djtnut

Hi all,

I'm familiar with the Arnott steel spring conversion kit, but are there others? Any that have adjustable ride height that could be done for winter/summer driving?

I wouldn't mind a slightly firmer ride as I've always found the air suspension to be somewhat floaty, but maybe that's more a factor of the sway bars?

Anyway, what other options are out there for steel spring conversion kits? Any 3-way adjustable coil-overs or anything like that?

Thanks, David

djtnut

btw, anyone in Northern VT with a steel spring allroad I could get a demo from?

djtnut

Bueller? Bueller?

djtnut

What about this steel spring conversion kit from ECS? Seems like it's more comparable to Arnott's kit since they don't have the ride height adjustment that the 2Bennett kit has.

Audi All Road 2.7T Suspension - c2130 - Coil Spring Conversion Kit - ES#2538842

I'm actually leaning toward the 2Bennett kit because of the ride height adjustment, but not sure that I really need the adjustment...

Anyone have thoughts?

MrKid

It comes down to your personal preference. There are two things to consider.

1) You cannot adjust while driving any longer. If you want to go to level 3 for really deep snow, you will need the extended 2Bennett kit. But, as they warn in the description, this is not good for your cv joints on the highway. Do you want to climb under the car on an onramp and lower your car?

2) The standard 2Bennett and ECS setups will put the car at level 2. The 2Bennett lets you drop the car to level 1. I've driven approximately 1/4 of a mile on level 1 over New England roads, and will never do it again!

I would go with a quality fixed height coil over, possibly with adjustable dampening to get the ride you want, on the roads we drive in the northeast.

djtnut

Thank you, this was super helpful! Really appreciate it! I called 2Bennett after posting this morning and spoke to them for a few minutes about what I'm looking for. They explained the same thing about burning up the CV joints on the highway.

I was thinking that if I got the extended 2Bennett setup, I'd run it at Level 2 in summer time and Level 3 in winter time. The other thing to consider... Do I really need height adjustment. It's a nice thing to have, but I would think that setting it at Level 2 and forgetting it would be fine also. With my current air susp, I leave it at Level 2 99% of the time anyway. Mud season on dirt roads and deep unplowed snow are about the only times I ever really raise the car and both of those cases are fairly rare. I wish there was more of a need to raise for deep snow though. LOL

So... maybe the Arnott fixed position coilovers would be fine and a lot cheaper...

MrKid

That's probably the route I'm going to go. My front bags leak, so I have to park it at 3 or it drops to the ground. The bonus with converting, is you get to sell all of the usable equipment from the air set up, to mostly offset the cost of the coil overs.

djtnut

I talked to a shop in my area about the 2Bennett setup and they discouraged me from that option because of the salt/corrosion caused by winters here in Vermont. They said that after a winter, it is unlikely that I'd be able to adjust the ride height again because of how fine the threads are (they'd be gunked up with rust, etc). So it looks like the BLAU or Arnott coil springs (not coilovers) would be the best setup for those of us in the northeast and they're quite a bit cheaper too.