hehateme

I'm driving on Eibach pro kit springs and stock non sport shocks and the ride is ROUGH as ****. I like the drop though....my question is what aftermarket shocks/coilovers give a ride most like stock while keeping a nice drop? I know it's been asked and I have read a bunch about it, just wanted to get some new responses. I'm looking at possibly getting Bilstein sport shocks to pair with my springs. Anyone have an opinion on their suspension?

JeffAhn

As you might know, I just bought a set of Tein Basic C/O's for a great price $760 plus shipping.

A bunch of guys on AZ run them and say that, while a bit stiffer than OEM sport, they are still comfortable.

Going on that here are the spring rates on the Tein Basics :
Front - 504 lb/in.
Rear - 671 lb/in.

Those are linear, meaning they do not give (initially?). Also told that linear do not settle, vs. progressive.

For some comparison, Tgr_Clw just picked up a set of Vogtland C/O with progressive spring rates of 500-590 lbs/inch rate and rear 440-570 lbs/inch...so you might want to ask him about the ride once settled. I will post my feelings of the ride - coming from OEM non-sport.


For the price, the Tein's can't be beat and i think the ride will be comfortable from what you say is a stiff setup right now...good luck!

B56

My suspensions:

HR sport springs/non sport oem shocks=****

HR sport springs/ Koni sport shocks=ok, never adjusted the shocks properly, didn't like the drop in the rear

KW V1 Coilovers=STIFF, cornering was great but everytime i hit a bump, i thought my car was going to break. V1s have no rebound adjustability.

Neuspeed sport springs/Bilstein sport shocks=like oem sport ride, nice drop. good for around town driving. bouncing and pogoing on the highway or at higher speeds. I have almost 20k on the shocks so that might be why.

Keep in mind, i live in NY metro area.

If you want to keep your springs, i would recomend koni's because you can adjust the rebound. What sucks is...everytime you adjust the remove, your removing the shocks, IE install and uninstall. It helps if you can tackle the job yourself.

SnailA4(WhaleA4)

great driving car but teh missus hated riding in it. too harsh for her.

i kept the stock sport springs on my A4 and just got teh koni FSDs. in the last three or four days the ride has impressed me BUT the ride height is not typical low '02 ride height. . .seems higher.

I will do measurements this weekend

hehateme

So you personally like the Bilsteins more than Konis?

hehateme

I was just wondering if the ride would be that much different from a shock/spring setup. I think Bilsteins are around 500 so I's be paying around 200-260 more for the Teins.Don't forget to post your impressions of the Teins, thanks!

Matt Devo

bilsteins will be stiff still, go with Koni yellow or Eibach's matched shocks (pro-damper)

B56

I think koni's are great because you can adjust them. So you have the ability to tuned your kit to your liking.

If you look around, Koni shocks are used in several CO kits on the market: Stasis tracksport and street sport, and KW V2's.

I sold my koni's to a fellow AW'er and saw him 1.5 years later and was happy with them but then he swithed up to CO's.

My current setup with the bilsteins feels unstable at high speeds. I think this is because they have 20K on them. I'm thinking of switching to stasis tracksports with 550f/650r spring rates because I like the feel of linear rate springs and stasis knows what they are doing with their shock valves. I wish i could get a ride on them.

check out the link from b5 s4 forum which describes important suspension tuning topics.

https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/2327006.phtml

The idea is to get a "matched shock spring combo". That is why lots buy CO's. So this can be difficult if lets say you get hr springs and bilstein shocks. No one tuned them to work with one another. It's even more difficult because what you want your car to feel like will be different than what I like.

My fiance has an 06 2.0t non sport and it rides like my 03 did with non sport. I love the ride. It could be stiffer and its way too lifted, but it rides nice.

Do your research, try to ride in others cars with different kits that you're considering and don't jump the gun. Otherwise, like myself...4 suspensions later and I still want to change it.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/2327006.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/2327006.phtml</a</li></ul>

hehateme

They were very informative and the reason I wanted to go Bilstein. I haven't heard a thing about anyone running the Eibach dampers at all. So your Bilsteins are stiff? I thought you liked them the best out of all your suspensions.

hehateme

Adjustability isn't really an option because I don't have acces to a lift and I really don't want to be having to take my whole suspension off or rather paying for that a bunch of times. I guess ideally I'd buy coilovers but I'm on a budget, I want to upgrade to b5 s4 brakes as well. I'd try the Eibach dampers but I have not heard of anyone running them yet.