front. Just look at how aggressive we are with the rear spring rate!!

Jimmy Pribble

Wheels and tires (not that you asked).

audiophilitis

I'm going with the Stasis coilovers -- I'm assuming they're using the same specially valved Koni Sports dampers Vortrag used with their product. You mentioned that adjusting the shocks to full soft yielded a smoother ride with Sharon's 800/1200 setup. Hypothetically, would 600/650 springs with the Konis set to medium have a similar ride to say 500/550 springs with Konis set to full soft?

I'm just trying to find the proper balance/setup combination for an S4 Avant which will probably be tracked once or twice a year and used 99% of the time on northeastern roads with no passengers/load.

TIA.

veryfastS4

your rear spring rate is not aggressive, it is wicked solid like a rock

veryfastS4

whoopie!!! cool, we should do some events next year. I'll have to check the schedule once they post 'em.

audiophilitis

Yes, next year.