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Just wondering if it was possible to change to sports suspension and how much it would cost! Wish I ordered it with the car.
Thanks
ANT

No idea as to an answer, however for the money it would cost (no doubt very expensive), you'd be far better off going for an aftermarket PSS9 system or the like, that's fully adjustable & will slaughter any Audi OEM system as far as handling goes. I've also ready that the PSS9 system does not comprimise normal ride quality. KW also do a system very similar to the PSS9's.

W8PMC wrote:No idea as to an answer, however for the money it would cost (no doubt very expensive), you'd be far better off going for an aftermarket PSS9 system or the like, that's fully adjustable & will slaughter any Audi OEM system as far as handling goes. I've also ready that the PSS9 system does not comprimise normal ride quality. KW also do a system very similar to the PSS9's.

Paul, are these kits coilover sets or just lowering springs? If they are coilover sets I would imagine one is talking over 1-1.5k to purchase plus 250-500 odd to fit/align and corner weights. I presume with the above, you also lose DRC. In adjustable systems, you can alter the damping rate etc to suit individual needs as you say. If they come close to stock comfort on softer settings that would be a big bonus.

Audi SS+ as far as I understand it only adds lowering springs to the existing dampers. They would be fairly simple to fit and one could just purchase the springs from vagparts (or similar) and get their trusted tuner to fit and align. I would imagine the whole affair would be no more than 500 quid or so fitted (+alignment), provided the springs are not silly money.

I'd probably agree with Paul, in that if you're going to spend money on suspension, you might as well go for a full system rather than just lowering springs, which would provide minimal handling advantages over the stock suspension, but with no option to return to standard (comfortable) ride quality.

Thanks guys!
ANT

I fitted H and R anti roll bars and lowering springs. Sits really nicely and really improved the handling.

I've had a dealer quote £3.5K for the SS+ retro fit.

However, I figure thats a little steep so I'm doing some snooping around to see whether that can be improved - especially bearing in mind it was only a £500 option.

Do it in the other manners suggested on this thread and you'll invalidate the warranty....again.

It does crack me up how people think that fitting an aftermarket system (just because there is one?) onto a £50+K car will automatically improve it.

IMHO, the one thing it will do is compromise it!

After all Audi probably only spent a few hundred million developing the RS4 so what would they know about handling, suspension, DRC and the like?

Still each to their own.

SR71 wrote:I've had a dealer quote £3.5K for the SS+ retro fit.

However, I figure thats a little steep so I'm doing some snooping around to see whether that can be improved - especially bearing in mind it was only a £500 option.

So it's a £500 option .... which means that it costs something less than £500 MORE in parts than standard suspension, but if the parts that are differnt cost say £3200 in "standard" form but £3500 in SS+ form - then the cost to retrofit will be £3500.

It's ALWAYS cheaper to fit something different in the first place than swapping after the thing you didn't want has been fitted.

SR71 wrote:Do it in the other manners suggested on this thread and you'll invalidate the warranty....again.

It does crack me up how people think that fitting an aftermarket system (just because there is one?) onto a £50+K car will automatically improve it.

IMHO, the one thing it will do is compromise it!

After all Audi probably only spent a few hundred million developing the RS4 so what would they know about handling, suspension, DRC and the like?

Still each to their own.

1)It will only invalidate the suspension warranty, you will have a warranty from the makers of the new suspension.

2)You'd be supprised just how much of an improvement there is, although I've only drove 1 B7 RS4 with coilovers but many B5 RS4's including my own. As for the DRC, Audi didn't seem to know too much when building the RS6

3)Your dead right, each to their own, and thats why I have sitting in my garage, a Milltek, wheels/tyres and coilovers just waiting for my car.

I-want-an-RS wrote:[1)It will only invalidate the suspension warranty, you will have a warranty from the makers of the new suspension.

2)You'd be supprised just how much of an improvement there is, although I've only drove 1 B7 RS4 with coilovers but many B5 RS4's including my own. As for the DRC, Audi didn't seem to know too much when building the RS6

3)Your dead right, each to their own, and thats why I have sitting in my garage, a Milltek, wheels/tyres and coilovers just waiting for my car.

1) Have you got a copy of that in writing coz I'll take one if you have? It is not what my dealer is suggesting although I wouldn't expect him to necessarily say anything else.

I'm going to chase this up further.

Personally, for resale purposes I'll stick with the Audi product especially if it cures the problem I want it to.

