Anyone here got a 1.8T Cabrio with sport suspension?

I found this fantastic on the 3.0 cabrio I borrowed in the summer, but of course the 1.8T is a bit lighter car (40 Kg I believe).

Just wondered how people found the combination of 1.8T and sport suspension/17 inch wheels?

Cheers,

Ari.

but, the car is such a heavy pig it's not all that great. These cars need to go on a weight reduction program. :-(

Cheers VTT!

So not too choppy then?

Had standard suspension before with 16 inch wheels, think sports suspension and 17s should be an advantage.

Ari.

I have the Sports Suspension, but I'm not entirely happy with it. Like VenTTed said, even with the sports suspension, 17" wheels, and Z-rated tires, the car will still float from time to time. However, on rough pavement, the suspension is harsh and not very effective in soaking up the bumps. It could definitely be better.

Has anyone upgraded their Cab to an aftermarket suspension? If so, please provide details and opinions on the differences in ride and handling.

Thanks.

NYCab

I'd be interested in this too; the suspension and handling is my biggest beef with the cab. Sometimes it's perfect; other times it feels as though one wheel is wobbling loose (!); at others it's jittery on all 4 wheels. I've never quite worked out the reason for the difference, except that taking it in for alignment seems to fix everything for a couple of weeks. But an alignment every 1000 miles seems ridiculous: even I don't drive over potholes and speedbumps that badly.

I remember reading (and Anim8or should correct me) that Anim8or started with the non-sport suspension and changed to Koni shocks, leaving the stock non-sport springs. How's it working out Anim8or?

GanS, in my case, it's probably not the alignment. I've never had it realigned and the car tracks perfectly straight. I do notice the schizophrenia that you describe though. Example, the suspension seems to behave better (more compliant) in cooler weather. That silly thing!

I know almost nothing about matching spring rates with damping rates, etc. Hence, the best route for me would be to get coilovers. I believe that H&R makes coilovers for the Cab, but does anyone else? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

NYCab

... and what's great about them is that they're adjustable.

I still have to adjust my front springs (which are too tight right now).

Currently, my ride is even (very little rocking, compared to the stock suspension which floats like a boat) but is still a little too bumpy over rough surfaces. But it's far better than the stock non-sport springs.

I'm going to have it adjusted in a week or two. I'll post how that goes.

I can't fully recommend the Koni's until my final adjustment, but from my experience so far, they're great. I suggest that you keep them pretty loose, because at full tightness, it's like having no shocks at all!

It seems that both of the Cab's factory suspension setups leave much to be desired. The stock suspension is way to soft and floaty, while the sport suspension (from what I've read) is too rough and still exibits some rocking.

I agree: I've been using 'realignment' loosely because I take it in, they do everything including alignment, wheel balance and tyre pressures using a calibrated pump rather than the petrol station forecourt thing I normally use, and at the end of it all the car drives better.

I think actually my main problem is the same as yours - floaty at times, rough at others. When it works well it drives fine, but it 'goes off' again fairly rapidly.

Which aspect of this would coilovers fix ? I assume from the fact that some are happy with their cars, that it's not some deep-rooted problem with the suspension due to basic design.

This is just my 2 cents and feel free to correct my hand-waiving argument. When my Cab was parked next to an A4 Sedan with Sport Wheels, I notice a dramatic different in vehicle height. Our Cabs are approximately 2 inches lower. Now, in order to achieve this lowering and to prevent the car from bottoming out, the Cabs would require stiffer springs. The non-sport dampers are way too soft, resulting in the floatiness. The sport dampers are well-matched but only at higher speeds (from my experience at least). At lower speeds, such as local driving, the sport suspension as a whole is too harsh. I have not been able to find similar complaints over in the B6 Sedan board. Again, my arguments are purely speculative and anecdotal. I'm hoping (with fingers crossed) that by changing to coilovers, the dampers will be better matched to the springs. But, first, I will do an experiment to see how much difference a softer tire, with higher sidewalls, will make. I have H-rated tires mounted on 16" wheels that I can swap on. With the Sport Package, my Cab came with 235/45-17 Z-rated tires. I'll let you know how that goes.

NYCab

Anim8or,

Thanks for the feedback and do keep us updated. Did you get adjustable springs also? I thought that you only upgraded the dampers.

NYCab

Thanks: this is beginning to make sense to me now. I do notice the harshness under 40 mph: I was doing over that on potentially rougher roads (out in the Lake District) and it seemed much smoother.

I did notice a difference when I switched from Continental Sport tyres to Michelin Pilot Premacy (still 17"), but I think this is because the Contis were adding their own harshness: now it is better, but the underlying jolting has not gone away, it just seems better absorbed at tyre level (if that makes sense).

still don't understand the day-to-day variation (but always better for a couple of weeks after car has been in).

... I keep on writing 'Springs' instead of 'Shocks'. For the record, I installed new Koni SHOCKS, which are adjustable. The springs are still factory installed non-sport.

Sorry for the confusion.