Spend 2K to keep DRC or fit coilovers ?

[andyg72]

I love my drc it's a fantastic set up how can anyone say otherwise ? Ok there's issues but in good order you won't get better coupled with kW ride height adjustable springs I'm happy

[Covkiller]

Fair play, personal choice.

[rwilsonrs4]

i like the DRC too but with 3 original shocks still on the car and just spent 400 odd on replacement and recharge a few weeks ago now a rusted pipe above the fuel tank has failed i think its time to go for High quality coilovers as at some point more shocks will fail and another 400 gone and another and so on ... , it wont affect the resale i think as its modified anyway , if it was totally stock well i would keep the DRC
thanks again for the input guys

[rwilsonrs4]

An update on progress , as I said, after much deliberation decided on the Bilsteins , but which B14 or B16 ? Idecided on B16 as I could adjust the damping to how liked it , where the B14 are not adjustable , I emailed Bilstein to ask a question ....what is the damping /rebound on the B14 compared to the settings on B16 , eg is it in the middle or stiff side ... I got an email back and this is the result , not what I was expecting
B14 - 47-119444
Front - 390/110 N/mm @.52 M/s
Rear - 220/65 N/mm @.52 M/s

B16 48-105958
Front soft - 250/150 N/mm @.52 M/s
Front hard – 390/205 N/mm @.52 M/s
Rear Soft – 210/150 N/mm @.52 M/s
Rear hard – 260/180 N/mm @.52 M/s


first is the damping , second is the rebound relating to the damper speed @.52M/s
so looking at the difference the B14 FRONT damping is as hard as the B16 is at its stiffest setting but the rebound is half of the B16
The REAR damping B14 is nearly the same as the B16 on soft but the rebound is under half of the B16 at soft , so very different characteristics whatever the setting ..Hmm could be interesting setting it up , also interesting the B14 is stiff at the front and soft at the rear compared to the soft settings on B16 but the rebound is much less aggressive on B14 everywhere
they will be fitted very soon and corner weighted to see what the car F/R side to side weights are ,
I,ll keep you posted with my findings and opinion

[Bogyoch]

Those figures from Bilstein are very interesting.

My son has an S3, and prior to its suspension upgrades, the standard suspension was pretty mediocre, especially at the back. The rebound of the rear dampers was next to zero: when you went over undulations in the road, the back would kick up. He fitted Bilstein shocks with some lowering springs (can't remember which ones), and there was a noticeable reduction to the rear kick. He then fitted the complete B16 kit, with a further improvement all round, again at the back especially.

The above would suggest that the rebound on the B16 kits is very aggressive, certainly very helpful with the S3 and its short wheelbase. It will be very interesting to note how others have got on with the B16 kit on their RS4s. I have always been a fan of Bilstein dampers, especially on rally cars. The dampers absorb bumps very well, but have the all important control.

As an a-side, most Bilstein damper bump/rebound ratings were in a ratio of around 2.5:1, eg 300/120 or 200/80. Both the B14 and B16 ratios are quite different from their usual ratio.

As another a-side, I wonder what the spring rates are on the B16 kit compared to the OE springs?

[rwilsonrs4]

Another update, I now have the Bilsteins fitted and went to pic up the car from where they were fitted , i asked the Indy to just set them to roughly the height the originals were and set them to soft setting as i,m setting them up myself and corner weighting it with the scales we use for the rally car , so after about 50yds( on a country road) I could instantly feel the car was clearly stiffer but still compliant on even harsh bumps , but the handling difference is in a whole different league! I was beetling along on a road I know reasonably well and was slowing down to negotiate bends at speeds normally drive them at , and was shocked , was driving round them like they wern,t there almost No pitching or bouncy feel its just planted , in fact I got such good feedback through the suspension i was nailing it through the bends with no trouble at all and was a bit worried actually , thinking ...this isnt right lol , i,m well chuffed !! and the setting are all on 9 which is soft so still need to play a bit with them
i,ll post some pics of them on the car when we set it up , At the moment the rear is a touch lower than originally and the front is a bit lower than the rear so ill bring it up so they are level and will be altered to how i feel is best

[rwilsonrs4]

Last update for now , with pics , i adjusted the ride height and corner weighted the car on sunday just to see the numbers , the rears were L/R 670 and R/R 664mm from ground through wheel centre to wing and the fronts were both 647mm, i adjusted the rears to 665 both sides and lifted the fronts to 660mm and then corner weighted it to see the numbers (with myself in the car and 1/2 tank of fuel , youll see it on the pic of the spreadsheet ,it wasnt ideal as the rears were well off with RR being 70 lbs heavier and to fix that you have to lower that corner to remove weight there , but unfortunately with the heights now the same that would involve lowering it , or raising the other side so i tried it and to remove the weight required it need a 13mm increase in height on L/R corner which also increased the weight on the opposite corner and lowered the weight on the opposite corners , so i i just moved everythig back to close where it was and left it at that , lol
interestingly i thought the F/R weight distribution was better than i expected , approx 60/40 , so even with that big lump in front of the driveline ,Audi did a good job of lightening eveything as much a possible to get it that good
So after setting it up , i took it out the back roads and played around with the settings back and forth on the same twisty road section , i ended up with the fronts on setting 5 (soft is 9 hardest is 1) and the rears on 3 , on the softest setting i had a little roll when pushing hard in bends and a tad lightness if lifting off on entry to the bends (it did that with DRC too ), with changed settings up the car was pretty flat and planted in the bends and the rear was improved too , so thats where it is at now and TBH i dont notice it any harsher at these settings in the town , so i,ll get some miles on it to see if it settles any , then do final adjustments later

[FaisalJ]

Interesting read! So in that final pic, the car is at 660-665mm wheel to arch all round?

[rwilsonrs4]

yes it is that measurement in the final pic but only about 30 miles on it by then so i,ll check them again in few weeks to see how much its settled if any

[FaisalJ]

Looks lower than 66cm! Good stance

[Look595]

I find myself here after finding my DRC is leaking - pipework N/S rear.