[s-cars] Bilstein shocks and H&R Sport springs

[David Mackintosh]

I just got my '95.5 S6 Avant back after having the H&R 29921 V8 Sport
springs and Bilstein Sport shocks installed, wanted to give some feedback.

I ordered the ECS camber plates and had those installed, getting the camber
right was not a problem.  I didn't have them try it without the plates.  The
guy who did the alignment, however, was incompetant and I'll be taking it
back next week for the third time to try and get him to get the steering
wheel straight.

I used the ECS "13mm" rear spring perch spacers, which are really only 10mm,
since 3mm slides over the shock's snap ring.  The car dropped almost exactly
1-1/8" at all four corners, and looks perfect, IMO.  The tires appear
perfectly centered in the wheel arches now, definitely not a "slammed" look.
Any lower would lead to clearance issues, especially with the car's huge
front overhang, I think.

The handling is 1000x better (my car still had the original shocks),
cornering is now much flatter, and very little squat or dive.

The ride is still plenty comfortable, I might've gone even firmer.  (In
fact, the guy I bought the springs from had used them briefly and switched
to the H&R Race springs.)  I'm pretty tolerant of a stiff ride, though.
Road joints and imperfections are definitely felt, but it's still a good
highway ride.  Understeer is reduced, but still quite prevalent (very
forgiving).  I'd like the back end to rotate a little more on lift throttle
(it will come out with the brakes).  I imagine it'd be even worse on a
sedan, without a rear sway bar.  The two options would be stiffer rear
springs, or Happersize rear sway bar.

I would say the Bilstein Sports could definitely use more low speed rebound
control, I might try to have them revalved at some point.  I'd hate the
down-time, though.

I had initially balked at the price of Koni shocks, and rear coil-overs, but
now I can definitely see the advantages.  The adjustable rebound on the
Konis would be a plus, as would having a selection of rear springs available
for the coilovers.  In order to really dial in my car's handling with the
components I have now, I'd need to have my Bilsteins revalved (probably
~$200), and add the Happersize swaybar (~$400).  I'm in pretty deep since I
also just did the chip (MRC Stage 2) and brakes (BIRA Stage 1), so I'll
probably call it good for a while at least.

David Mackintosh
Hood River, OR