New Sport Suspension Kit

[thethinningbeast]

My suspension is getting a little sloppy so I'm looking to buy some poly-bushes and a sports suspension kit. Current favourite is a bush kit from Super-flex and a set of Koni SSK shocks and springs:

http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/products/product_info.mhtml?id=437609

Has anyone tried this kit? Any thoughts on alternatives?

I don't want to drop the ride height too much. I've got some 17" 215/45's on a 35mm offset to complicate things and the car is a 2.8 V6 Quattro rather than an S2 (sorry).

Just off to measure the bushes and re-seat the springs (hoping to resolve the creaking noise when cornering, accelerating and braking)

[Acidburn]

Creaking noise could be the drop mounts or the top mounts as that was what was causing most of my noises.

From what i've heard most people recommend koni's but with H&R springs for the set up, thats probably what i'll try at some point.

[thethinningbeast]

Cheers

I've actually replaced both the droplinks and the top mounts (green ones not blue) within the last 2 months. I Thought it might be the coils not seated properly so I compressed, cleaned and re-seated them this morning, but although the creak is still there, it's not anywhere near as bad.

I'm worried something slightly worse might be causing the problem - hence the reason I want to change all the bushes and the springs and dampers. I only just got the car back from a 7 week nightmare! Someone spilt a chemical on the rear quarter panel of my car and it dissolved the paint so I booked it into a paint shop through a mechanic my mate knows. The new paintwork is terrible and the car came back with an extra 535 miles on the clock, no fuel and a broken lock on the drivers door. The edges of my front tyres were bald suggesting it's had 7 weeks of being thrashed into the ground. Needless to say, the creaking suspension wasn't there when I handed the car over!

I've had the car back for a week now and I've managed to fix the door (at the cost of my door card) replace the stereo (Mechanic lost the face plate) replace the alloys and tyres (which had been cleaned with acid, kerbed, and balded on the edges) attempt to sort out the suspension creak, mop the car to remove the swirls and hollograms the paint shop left, buy replacement badges, wet and dry the orange peel out of the new paint and remove the melted chocolate bar from the back seat!

Thanks for the tip about H&R springs on the Koni's. The car is only driven once or twice a week so I can afford to opt for a sportier set-up over a comfortable set-up.

Cheers

[Acidburn]

I'm worried something slightly worse might be causing the problem - hence the reason I want to change all the bushes and the springs and dampers. I only just got the car back from a 7 week nightmare! Someone spilt a chemical on the rear quarter panel of my car and it dissolved the paint so I booked it into a paint shop through a mechanic my mate knows. The new paintwork is terrible and the car came back with an extra 535 miles on the clock, no fuel and a broken lock on the drivers door. The edges of my front tyres were bald suggesting it's had 7 weeks of being thrashed into the ground. Needless to say, the creaking suspension wasn't there when I handed the car over!

Sorry to hear that about your car. I know if it was mine i'd have gone absolutely mental about it. Did you complain to them about it, or refuse the payment for the paintwork? And i'd try to sue for damages to the car thru small claims court. They should be punished for what they have done to your car. Sorry to hear about it as its never good, especially not when its to an audi.

[thethinningbeast]

Unfortunately the situation is a little delicate at the moment so I've not been able to complain - but I haven't had to pay anything either. Another two of my friends are having trouble with the same mechanic, but over much bigger issues. I've agreed to bite my tongue until we all have our cars back, then we are going to the police over the issue.

The guy looks like he could be big trouble for us, so the plan is to recover what we can from him and let the police do the rest.

The important thing is that I have my car back and I have a good legitimate reason to spend my weekends and wages on it for a while!

Just took it out for a spin ths evening and noticed that the clutch biting point is a little high and there is a clunk from the drivetrain when I go through the gears at any pace. I think this might be a good oportunity to fit a 6 speed gearbox and a 2.5TDi V6 clutch.

[Acidburn]

Unfortunately the situation is a little delicate at the moment so I've not been able to complain - but I haven't had to pay anything either. Another two of my friends are having trouble with the same mechanic, but over much bigger issues. I've agreed to bite my tongue until we all have our cars back, then we are going to the police over the issue.

The guy looks like he could be big trouble for us, so the plan is to recover what we can from him and let the police do the rest.

The important thing is that I have my car back and I have a good legitimate reason to spend my weekends and wages on it for a while!

