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question: thick sway bar effects on A4Q (longish)
...before you guys mumble: "is this guy stupid or what?",
i've always wondered about that myself especially lately.
anyway, the saga continues... basically after the alignment
problem is finally fixed (many thanks to WAGNER audi service
who had been very patient and didn't give up on me), the car
still seems to pull to the right.
my wife's car: 2.8Q avant (with sports package)
what's changed: eibach front sway bar (32mm?)
lltek front strut tower brace
235/40-17 tires (first dunlop SP8000; now toyo T1 proxes)
i realize that with wider tires and stiffer front sway bar,
any imperfection on the road is magnified. but i don't think
that the car should be pulling that much. especially since
i compare my wife's avant to my M3. sure these 2 cars have
very different suspension designs, but i'd think that the
end-result should be about the same. and my M3 is even
stiffer than stock since i take it to driving schools.
i have done the following (trial-and-error) tests trying to
eliminate what is causing the car to pull:
1. swapped the wheels+tires with another A4 2.8Q avant with
sports package (but stock sway bar). result: this car went
straight! IMO, there goes the wide-tire theory.
2. i swapped the eibach sway bar with the stock bar this past
weekend. the car doesn't pull as much. but there is still somewhat
a perceptible drift. altho with all honesty, this could just be
psychological.
someone warned me about the sway bar being pre-loaded. but
yesterday, the guys at WAGNER audi put the car weight on its
suspensions and tightened the end-links of the sway bar.
the car still pulls to the right. granted, if i stay to the
left (ie: wrong way) of a 2-lane road, the steering starts
pulling to the left. but on the center lane of the mass turnpike,
99% of the time, the car pulls to the right.
BTW, the pressure on those tires are: 38 front, 36 rear.
does anybody has similar modifications to their A4s (ie: wider tires
and stiffer front sway bar) and have similar steering feel?
i'm really baffled. this is my first audi, so i have no experience
with the tendency of an audi suspension design.
meanwhile, i really must let AoA know if i'm still demanding a
replacement car. before i said yes or no, i want to make sure
that this is a common/expected result of the above modifications
to an A4.
i'd appreciate any experience/tips/suggestions. TIA.
---
Thai Tjen
thai@tiac.net