S Line suspension vs Sports Suspension - Retro fit

[scoobmw]

Hi all,

Who's an Audi mechanical expert or just knows about suspensions ?

As always (in Scotland) there was no opportunity to try multiple options prior to buying my A4. I was lucky to find any model with a 3.0TDi never mind different suspensions :-)

So, I spoke to the dealers andthey recommended 20mm drop rather than 30mm, citing harsh ride. I've now driven my car for 500 miles and I'm pretty sure anything, anything at all, would stiffen up the suspension and make it better on twisty stuff.
So ..... anyone know if you can retro 'set' the suspension to 30mm drop via setings in the suspension, or are the springs just different ?

Also - anyone know how the Dynamic Suspension actually works ? I'm wondering if there's a way of just making it 'tight' all the time. I don't have the £1500 SatNav to use to set the Dynamic Suspension always as dynamic.

Hope that makes sense of some sort.

[eno394]

I was informed by the dealer not to take the 30mm drop again due to the harsh ride. Well how wrong was he!! He obviously never drove the B7 S-line.

They are worlds apart and the suspension at 30mm gives a much smoother ride than the old model ever did.

[scoobmw]

I'm not the only one then.

So - anyone know if the 20mm can be increased to 30mm or is it different springs??

[streetfighter-r]

Good post and no replies... I just ordered mine and decided to go with the sline 30mm. The decision was based on little feedback from the dealer and no test car to compare. I just hope it's not too harsh, but would have probably lowered it otherwise for cosmetic reasons

[scoobmw]

You know - my instinct was to take 30mm until I got the chat from the dealer. If it was too harsh I'd be surprised they'd offer it as a 'standard' fit. Didn't really think it through myself. Better if you can test these things as always, but hey, it's only 10mm difference. Suspect in many ways I'm just noticing the difference between a nicer ride compared to Subaru's prodrive spec.
Still, I will one day find out if you can get 30mm anyway ... for all we know it's a spacer somewhere !!

Anyway - good luck with the car when it arrives - sure it will be great !

[streetfighter-r]

Let's hope so, :)

Just my personal assumptions; the sus at 30mm should be a combo of loer spring and the damper is diff. Wouldn't expect Audi would just go with springs alone as the damper would not be calibrated. You could opt for eibach if they have lowering. Springs for the car? They are normally quite good using progressive set up.

I did come across info that the 30mm wouldn't be compatible with dynamic sus similar to not allowing 19inch wheel option...can't see why though. Sorry for typo and grammar, typing on the iPhone...

[scoobmw]

I thought I'd seen something like somewhere too back when I ordered and just didn't know enough about the whole Audi thing.
Still don't know if that's the case. Wonder if Dynamic suspension just lowers the springs 10mm ... hahahahahaha

[Legs]

I was lucky enough to order the 30mm drop and I'm delighted with it; ride is not too harsh but the car really hugs the road, handling is pin sharp, direction changes are instant, twisty A & B roads great fun and it looks great to boot. Like you guys though it was more by good luck than good guidance that I chose the lower option, there wasn't much info available.

As I understand it (and I am no expert at all, please correct me if I'm wrong), the 30mm drop is a different set up and those cars are set-up by Audi Motorsport. Thats what I was told at purchase anyway, good luck with the retrofitting, go for it, it makes such a difference.

My car had its first service yesterday and I was loaned an A4 S line with the standard 20mm drop and it was very different from my own car - much softer, vague handling and a completely different feel.

[scoobmw]

Aye, may well be that they're separate units. No-one seems to know though.
Fascinating owning an Audi. Seems not much is known about how the cars are put together outside the designers in Germany :-). Dealers don't seem to know much.

Anyway, I'm sorted now. In the first few hundred miles didn't want to go near Dynamic mode on the ADS (didn't pay for the Satnav just to get me individual ADS control). But in Dynamic mode life just gets better :-)

Again, only info I had on this was my own reading back in March when dealers couldn't tell me much. And now vie used it it really is as good as I'd hoped it would be.
Everything stiffens up nicely. I think I'll be using that a lot :-)

Swings n roundabouts possibly :-)