Advice on changing from Drc to coilovers!

[Dannorton]

Hi all,
I'm after some advice on fitting coilovers to my b7 rs4, I should have them for the weekend and I'm wanting to know what sort of job it is to fit them and if there is anything I need from Tps before I get cracking??

I have heard that the upper pinch bolt can get seized, does this need to be removed to fit the coilovers????

I have searched the forum but can't seem to find any info on fitting coilovers, so any info would be greatly appreciated!!

[coffey555]

Uprated ARB's as roll control is a bit lacking without the DRC.

[moondog01]

Just done mine and only real difficult bit was the 10mm bolt holding both the upper arms to front steering knuckles was seized. Yes bolt needs removing to drop the upper arms. Knuckles are cast aluminium alloy and needed heat and crc to work bolts loose. Keep flame away from rubber boots on rod ends of upper arms as you're applying heat. The rest of job reasonably simple. Watch out when u drop upper arms, as wheel hub/brake assembly will want to fall, and may put weight on antilock brake cable (electric). You dont want to stuff that up.
Rear shock removal easier. You will need to drop sway bar bolts either side to allow hub assembly to drop down sufficently to get old springs out. I found it easiest to cut old springs out at that stage.

[Dannorton]

That great, thanks!

[Dannorton]

Just a quick update on this,
I fitted the coilovers this weekend, DO NOT REMOVE PINCH BOLTS!! There's no need to spend 4 hours heating up an smashing the hell out of them to get them out!
All you need to do is first off, drop the whole thing down by removing the 3 bolts on the engine bay,
This then gives you enough room to remove the 2 16mm nuts and bolts with 2 spanners, that hold the back of the upper arms onto shocker top!
The only pinch bolt to remove is the one holding the track rod end on but that comes out easy enough! No more than 20mins to remove each front shock!

[moondog01]

Nice one getting the job done. Yep, I spoke to a mechanic before I did mine who said the way you did it was possible also. I always like to find the most difficult way to do things, hence the heat treatment. Same result in the end. I've had my coilovers in a couple of weeks now, and loving the newfound confidence in the ride. No more slowing to a crawl over speedhumps. A bit of tweaking the rebound/bump settings on shocks needed possibly, I set to KW factory setts. And the rear end feels a lot stiffer on cornering. Overall pretty stoked with the result.