quattro digest, Vol 1 #4632 - T44 springs and shocks

[Larry C Leung]

Bill,

I have H&R 10VT springs and Bilsteins. Ride quality is reasonable at any
speed,
and I live in the pothole belt. Don't just take my word, the one whom
most often
shares the passenger seat never even noticed (although I'd have to say
that the
ride isn't as good as her Civic)

Unfortunately, I think you have an underdamped car. Heck, to a degree, I
think the
Bilsteins are slightly underdamped, I get an occasional "ripple" on
uneven pavement.
Anyway, the mis-match of your shocks and springs are why the low speed
ride is
less than satisfactory, you are experiencing secondary suspension
movements as
the springs totally overwhelm the shocks in reaction to a bump. Believe
it or not,
the other issue of your ride harshness has to do with the Nokians, their
sidewall
stiffness is so much less than the design of the spring that most of your
suspension
is actually the tires (which are, by their nature, hardly damped and
unaffected by
the shocks), the "softness" of the sidewalls,is such that the springs are
hardly
doing an of the work of the ride. As time and $$ permit,
consider doing a +1 set-up and replacing your Boge's with Bilsteins or
Konis.

HTH,

LL - NY



> From: "Bill Lockwood" <wlockwoo at zoo.uvm.edu>
> To: <quattro at audifans.com>
> Subject: Re: 5000TQ springs and shocks
> Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 12:02:51 -0500
>
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> I have H&R 200 20V springs on my 5k.  They are a bit lower and a bit
> stiffe=
> r=2E  Ride is pretty poor below 30mph.  Shocks are BOGE PROGAS in
> front and=
>  old BOGE SPORT in the rear.  The car has Nokian Hakkapelita NRW-H
> tires an=
> d could quite benefit from lower profile/stiffer sidewall tires.
>
> Handling is very good, with the exception of in between turns, where
> there =
> is a lot of car to move around and a high roll center.  Once the
> weight of =
> the car has settled the tires and the suspension, the car does very
> well.  =
> Usually a left foot stab to the brake will correct understeer in
> snow.  The=
>  rear of the car may be underdamped.  If I did it all again, I would
> try bi=
> lsteins.  Fore / aft movement is very controlled.
>
> Bill
> 88 5ktq in VT
> www.windstreampower.com/eurothrash/couch.html