floatinghat

Coil-Over ?

what are stock shock and spring specs for a8/s8?

What Extended Length:

What is Compressed Length:

Stroke:

What are the Damping Forces: Compression: ?? pounds, Rebound: ?? pounds

KjellA, how much lower is your sport suspension?

Are there any have pics of a 1-1.5 inch drop in front 1.5 ish in rear?

KjellA

The factory sport suspension is almost an inch lower than the normal set up, both front and rear. It needs a bit more lowering in the front IMHO.

The S8 with BBS CH here: http://home.c2i.net/kas/BBS-CH.jpg
has H&R coil-overs and is supposed to be 2 inches lower than stock (stock A8 I suppose). I would say it is a bit less rear, it seems to have about the same clearance at front and rear. Which means it has to be lowered more up front.

I don't have the other data you are asking for.

Best regards,
Kjell A

Steve99A8

kjell,

Needs to be lower in the front because of aestetic preference or because it pushes? Do you think that the H&R coilovers would perform well on a stock A8 (softer sway bars) or would I be better off getting the S8 upgrade?

Steve

KjellA

It needs to be lowered in the front mainly due to the looks. There is more clearance in the front, that's why. Lowering more is to visually make the car look the same height front and rear, even though it is lower at the front. Some wants the so-called "keilform" too, which means the front really looks lower.

H&R coil-overs will certainly perform great on a stock A8, no doubt about that. Even better than the S8 set-up. But you should change the sway bars regardless of the springs/shocks you choose.

The advantage with the coil-over system is that it allows full suspension travel regardless of ride height. Think of them as high-performance shocks and springs with separate, adjustable ride height that does not affect suspension travel. Simply the best.

If you lower your car using lower springs but keeping the stock or installing normal sport shocks, the shocks will have a shorter travel lenght, both on compression and rebound. So they will not utilize their full capacity. This is acceptable if you do a modest lowering, but at more than an inch you should be considering coil-overs seriously.

Best regards,
Kjell A

floatinghat

Kjella,

nice pics, I'm not sure what upgrades I'm going with yet and will take time to figure it out. What other sport spring/shock, sway bar combo's are worth a look? The coil overs are a nice idea I just wonder, when I try and sell the car in couple of years what the perception on the prospective buyers might be. I know you've talked of brake and suspension upgrades what mixes have piqued your interest. I notice a private party S8 forsale locally I'm going to try and drive it for a S8 comp.

?? on your web page is the a8 on the bottom wearing AMG "blocks"?

KjellA

The stock S8/A8 sport suspension are with Sachs sport gas shocks. You find similar shocks from for instance Bilstein or Koni. They don't have anything much better. Well, you could choose them adjustable of course, but same basic performance. Want even better shocks? You might check out some Öhlins... ;-)

Eibach has just started producing their own shocks (as they claim no exsisting product really give their premium springs the match they deserve), but none for the A8/S8 yet I'm afraid. I am looking forward to that product, they have had a lot of very good reviews on other cars.

Springs? Eibach, end of story.


I can't see any future disadvantage with coil-overs, a buyer should appreciate quality stuff. But people are strange beings, you never know. There are always one of these "the factory does everything the best possible way, so don't mess with none-factory parts"-guys. Non-sense of course.

If I should pick from the upper shelf I would choose Porsche 993/996 calipers (black or silver, not red!) front with 320mm rotors, braided lines, race grade fluid, move the current front brakes rear, and install a set of H&R coil-overs.

I would lower the car about 1,5 inch front and one inch rear (from stock A8), maybe a tad more. Modest, because I do believe the A8 is a beautiful car and you should not mess to much with it. It needs the last, small refining and personal touch, not a rework. IMHO of course.


What do you mean by AMG "blocks"? The wheels? Are you talking about the S8 with the 20"s at the bottom of the page? Yes, they look a bit like Lorinser/AMG Benz wheels, they really do....


Best regards,
Kjell A

KjellA

Forgot the sway bars/anti roll bars.

1) Get the A8 sport/S8 ones.
2) Eibach has some, but I am not sure if they have for the A8 yet.
3) Investigate different tuners

Best regards,
Kjell A

floatinghat

Springs? Eibach, end of story. you know I called Eibach and they told me they are still developing the springs for the a8. The a8 seams to have a differnt audience here in the states as most of the drivers that I've seem don't have that sporting look to them. I'm going to ask a friend with a resale lic. to see what the H&R will cost (I think I'm still 6-12 mths out on this project). RE wheels what is the correct offset for a/s 8's?

Brakes will be beyond these changes

KjellA

Eibach has the A8 springs over here, at least they say so. I can check avaiability and keep you posted.

You are right, very few people really upgrade their A8's even in europe. But there is probably a bigger market here all in all.

Offset: Just checked my wheels (the offset is stamped inside the wheel, look for ET and a number.) Surprisingly my 16"s 7-spoke winters had 37. I find that hard to believe, but they really had ET37 on them. The 18"s 7-spoke had ET48, which I what I thought was stock. But I have seen both 43 and 45 too. It might vary with the wheel type and size.

My 19"s have 42 or 43 I think. A bit hard to check, they are on the car....

Best regards,
Kjell A

KjellA

No information about the 40mm kit, anti-roll bars or shocks yet.

My experience with Eibach is that they lower a tad more than they say. So the 1" is probably perfect, just a bit lower than stock S8/A8 sport.

There is of course the possibility to forge the 1" front springs a bit lower, I know about people who can do this, without messing with how the spring is supposed to work.

So a set of 1" Eibachs, front forged down another 0,25-0,5" combined with yellow Konis or Bilstein sport shocks and S8 sway bars should do the trick.

Would cost 50% less than the H&R coil-over solution, and be almost as good if you don't need to change ride-heigh now and then. For road use and such modest lowering you probably won't feel the difference at all.


Se Eibach Europe application chart at link below.

Best regards,
Kjell A<ul><li><a href="http://213.69.56.88/eibach/typen/typlist-ausgabe.asp?typ=8+Zyl.&modell=A8+%28ab+94%29&art=1 &marke=Audi&imageField.x=49&imageField.y=9">Eib ach A8 products</a></li></ul>