lowering springs a bad idea?

[ndfan81824]

i am about to put new wheels and tires on my 98 a4 b5 2.8l and i want to lessen the spacing from the body and the wheel. so i am thinking about putting lowering springs and wheels and low prof tires, although a local shop owner is telling me, " putting springs on this is a bad idea because it will cost alot to install, and it will also ride like a brick.." i also asked if i should put coil overs on it instead just to see what he would say, and he said the same thing. are lowering springs on my audi a bad idea or a good idea? if you have put them on your car let me know if i should put them on mine.... i also love the look of the lowered more agressive look. please leave your thoughts. thank you

[Dynamite]

From what you are saying then I would see if you can pick up some OEM sport springs and shocks, they will be a rougher ride than the standard ones but I think they are a good compromise. lower profile tires will also hurt ride quality, the rubber absorbs some of the bumps as well. also lower profile tires (IMO) make the gap look larger than higher profile ones. Most people on here have lowered cars, but you cant get away with too much on the standard shocks, thats why most people either run OEM sports, koni or bilstein shocks. It is easy enough to install them youself, the first time it will probably take about a day, you will need sockets spanners coil compressors, lube such as CRC 55 and jackstands. There is probably a DIY around for it. basicly you jack the car up, take the wheels off, compress the coils then undo the bolts holding the shocks to the bottom A arm and then the bolts holding the top of the assembly onto the car then take the whole assembly out, then take it apart, (front) you will need a hex key for this and make a tool, I just got a socket the right size and ground it flat on two sides and put the vicegrips on it then you can tkae the top retainer off the shock and the spring then the seat that sits on the perch. if you got lucky and got the shocks with all this already on them its only about half the time to do. the back is even easier after you have the assembly out you just undo a bolt and slide it all out. instillation is just the reverse with new shocks and springs. To be honest if you are spending most of your time on the free way then you probably wont notice it much. I change my sports out for the winter because our drive gets huge bogs from the trucks and water flowing down it so need the extra height but otherwise I would just have the sports in the whole time, and our roads are at best like your B class most of them are like C roads. If a shop is doing it they shouldnt charge you over about 6 hours max once you have done it a couple times then its not a very big job. Also be careful that they dont decide to use a gas touch to get bolts lose, this will wreck the rubbers in your control arms etc. If you have alternative transport and you can do basic jobs you self then I would give it a go, the worse that happens is it takes you a few days.

[Seerlah]

Same thing happened to me when I first went wheel shopping and went into a NJ shop to ask for advice on having a lower et (just really wanted to know how far it would poke, but then I found the 1010tire calculator). He kept telling me that I am going to rub the control arm on the rear and blah blah blah. I was like. A lower et will push it further away from that, but I didn't say anything.

Anyways, pick and choose your suspension setup with proper wheel offset, tire size, and you will be fine. Better than fine actually, because will would be increasing your suspension quality (ie less body roll).

[theskuh]

I got these http://www.kermatdi.com/servlet/-str...ng-Real/Detail with bilistens when I was shock/spring shopping. They are the stock sport height so not too low. I needed some clearance because of snow. They are stiff but ride really nice. I have a big neuspeed I think sway in the back. It does pretty good. Though I am older and not looking for the go karts I had when I was younger.

I knew I would never swap or change springs for winter/summer etc. So coilovers were a waste for me. I wanted something set and forget. My buddy had the eibachs springs with the bilistins and his car was lower and road worse. But I guess it handled better? but for a street car its whatever. If I wanted a go kart I would have a miata.

[SeekB00st]

Go with coilovers.

If you get lowering springs by themselves you will be in need of shocks withing 20k. It's best just to do it all at once so that you do not look back with regrets and further installation costs.