Which Coilovers and Why?

[Mick4]

I've been researching suspension upgrades, both on AZ and elsewhere. My car is almost a stripper, no sport diff, no ads - and I would like additional stiffness in the corners, less body roll, and overall crisper handling. Lowering of the vehicle is a benefit, but it is secondary to the desired handling characteristics. I am also willing to sacrifice some of the stock ride comfort quality, in pursuit of my goals if needed. It appears that coilovers would be superior to lowering springs? Given this information, which coilovers would you select and why? Would you also add a sway bar?

[ryannorthcott]

you say you want crisper handling, but by how much?
if you want an all out track set up i would go with the stasis motorsports system or bilstein PSS10
if you want simply lowering, with a bit less of a gain in performance, i would go with something like konis or vogtlands
if you want lowering, and a more substantial gain in performance with dampening adjustability, but still maintaining some level of comfort, i'd go with bilstein PSS9

[Mick4]

I'm leaning toward a track setup - looks like the Bilsteins are a bit less expensive than Stasis.

[ryannorthcott]

bilstein PSS9 or PSS10 are always a great choice, i don't run them myself but i've researched the shit out of coilover setups and they seem to be the most sought after.

[Mick4]

Your a lucky man living where you live, I frequent Whistler and my brother played for the Canucks for a bit....never been out your way, but I hear it's just incredible.

[ryannorthcott]

oh haha yeah it's incredible, if you're retiring. i'm looking to relocate actually!

[Mick4]

So my Coilover search eventually lead me down to PSS10's vs KW V3's. Though it really appeared that I couldn't go wrong with either option, I settled on the KW V3 in the end. I was able to obtain that option for about $300 less and through a distribution channel with which I am familiar. Hope to have these in hand and installed within a few weeks...more details to come.

[turbobaby]

Don't want to hijack this thread, but is there a problem using coilovers in the winter, ie. -10 to -20 celsius weather?

[Mick4]

Don't want to hijack this thread, but is there a problem using coilovers in the winter, ie. -10 to -20 celsius weather?

I'm just south of you and we get some crazy cold here too. the only potential concern I have is with ground clearance, because we get over 100" of snow a season. The nice thing about the coilovers is that the ride height could be adjusted if it becomes a probelm (an alignment woudl be necessary too.) The KW is stainless construction which was one of the factors in my decision as well with all the salt we see.

I can't see where temperature would provide any considerable disadvantage to the coilover setup vs. stock, but will defer to the opinions of other's here with more experience on that topic.

[rcaro900ss]

I was also interested in the KW V3. However, I did not see an application for our car on their site. I was wondering if you know if the V3's rebound and compression will be adjustable when installed on the car?

[CDesign]

A4 & S4 use the same kit. You can adjust compression, but I am not sure about rebound damping.

[Mick4]

When I get them installed I'll let you know more about what I find on the ease of on-vehicle rebound adjustment specific to our cars. This wasn't really a buying consideration for me as I planned on getting set up and leaving things in place.

I will tell you that in my search, pricing was head and shoulders better from CDesign then anyplace else. I had special consideration on a local install so I picked mine up through a friend. (But ended up paying more for the CO's)