Ridiculously hard ride

[pimpinyourmum]

I'm hoping you guys can help. My RS6 saloon suffers from a ridiculously harsh ride. It's running KW V3's I believe although the previous owner fitted them from a car which had suffered an engine fire as far as I can gather.

At any rate the ride is appalling. I'm running standard 19" wheels but have considered downgrading to 18's just to soften it but I know I wouldn't be tackling the problem.

My local garage has softened off the springing but the harshness is still there over potholes and broken surfaces. I now have a softly sprung car that sort of 'bobs' over undulations and still crashes into bumps!!

I wondered if it was a damping issue but I'm told by the garage they can't see where to soften off the dampers???

Is there anything else I should be looking for?

Hoping you can help as it's totally ruining the enjoyment I get from the 6 - I actually avoid driving it at the minute.

Just to say I'm not being soft when I say the ride is harsh. My daily driver is a MINI GP with the coilovers wound down to maximum drop and I consider that ride to me more than acceptable

[Shoppinit]

Springiness? Eh? What did they do exactly?

The KW V3 need to be removed from the car for a proper adjustment. I know. Stoopid, innit? There's a thread in the stickies about people's settings.

[bam_bam]

There was a thread on RS6.com that showed how to make your KWs adjustable while in situ, however, it did involve cutting holes in your chassis and top mounts. Speaking of top mounts, do you know if the previous owner replaced theirs at the time of KW install?

[saulcupra]

Im running on pss9's and find a similar thing, im going to raise it a bit to give the spring a bit more travel, and check what settings the dampers are on.

I think I will end up taking them off, replacing the top mounts and then get bilstein to refurbish the units

I have also just had the lower arms and cv boots done

[pimpinyourmum]

Springiness? Eh? What did they do exactly?

The KW V3 need to be removed from the car for a proper adjustment. I know. Stoopid, innit? There's a thread in the stickies about people's settings.

Ahhhh, they need to come off do they??

So our view is that the V3's shouldn't be too harsh if set up correctly? If that's the view I will happily pay the garage to whip them off and have a go at resetting them!

.??

[amanda1]

I run kW v3's on my 6 whilst they are firm,hmmm very firm I don't class them as harsh
Make sure they are on the correct sides as well as the English don't seem to understand left ( links)and right (richts)in German!!!

[amanda1]

Double post for some reason!!

[IanH755]

After a quick passenger ride with Amanda I think her setup felt just right for the roads around Oxford, firm but not crashy over bumps.

[pimpinyourmum]

After a quick passenger ride with Amanda I think her setup felt just right for the roads around Oxford, firm but not crashy over bumps.

Thanks - that's useful.

Amanda is your set up on the stickie?

[amanda1]

No it isn't, i do however have it in my service file which I am desperately looking for to confirm before I post

[amanda1]

I think mine is 7 or 9 clicks on the rebound.....fwiw I would not swop my kw's for any other set up
As you can see she's nice and low on those kw's

[ahoooga]

Are you sure its not low because of the weight of your handbag you've left on the roof in the picture

[amanda1]

Are you sure its not low because of the weight of your handbag you've left on the roof in the picture

Yes positive ...........my handbag was empty
A more recent one then without the handbag

[pimpinyourmum]

Thanks Amanda.

Is that 7-9 clicks from min or from max?

I'm presuming ride height won't have a massive effect on 'crashiness'?

[rossi46]

I'm presuming ride height won't have a massive effect on 'crashiness'?

If too low then the spring will be very compressed - guess it'd need a certain window of travel otherwise it'd be like having 1000lb springs and 'crashiness' would result ??