DRC Delete - Koni/CRS Performance Review

[bmostert]

Afternoon all,

The dreaded DRC decided to poo it's pants a couple of weeks ago! Front shocks were weeping and one of the flexis to the front. Given the car is getting on for 10 years old now, I decided against replacing with a new DRC shock as I'll just end up chasing all the pipes and shocks eventually every couple of months, along with the costs of getting a re-charge of the system every time!

Having looked at the various options I originally had my heart set on a set of B16 Bilsteins as I liked how easy they are to adjust the damping, they are also on offer down to just over £1500 at Demon Tweeks. The only problem being there is a huge lead time at the moment, nobody has stock until end of March and I couldn't drive any longer with the car handling how it was.

The other option I'd looked at was the Koni setup from CRS Performance, these were in stock so it was a no brainer.

All fitted last night and so far absolutely brilliant.

Handling feels very similar to Dynamic in terms of how flat and stiff it is through a corner, but the composure over bumps/potholes/drain covers is 10x better, it felt very crashy before if I went over the same drain cover in Dynamic. The only difference I would say in the handling compared to Dynamic is the front end is a little less pointy, I have an S4 rear antiroll bar (21.7mm instead of the RS4's 16mm) on the way from ebay to solve this.

I'm booked in for 4 wheel alignment in a couple of weeks so I'll update if anything changes after that.

And just as a disclaimer, Steve from CRS isn't aware I'm posting this. I'll be honest I had my doubts, a lot of Steve's posts (no offence if you read this Steve!) come across as a sales pitch (hence wanting the B16 kit originally), I wasn't expecting the Koni setup to perform better than the stock setup but I've been pleasantly surprised!

For anyone that's on the fence about what kit to go for I'd 100% recommend the Koni kit moving forward!

[vishmr2]

Nice review and glad to hear there are some alternatives. I'm still rocking the DRC but the day may come when it'll need replaced - will bear this in mind.

[Mr_orange]

Thanks for the review.
Is this on original springs or the H&R they offer?

[bmostert]

I've used the original springs as I wanted to retain the original ride height.

[Mr_orange]

I've used the original springs as I wanted to retain the original ride height.

You have a pm