recaroad

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/80445/img_0982.jpg"></center><p>What I really like about this suspension is the sweet and confident turn-in around any corner. Steering feel is sharp and responsive giving you full confidence when exiting any corner while squeezing the throttle; just stays flat.

We haven't played with the 9 settings for ride comfort yet. 1 for hardest and 9 for most comfy, right now it's set at 9 for dampening/rebound and close to the highest setting 8 all the way around (call it 9/8). Went one round and through a couple of humps and dangerous stunts with no problems and no discomfort. Butt test: tightened up the car quite a bit, the allroad feels 1000 lbs lighter, still soft and comfy - currently has a little too much rebound/bounce (it's nice that that can be dialed out) for my liking but night and day compared to stock.

It is worthwhile to note that both front and rear spacers required for the installation of Bilstein PSS9 coilovers on an allroad (other photos in my picture post) were engineered by Saridea here in Colorado. Quality is second to none (not affiliated with them in anyway, just a very happy &amp; satisfied customer). One major concern I had other than ride comfort was how the front hard rubber upper strut bushings would hold up. You can see the machined detail to allow the upper strut bushing to be properly located. One can imagine what would happen to that bushing and other components after 20k or 30k miles (or a couple of track sessions) if they weren't properly installed or seated.

Next setting to try is 6/6, want to try it on a mid hard/comfort level. Setting comfort level (rebound/dampening) seems quite easy, like turning the **** for a fan, click click click.... Adjusting the height is a little diff. but very straight forward.

Saturday night, I took a long sweeping on-ramp at 60mph in Castle Rock, CO that has a few humps &amp; undulations (never dared go over 45 because of the humps), the allroad stayed flat and just stuck to the ground. These PSS9`s are sweet.
The most amazing thing was when wifey saw the car for the first time after the install knowing it had a new suspension, she said "I thought you were lowering it".

Ratings (1 to 10 w/ 10 best):

Height of ride: 8 - wish it wouldn't take 6 months for the PSS9's to settle so I can dial it in sooner

Comfort: 9 - with 9 different settings, the only reason it didn't get a 10 is because it does not have 10 different settings

Handling: 8 - the PSS9 w/H-sports make a 4000+ lb. wagon stick beautifully to the ground, now I need to wait for the snow to melt a little here in Colorado so I can put the grippy shoes on and go to setting 1/1 or 2/2. Too bad SCR is gone...

Waiting period for install: wait is over, Seridea has developed a beautifully engineered front and rear spacer kit for the allroad and give it a 10

PSS9's: $1350
Spacers $550
A6 Parts: $179.00


Getting a 4000+ lb. wagon to handle like it's on rails, priceless...

Special thanks to Okan, Shake, and Dave Jones at Saridea for taking the relentless effort to fit the coilover and making sure everything is sweeeet

Anyone for a GTG???


TT

Steve_Ag Arrow

nice work, sounds sweet

Rally_nutcase_1982

about the parts (numbers) you used to get this done would be very much appreciated. Looking at the price tag, it appears that 2 ruptured Airbags on the suspension would almost justify a swap to coilovers.

Awesome job, now I'm really jealous, first Ryan and now you....we'll need to find out how this setup would hold up against a 402 modded stock suspension on the track - any takers? ;-)

tganci

Very impressive. Spacers look great.

SKIroad'r

My money is on the coilovers

paulroad

wow..nice...how did you/they handle the Suspension warning lights?

AudiOx

I'm assuming yes, but being new the AR, maybe it's a separate system?

allroadCole

yeah...

recaroad

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/80445/vag_parts_front_suspension_jpeg.jpg"></center><p>I'm guessing Ryan is RMCQ and Truebeliever (Richard Harris) was, I think, the second to do coilovers. I have compiled a lot of information from both of these guys. The below information was sent to me by Richard Harris.

Quantity (2) VAG P# - 8E0512121E World Impex P# 269361 Description -Rear Upper Strut Mount.
You'll discover that the rear air springs have these units attached, but they are not removable. Therefore, you'll need two new ones. See Item # 3 on rear shock image above.

Quantity (2) VAG P# - 4D0412377F World Impex P# 6342 Description - Front Upper Mount Bearing
You'll need these two units PLUS the existing two from your front air shock, for a total of four. The bearing is item 37 on the front suspension image (link below).
For assembly: see my picture post
Quantity (2) VAG P# - 8D0412065D World Impex P# 193498 Description - Spring Disk Upper
Bearings attach to these disk. See item 29 on front suspension (image link below). The spring disk upper is placed atop the coilover spring

See Image DSC1224 (in my picture post) for front air bag removal. Notice that the notorious pinch bolt and front upper links are still intact. The driver's side bag was removed in this manner in approx. 45 minutes.

When installing\removing rear coilover\spacers, remove brake shield, brake caliper, and caliper mounting bracket and disconnect lower control from hub\spindle.

I used RMCQ's allroad conversion write-up and the B5 S4 coilover install tech. article for reference. I believe RMCQ's tech article is already in the allroad faq.

The ball joint removal tool. http://www.toolsource.com/ost/product.asp?pf_id=94185&amp;sourceid=nextagOTC6297

TT<ul><li><a href="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/80445/vag_parts_front_suspallroad_jpeg.1.jpg">Front Suspension Image</a></li></ul>

recaroad

I will have to deal w/that soon. But for right now, air suspension light is not on.
An engineer at the shop I had the work done feels he can send the same electrical signal to or just jump the sensor.

TT