[BiturboS4] Neustein -> Bilstein Sport, quick report

[S Stiles]

Here's an update on my S4Avant's supension.
I started w/Neusteins (neuspeed valved & slotted Bilsteins), see below for
my opinion of this setup. I'm more convinced than ever that they reduced
compression damping to try & preserve a nice ride w/their sport-springs.
This just didn't work well in "sport" driving w/stock springs. It felt like
I was bouncing off of the bumpstops in quick transitions, which would
unsettle the car & give a very strange bouncing motion. Note, that they were
fine in day to day street driving, but the setup fell apart (IMO) in hard
canyon carving and/or anything that caused significant suspension
compression. This has been corroberated by another party that frequents AW,
who will remain nameless :)

Last weekend, I installed new front Bilstein Sport (F:"BE3 6213 H0") shocks.
I bought them from ECS, only because they will groove them in-house to your
specs. Otherwise, you can buy from any Bilstein vendor & either use them at
stock height, or send them to Bilstein for grooving.
Note: why did I only do the front? Because a) I'm cheap, b) I'm lazy, and c)
the "problem" I was seeing w/the Neusteins was more pronounced in the front.

Also note that Todd from AWE shared his opinion that the newer Neusteins use
the Bilstein valving. This contradicts what I've heard from Neuspeed. All
I'll (strongly) recommend, is that if you're considering buying Bilsteins
for use w/stock suspension from Neuspeed (or any springs for that matter),
make double sure they aren't having them revalved.

So now I'll get to the point, finally: The Bilstein Sports are a huge
improvement over the Neusteins, and have finally dialed in the handling of
the car exactly the way I wanted it. My goals were to tighten up the
suspension in terms of dive/squat/transient, while preserving a good ride on
rough pavement, and not lowering the car significantly. The Bilstein Sports,
IMO, accomplish this perfectly. The ride is great, very fluid, and yet very
controlled. The car is a blast in the twisties. No, it's not going to handle
as well as a H&R Ultra or Stasis Track setup on the track, but it's a blast
in street/canyon driving, and would be fine for an occasional track day.

Drawbacks:
Like all other cars I've installed Bilsteins on (5-6?), they raise the ride
height slightly due to being pressurized. Note that the Neusteins didn't do
this, which furthers my suspicions about compression damping. I had ECS
groove the fronts +/- 1/2", and the resulting front ride height (on the
lowest groove) is nearly identical to my wife's "stock" S4 sedan. Net: if
you want to lower the front w/these shocks, you'll need to have them grooved
to lower the front shock perch more than 1/2". Other than the ride height
issue, no other drawbacks.

I'm likely to replace the rear Neusteins w/Bilstein Sports as well, but it's
working well enough now that it'll probably take me a while to get around to
it.

And no, Wally, I wouldn't rather have coilovers :P

Scott
'02S4Avant
'00S4
'00Miata project



>From: "S Stiles" <stiles_s at hotmail.com>
>To: biturbos4 at audifans.com
>Subject: [BiturboS4] Bilstein take N+1
>Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 19:57:55 -0700
>
>For anybody still following along, here's some new info re: the Neuspeed
>Bilsteins.
>The shocks I bought from neuspeed about 9mos ago (and just got around to
>installing) appear to actually be A4 2.8q "sport" bilsteins, with revalved
>front shocks. Part numbers:
>F:"B.2081S4" with "F4 B36 2081 M0" visible under a sticker on the box
>R:"BE3 2669 M1"
>The numbers above (the F number under the sticker) match Bilstein's numbers
>for the old body A42.8q.
>
>After a bit of digging on AW, and Neuspeed's site, it appears that there is
>now a "real" Bilstein sport shock for the S4, which Neuspeed is now
>grooving
>(front). Numbers are:
>F:"BE3 6213 H0"
>R:"BE3 6214 HO"
>
>If you're in the market for Bilsteins, I'd specify the above part number &
>ensure they don't sell you the old units. I'm going to be on the phone
>w/them tomorrow to see if I can swap the set out somehow. If that doesn't
>work, I'm going to see if Bilstein can revalve my current shocks to match
>the new ones.
>
>After driving a bunch of miles on the setup, the fronts are feeling pretty
>under-damped, especially on rebound, while the rears feel fine. This led me
>to do a bit more research, and there you have it.
>
>Scott
>'02S4Avant w/A4 shocks
>'00S4
>


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