[200q20v] Lowering Springs?

[Brett Dikeman]

At 9:43 AM -0400 4/29/01, TM wrote:
>Another post from Taka...
>
>Can you relate your experiences with H&R lowering springs
>on a type 44?
>
>I am debating whether or not to do it in conjunction with
>Bilstein Sport shocks. How did the handling improve/worsen
>with the springs?

Greg Amy put this combo on his car and was very pleased with them; 
I've been in his car twice and liked it enough to pick it as my 
choice. It's a very popular combination, though he modified it 
slightly....he used a set of pads in back to raise the rear ever so 
slightly; there's more info on his site(search for "MRV the audi" on 
just about any search engine; he has a link to an email he sent me 
when I asked him for part numbers.)

Dan had Koni's installed, can't remember if springs were changed as 
well, on his S6 wagon before he sold it shortly thereafter.  He was 
very pleased with the Koni's, I agree, it was a nice ride.  My 
family, however, hasn't had very good experiences with Koni and they 
have too poor a reputation in the quality control arena.  A good 
chunk of their product seems to fail before it's even installed; 
mechanics I've spoken to have told me they never install Koni's 
without checking them over thoroughly to make sure they're not 
defective.


>How much of a decrease in ride height did you see with the
>springs? I think Chris Miller's site mentions only something
>like a 0.75" drop, just trying to solicit additional info.

Not much more to be solicited, sounds right.  Greg theorized that the 
Bilsteins provide a little more weight support and counter the larger 
listed drop on the H&Rs which list figures assuming you have stock 
shocks.


>One lister has strongly recommended against the lowering
>springs on the type 44, as it makes the car into an understeering
>pig. Has this been your experience as well?

Someone mentioned that their car became harder to "set" into a turn 
with this particular combo. Can't say, my springs+shocks are 
currently "installed" in a box in the trunk(helping only to give 
better F/R weight distribution :-)  As with any suspension operation, 
the car should be aligned properly afterwards.  I noticed that Greg's 
car did seem very different in the turns on a public road driving 
very gently, but we're comparing a car with proper alignment, track 
tires, lowered suspension, 17 inch wheels, etc to my car with 
D60A2's, stock everything, questionable alignment :-)


>Finally, does anyone know if '92 UrS4 springs will work on
>a '91 200q w/o raising ride height? If they do and someone has
>BTDT, please let me know.

No.  These transformed Rob Winchell's car into what he called "the 
200q20v allroad" ; the S4 is much heavier than the 200q20v.

Brett