As for cost, I was expecting to take a hit for reasons PetrolDave mentions, but £3.5K still seems a bit steep...

2) Well the RS6 was the first iteration of the DRC system wasn't it?

Audi have only been racing cars for a few years so maybe they'll get better at actually designing a suspension that works for their cars in due course....fingers crossed.

Bearing in mind my car will spend most of its time on the road, some of its time on a track, I need a compromise.

3) Enjoy.

alex_123_fra wrote:Audi SS+ as far as I understand it only adds lowering springs to the existing dampers. They would be fairly simple to fit and one could just purchase the springs from vagparts (or similar) and get their trusted tuner to fit and align. I would imagine the whole affair would be no more than 500 quid or so fitted (+alignment), provided the springs are not silly money.

I'd suggest the same. Vagparts, eurocarparts, etc. should be able to supply the springs for a sensible amount of money. But I thought the SS+ included slightly uprated dampners too?

ChrisRS4 wrote:

alex_123_fra wrote:Audi SS+ as far as I understand it only adds lowering springs to the existing dampers. They would be fairly simple to fit and one could just purchase the springs from vagparts (or similar) and get their trusted tuner to fit and align. I would imagine the whole affair would be no more than 500 quid or so fitted (+alignment), provided the springs are not silly money.

I'd suggest the same. Vagparts, eurocarparts, etc. should be able to supply the springs for a sensible amount of money. But I thought the SS+ included slightly uprated dampners too?

Hi Chris, this is the bit I'm not sure about. If people have been quoted £3500 etc for the "upgrade", it may suggest that there are also different dampers. That is a perverse amount of money on a modification which will provide little benefit in my opinion.

Then again, it could just be a usual dealer clueless quote. RS71, I think that aftermarket suspension setups will undoubtedly improve the car's handling on a track. It isn't very hard to do this and mainly focuses on reducing body roll and increasing chassis rigidity with ARBs etc. What I'm not convinced by, is how the car would then behave on pot-hole filled british roads...where, I agree, it would probably be compromised.

Have got SS+ and its great. For the cost and knowledge that its Audi components you can't go wrong.

Have KW's V3s on my 300C SRT8 and it handles like a European car now and goes around corners. Have HR C/O on the Mustang and again it changed the car.

All that said, Stassis would be the only suspension I would put on the B7, although the standard SS+ is great and is all warranteed. Have been in a B5 with it and it was AWESOME!

alex_123_fra wrote:

W8PMC wrote:No idea as to an answer, however for the money it would cost (no doubt very expensive), you'd be far better off going for an aftermarket PSS9 system or the like, that's fully adjustable & will slaughter any Audi OEM system as far as handling goes. I've also ready that the PSS9 system does not comprimise normal ride quality. KW also do a system very similar to the PSS9's.

Paul, are these kits coilover sets or just lowering springs? If they are coilover sets I would imagine one is talking over 1-1.5k to purchase plus 250-500 odd to fit/align and corner weights. I presume with the above, you also lose DRC. In adjustable systems, you can alter the damping rate etc to suit individual needs as you say. If they come close to stock comfort on softer settings that would be a big bonus.

Audi SS+ as far as I understand it only adds lowering springs to the existing dampers. They would be fairly simple to fit and one could just purchase the springs from vagparts (or similar) and get their trusted tuner to fit and align. I would imagine the whole affair would be no more than 500 quid or so fitted (+alignment), provided the springs are not silly money.

I'd probably agree with Paul, in that if you're going to spend money on suspension, you might as well go for a full system rather than just lowering springs, which would provide minimal handling advantages over the stock suspension, but with no option to return to standard (comfortable) ride quality.

Alex, i'm no expert & i think your question has been answered within this thread, but i believe it's a fully adjustable coilover kit & it would do away with the DRC. Only read about it in Audi Driver last week & that kit was for an RS6, however i know it's available on the RS4.

I also think that Audi SS+ is a little more than just stiffer springs & a lower ride height & the £3000 retro price would suggest the same, as no way anyone could charge that for just springs.

Check out the following link. It shows whats in SS+.

http://forums.audiworld.com/rs4b7/msgs/61129.phtml

Cheers

Al

Had a result today when I discovered that contrary to my belief my car has SS+ fitted anyway!

Yet another indication of how little dealers know about the cars they're selling!

However, since my car still demonstrates the tendency to wander under extremely heavy braking from high velocities, I don't believe its the solution to the problem that I thought it would be.

So the search for a solution continues.