? for those on coilovers or air setups on their S3. car shifting side to side

[ProjectA3]

Ok so my S3 is doing something odd and I've found at least two others that are having the same issue (this didnt happen on my same setup on my A3 quattro).

For those that are on coilsovers or airbags, and are lowered (not on springs), does your car have a "wandering" feeling to it. My car seems to shift to the left or right (not road crown) at random. It feels like the sway bar, or undercarriage is being shift to one side and then returns to its original position a few seconds later. It is really difficult to explain in words.

With my air setup it doesn't make a difference if I am at ride height, or lower, it still does it. I've now driven the car at a raised height and the issue seems to be a lot less common. I will test this theory more today.

I am wondering if it could be something with the sway bar end links, or the sway bar on the S3 in general that is different from the S3. My car is aligned to factory specs at ride height and i'm not running an aggressive setup on it. My suspension, wheels, and tires are swapped over from my A3 quattro to the S3 and this didn't happen on the A3.

One other person local to me with an S3 on air is having the same issue, as well as someone else i messaged with in Europe with an S3.

Is there anyone running an aggressive stance with coilovers or other air ride setups that is having a similar issue on their S3.

Before i start spending a lot of time and money to diagnose this, i wanted to see if we can make it a collective effort to figure it out.
I don't know if it's only a factor of the air suspension, or just the car being low. But it's weird because it never did it on my A3. I even had the S3 checked out by the install shop and everything was nut and bolted to make sure everything was correctly tightened.

anyone else?

[RingNut]

We had no issues on our S3, it wasn't super low but we were running R888's and -1.5º of camber.

Have you tried putting the stock wheels back on and driving it?

[R3_TDI]

We had no issues on our S3, it wasn't super low but we were running R888's and -1.5º of camber.

Have you tried putting the stock wheels back on and driving it?

Where can I find camber plates?

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[ProjectA3]

Unfortunately I can't fit my 18's on due to my TTRS brakes. I'm thinking I need another more in depth alignment.
What suspension are you using RingNut?


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[CbutterK]

Unfortunately I can't fit my 18's on due to my TTRS brakes. I'm thinking I need another more in depth alignment.
What suspension are you using RingNut?


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Hey Brian. So, I think it might be possible that you might have a bit of toe out either in front or both front & rear, at some point of suspension movement. It only takes .01 degree of toe out in the rear to make the car feel "wondering" depending on the suspension compression of each side. Even though you might have got it aligned at drive height, since your suspension is not static, when the height is not exactly the same on either side to the alignment, it could cause more toe in/out on one side that may cause the random "wondering". I believe compression induces toe out & rebound induces toe in, so if I am correct, you should be experiencing the wondering during acceleration, and correction during deceleration. Anyway, getting a more conservative alignment with a little more toe in at drive height might minimize the issue. If the issues persists after the new alignment, I'll be more than happy to let you try out a set of my 19's to see if it makes a difference. Le me know.

[Phanuel]

I've definitely got some minor wandering going on at highway speeds, 60-65 on stock S3 mag ride / 19s. I think I'm going to request an alignment check as well.

[ProjectA3]

Chad I think you nailed it on the head. The car doesn't do it nearly as much when I'm either coasting or using cruise control. But I can make it happen when I accelerate and decelerate even lightly.
I'll schedule with work to have the specs looked at. This alignment was done in a pinch by a VW technician friend so I could drive to Fastivus the next day. I'll have an Audi tech at work look at it this week.


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[ProjectA3]

My air lift setup came with camber plates built in


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[RingNut]

Hey Brian, it's Frank from Vegas. We had KW V3 on it.

[ProjectA3]

I had the alignment checked today and it is now set at -1.1 camber in front and +10' toe. I'll find out on my drive home if this helped/corrected it, or if its something else like tires. While i was sitting in the car everything evened out. this was printed after i got out.