Just took it out for a spin ths evening and noticed that the clutch biting point is a little high and there is a clunk from the drivetrain when I go through the gears at any pace. I think this might be a good oportunity to fit a 6 speed gearbox and a 2.5TDi V6 clutch.

The clunk could be the mounts for either the gearbox or diff and would probably be cheaper to do than a gearbox change, I do like the sound of the 6 speed gearbox tho. Just really sorry to hear that's happened to your car especially thru someone you've put your trust in.

Do you have anymore pictures of your car before all this happened?

[thethinningbeast]

Clunk

I just jacked the rear drivers side wheel up and whilst in gear with the handbrake off rotated it back and forth. Just as you suggested, the diff was jumpiing up and down on the mount, probably by an inch or two - Cheers AcidBurn. Going to order a polybush and fit it next weekend.

I think for the longterm I'll keep an eye out for a spare 6-speed (type CGR) gearbox. I've heard that fitting the TDi clutch allows you to handle more torque and power without the 'jerky' feel of a double or tripple plate clutch!

As for the photo's of the car before and after, I'm struggling to be honest. I've only just entered the 21st century with a mobile that has a camera on it. I've added a photo of the front quarter taken 2 months ago by my mate, showing the tyre with tread. I'll add a photo of the same tyre taken this morning showing the bald edge. I took some pictures of the 'hollogramming' or swirls left in the paint but he'd waxed it before I collected so it was impossible to get anything to show up on the photo.

[thethinningbeast]

Baldness

I fitted my new wheels and tyres yesterday, and just gave the old ones a clean this morning. This is the extent of the tyre wear the mechanic managed to acheive during the 7 weeks on the front passenger side tyre.

[Acidburn]

[QUOTE=thethinningbeast;247954]I just jacked the rear drivers side wheel up and whilst in gear with the handbrake off rotated it back and forth. Just as you suggested, the diff was jumpiing up and down on the mount, probably by an inch or two - Cheers AcidBurn. Going to order a polybush and fit it next weekend.
QUOTE]

Thats quite a travel, glad that it worked out cheaper/easier to do that first than spend out on the box transfer, even if the missus is being a bit understanding over all thats gone on. Tbh with most boxes the only time i've really heard any major problems with them is if that they have quite a lot of power running thru them.

Still make sure you keep your receipts of what damage you've had to pay to rectify hopefully it will help with your claim.

[Acidburn]

Sounds like he was throwing it into every corner that he could find, or possible knocked the tracking out enough to do that, i've seen it done once or twice. How's it drive when you drive it, in a straight line or pulling a bit?

[thethinningbeast]

Engine Bay

My mate also took this photo of the engine bay 2 months ago. Nothing appears to be wrong with the engine but it looks pretty good and it's different to an S2 so I thought I'd post it too.

[Acidburn]

Very clean under there, hopefully its still the same, just out of interest is there much gain for fitting the air filter and does it make a nice noise?

[Cullam3n]

mate that's a nice engine bay

1) did your cam covers come black like that or did you paint them yourself?

2) how is the cone attached? do you have a maf adapter/bracket? Is it a noticeable increase?

3) battery cover?

nice to see a fellow clean v6

[thethinningbeast]

Sounds like he was throwing it into every corner that he could find, or possible knocked the tracking out enough to do that, i've seen it done once or twice. How's it drive when you drive it, in a straight line or pulling a bit?

It pulls lightly to the left under acceleration now it has the new tyres. I'm only covering about 15 miles a week though so I'm going to wait until I fit new suspension and bushes before I get the 4 wheel tracking set up. (ETA 1 month as I need another pay day to afford the Koni's). When I got the car back last Friday it pulled violently to the left. On the Saturday I switched the front tryes around and that made things a lot better (less of a ditch witch anyway).

Attached is the bodywork by Sunday evening, after a day spent removing the swirls (with the tyres swapped round too). Note the oversprayed lower valance on the front bumper which should be paint free!

[Acidburn]

Your car looks good in the pictures, hope you can sort out what he's done.
Yeah sounds like he's knocked the tracking out slightly. When you go to change the suspension i'd recommend if you can afford it some alloy subframe mounts as they would help tighten up the feel of the car and help come mot time. (AFAIK when fitting them you need the tracking doing at the same time anyways) corey has them on special at the moment at something like £60 for the front and rear sets (don't quote me on that tho, there is a thread going on it with more detail, i'm getting ready to order mine)