[200q20v] Lowering Springs?

[Martin Kuetzing]

Taka,

I have a set of H&R springs, two sets of Eibach (100 & S4) and both Koni &
Bilstein Sport Shocks.  I have tried every combination of these components
plus the original springs.  The only combo I haven't tried is the original
springs with original equipment shocks.  These were all done with the std
15" BBS wheels & three types of tires.

IMO, the best handling was with the Koni/H&R combo/with V-rated tires.  The
performance at 125+ mph was remarkable.  In fact, on two-lane roads, there
was virtually no influence from stiff cross winds nor from 18-wheelers
approaching from the other direction.

However, for daily driving the stiffness of the ride was too fatiguing.  A
former lister, Sargent Schutt (sp?) reported similar dismay with his
father's 200q20v with the Koni/H&R combo.  He put the Eibach S4 & Bilstein
combo into his car, if I recall correctly.

Koni recommended to me that I adjust the shocks to ~ half-way between hard &
soft to obtain a better ride, but this didn't help noticably.  My Koni
shocks were recommended by Keith Anderson - if you feel that you can trust
him - as the best performers for the 200q20v.  He made no mention of
unreliability.

Bilstein claims that their sport shocks will always give a more comfortable
ride than Koni & I beleive it.  The Bilstein seem softer with noticable
underdamping in heavy bumps.  To counter this, they even will re-valve the
shocks, but I haven't seen the need to try that.

I attempted to obtain technical information for each of the components that
I have, but each of the companies - Koni, Bilstein, Eibach and H&R -
(purposely?) use different methods to spec their parts.  So, I was only able
to do "relative" comparisions on paper.  Unfortunately, swapping all of
these components is time consuming - if you do it yourself - and expensive
if someone else does it.  Eibach offerred to tune a set of springs to my
liking, but they wanted the car for several weeks and $1200 - $1500 for each
spring.  (NO! I don't think so.)

Finally, I put the Eibach S4/Bilstein combo back in coupled with Michelin
Energy MXV4 Plus 215/60R15.  I still like the lowered look & the "daily
driving ride" is reasonably civilized, but the performance feeling is not
there like the Koni/H&R/V-tire rating.

Hope this helps!

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: 200q20v-admin at audifans.com [mailto:200q20v-admin at audifans.com]On
Behalf Of TM
Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2001 6:43 AM
To: 200q20v Mailing List; Quattro List; S-Car-List
Subject: [200q20v] Lowering Springs?


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?

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.

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?

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.

Taka
'91 200q
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