Vijay

Have any of you noticed any negatives? Is there any degradation of ride quality? The upgraded sways do remove a little of the "independence" of an independent suspension and I was wondering how this would affect the ride over rough pavement.

daveak05

they'll also reduce understeer.

i agree with your idea that there should be some loss of ride quality, but that's just the way it is.

i would go for the addtl stiffness, in cars that could truly benefit by it, and sacrifice a small amount of ride quality...if that was the choice...less roll, less dive.

lowering the car is another story entirely, and you're gonna suffer the results, always.

Evil Buddha

almost to normal. I am now running 35 psi cold at 73F.

gtc

It definitely feels more firm. I am running 41 psi cold.

Like you mentioned, the independence of the suspension is reduced because the sway bars essentialy lock the struts together.

When running over those long rolling bumps, instead of two bounces to even out, the car evens out after just one.

For the little bumps like the spaces between the concrete slabs on the freeway, you can feel it more.

To me, it just means the car feels that much more sporty; my passengers can't feel any difference at all according to my latest polls.

I think that the aggressive setting is just fine for me for daily driving. I can always get it set to soft when I get an oil change or something.

BTW, did you guys hear that there is a middle setting as well? I did not think that sounded like such a great idea because the bar would be installed lopsided with one side bolted on the agressive bolt, the other on the soft bolt.

So body roll is eliminated and I like the increased cornering confidence on the road. I enjoying boning out left and right... literally.

The parking lot ramp at my office is slanted upwards and at the top also has a right hand turn.

When I navigate this inclined turn, my left front tire lifts off the ground for a second. It's just interesting because I've had to learn how to take that corner...

I am still slowly learning the capabilities of my car but lately I have realized that this car really does make it easy for a novice to have fun driving. It's just so stable and really sticks those corners.

So the the ride is noticeably firmer but to me that's a plus.

daveak05

there aren't struts in the independant rear suspension, right?

i think what he was probably referring to was reduced independant rear suspension characterisitcs due to the increased stiffness...so you may get more rear wheel hop or skip...in handling.

gtc

yes, the suspension arm things... I'm not that technical but I try.

daveak05

well, one thing to consider is that if you go with too stiff or oversized rear sway bar, it can actually mimic a solid rear axle design...which wouldn't be advisable in this car.

Bob W.

...and it's interesting to note that the Euro Sports Suspension Plus has the SAME rear swaybar as the US spec RS4, so it would appear that Audi feels that this seemingly 'cheap' mod has certain adverse consequences.

daveak05

they may have chosen not to use larger/stiffer sway due to ride comfort.

Jet Jockey/A4 Pilot

Act like a solid bar.