kW coilovers reallyyyyyy harsh

[Rond379]

Ok so I recently picked up a 1997 a4 Quattro 1.8t 5spd for $700 and have been fixing her up and everything is solid I only have one issue left to deal with but anyway... The car came with almost brand new kW coilovers(and an apt exhaust and the thing is mint =) lol) and of course the car was slammed to the floor. Now I raised the height (25 1/4" fender to ground all around and about a Half inch max wheel gap) and threw on the wheels from my 2001 a4. When it was slammed it didn't ride absolutely terrible but It was pretty bouncy, now that I raised it to a reasonable height it's incredibly stiff (cause to raise it you compress the springs, which I always thought it was the other way around).
Now my question is, is that just these coilovers, springs, setup of the car?? And is there anything I can do to keep this ride height while not having to sacrifice comfort, short of changing the springs, as I wanted to leave it like this for the winter, or am I just gonna have to find a happy a happy medium?

[GrapeBandit]

what kw's do you have? I have v2's with adjustable rebound at 23" gtf and they arent harsh or bouncy. I never drove on them above my current height, so I cant tell you if they get harsher as they go up in height.

[Rond379]

Yeah like you can't even budge my suspension by hand in the slightest. And my bad I should have mentioned that they are v1s so as far as I know you can JUST adjust ride height.

[GrapeBandit]

yea, v1's are only height adjustment. just so you know, the v1's, v2's, and v3's all share the same spring rate too

[Furly]

I have ST's, on both my cars actually, and they ride just fine. My A6 was on them and ftg was also 25" And they rode beautifully.

[GrapeBandit]

OP. is this your first audi? if not, first audi with coilovers? first coilover on any car? what was the suspension on previous cars you owned?

[walky_talky20]

I will say that while I love the handling provided by my ST coilovers (KW V1's without the stainless steel), I am not in love with the ride quality. It's live-able, but just. It does not soak up the bumps so much as tell you all about them. The luxury ride quality is fully removed the car. It is very tight - not bouncy, though. Even given large bumps, it will not bounce twice. Your butt follows the road surface exactly.

The best way I can put it is this: If you want to know exactly how smooth a particular road is, just take my car - you'll know.

[Gberg888]

When you put the coils all the way up, the springs are somewhat compressed making the ride harsh. Try lowering the car to give the springs some space to move. This happened on my R32 when I got her:

See how much the spring is compressed because the spring perch isnt spun down... could be your issue.

[turbo3]

You have them wound up to tight it sounds like. When it was slammed its possible you where on the bump stops. That will cause it to be bouncy.

[A4Moby]

I just installed Bilstein PSS9s. They are all the way up (minimum lowering as spec'd in their install guide) and even on the "comfort" setting of 9 they are somewhat harsh. I suspect it is the same issue as mentioned in the previous posts. Given how I use the car I can't really drop any lower so I'm considering a spring rate change.

[Rond379]

I will say that while I love the handling provided by my ST coilovers (KW V1's without the stainless steel), I am not in love with the ride quality. It's live-able, but just. It does not soak up the bumps so much as tell you all about them. The luxury ride quality is fully removed the car. It is very tight - not bouncy, though. Even given large bumps, it will not bounce twice. Your butt follows the road surface exactly.

The best way I can put it is this: If you want to know exactly how smooth a particular road is, just take my car - you'll know.

that's like exactly what I was dealing with, don't get me wrong it still handles insane I just basically completely lost my suspension.

[RoadRage]

that sounds terrible. are there any coilovers that actually provide a comfortable ride?

[walky_talky20]

I just basically completely lost my suspension.

ROFL because TRUTH.

[Rond379]

im pretty sure you guys were right tho I must have been just past the highest recommended spec, I dropped the front down 3 turns and the rear one and a half and now its more leveled out (the front sat a tiny bit higher before) and the ride completely changed so its all good now. I kinda wish I coulda kept it at the height I had it at for the winter but its not too far off, it rides much better and it looks a little better now too =) (not to mention, as strange as it is, my steering got easier to turn when I dropped it for some reason).
thanks for the help guys, now I just gotta do the radio and speakers, get my alignment done finally when I get to work tm, and figure out this speedo issue and I should be good to go.

[turbo3]

that sounds terrible. are there any coilovers that actually provide a comfortable ride?

Lmao....no such thing

[A4Moby]

Lmao....no such thing

That can't be true. I've done my own revalving (building my own shim stacks) of coilovers and smooth bore shocks for my Lexus GX460 and Landcruiser FJ-62 (I do realize that these are vastly different vehicles than our Audis with different end goals, but the basics are the same). My Landcruiser took me forever because I had never valved shocks before (I used Bilstien 7100 remote reservoirs on my Landcruiser). I probably did the front 5 times and the rear 3 or 4. But it went from almost unrideably harsh on both big and small bumps to, eventually, perfect. The experience driving at 70mph (solid axle, leaf sprung, lifted 6K lbs truck) was tremendous. Small bumps were soaked up and big hit were kept mostly off the bumps, on road and off. My GX460 was extremely harsh in the front stock. I replaced the front coilovers and rear shocks with Radflo 2.5". Given my experience with the Landcruiser I was able to work with Radflo to get the initial valving and springs 90% to where I wanted from the start. I did swap coils once, then did one compression shim swap, then back to the initial coil rate and it is near perfect. I might add a bit more mid range compression in the front and rebound in the rear.

I'm going to drop my ride height a bit as a starting point. If it is still too harsh I'll swap springs or pull them apart and revalve them or both. I can tell right now that I would like a little more compression and a lot less rebound...

[turbo3]

That can't be true. I've done my own revalving (building my own shim stacks) of coilovers and smooth bore shocks for my Lexus GX460 and Landcruiser FJ-62 (I do realize that these are vastly different vehicles than our Audis with different end goals, but the basics are the same). My Landcruiser took me forever because I had never valved shocks before (I used Bilstien 7100 remote reservoirs on my Landcruiser). I probably did the front 5 times and the rear 3 or 4. But it went from almost unrideably harsh on both big and small bumps to, eventually, perfect. The experience driving at 70mph (solid axle, leaf sprung, lifted 6K lbs truck) was tremendous. Small bumps were soaked up and big hit were kept mostly off the bumps, on road and off. My GX460 was extremely harsh in the front stock. I replaced the front coilovers and rear shocks with Radflo 2.5". Given my experience with the Landcruiser I was able to work with Radflo to get the initial valving and springs 90% to where I wanted from the start. I did swap coils once, then did one compression shim swap, then back to the initial coil rate and it is near perfect. I might add a bit more mid range compression in the front and rebound in the rear.

I'm going to drop my ride height a bit as a starting point. If it is still too harsh I'll swap springs or pull them apart and revalve them or both. I can tell right now that I would like a little more compression and a lot less rebound...

Way more work then what the average person will want to do.

If you want comfort, leave it stock height or go air. No one lowers their car and thinks about comfort, it's looks or performance.

[A4Moby]

Way more work then what the average person will want to do.

Yeah, I buy that But I also have found that it is very hard to buy any suspension and have it be exactly what someone wants. I just have learned to accept that if I really want a suspension to meet my expectations it is not going to happen out of the box (any box).

[rodgertherabit]

I love my V2s. I would actually like to figure out how to ajust the fronts a touch stiffer actually.