On-car adjustible shock options?

[SpacemanSpiff]

I've been reading and searching for a while now but haven't really found exactly what I'm looking for. I am planning to put a set of Koni Sports on my car in the next month or two, but I'm really not liking the whole idea of pulling my suspension to make a simple dampening adjustment (not that I'm going to be doing it often, but it'd be nice to dial it in without pulling it from the car). I picked Koni because they seem to offer a good mix of price and reputation for quality, so that's what I'm looking for in an alternative. I've seen a post or two where people reference their adjustable Bilstein shocks, but I'm assuming they're speaking of a C/O setup (I haven't been able to find any adjustable shock-only options from them).

Anyway, I'd appreciate any suggestions y'all might have.


Thanks!

(oh, and coilovers aren't even an option for my situation, so please don't pour salt in the wounds and try to 'convert' me ;)

[hercfe]

get coilovers or be ready to pull the shocks every time. sorry bud, but the options for an inverted adjustable strut just aren't there for the B6.

[a420]

Hello,

I just recently put Tein coilovers with dampening settings on my car. Since the front shocks setting was on top of the shock rod, what I did was drill a 3/8" hole on top (pillow mount location) through the body and in to the battery/brake master cylinder bay--make sure it is center where the adjustment on the shock is. **Be careful not to drill through the hard brake lines on the driver side when you drill from the bottom up** Now, when I want to make adjustments, I just pop the battery cover off and sneak a long allen wrench through to set my dampening.

I just looked at the Konis, and the adjustment knob is huge. Does that knob come off or is it fixed? This post may not help if it is fixed.

[onlyaudis]

Bilstein PSS9 coil overs are about the only choice for the B6 A4. 2 minutes to adjust all 4 on the car. they have a dial on the bottom portion of the shock, 9 setting that adjust compression and rebound. drawback is the price.

[hercfe]

a420, great idea, but the point of dampening adjustable shocks is to be able to adjust them for use at the track. I WOULD NOT track a car that has a hole drilled through the shock tower without any significant R&D into the loss of rigidity in that area. This is a bad idea, unless you are an engineer and have the empirical data to back up its safety at speed and under high load.

[SpacemanSpiff]

I just looked at the Konis, and the adjustment knob is huge. Does that knob come off or is it fixed? This post may not help if it is fixed.

The Koni's I've looked at require you to pull them off of the car, compress them all the way by hand and turn the piston to the setting you want.

[SpacemanSpiff]

drawback is the price.

And the fact that they're coilovers... Bummer.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess so far I still have Koni's in my future. Not a horrible fate, I just hoped for a more logical adjustment mechanism.

[EBG 18T]

STaSIS Tracksports (koni based) or the Ohlins.

[JustinCase]

Wait what's wrong with coilovers again?

[SpacemanSpiff]

Nothing's wrong with them per say, however I'm looking at cost and the fact that the highest setting on most coilovers is lower than I want to go. I'm moving to sport springs that I already have in-hand, so a set of $1700 PSS9's (for example) is a tad steep compared against a ~$450 set of shocks. On top of that, I'd just set-and-forget anyway, so the extra beans for adjustability would be completely lost on me.

[EBG 18T]

you could send in a set of Koni dampers and have lower adjusters installed. ~$275 a shock for modification.