It has been awhile. In a couple of months I am going to do a maintenance blitz on my S4. Included in that will be new shocks. I bought the Bilstein sport shocks with the intention of using my OEM springs on them. After further research and a call to Bilstein I discovered that these shocks are not designed to be used with OEM springs. I ended up ordering the Neuspeed performance spring kit. I had no intention of lowering my car but now it will be about 3/4 of an inch lower. I can live with that and it should look and handle better. I am concerned about altering the suspension geometry. With such a subtle lowering do you think I can get away with a standard all wheel alignment or will this necessitate buying adjustable control arms?
Im lowered substantially on coil overs and a standard alignment is just fine. I think you will be ok. Once you start getting past 1" in the front you may have to worry about adjustable arms for the camber in the front. Im over 1.5" lower in the front and only have a tiny bit of negative camber (im still on stock upper arms. I wouldnt worry, I think you are over thinking it.
With the amount your lowering the car you really shouldnt see a need for adjustment. I think the range is about 1 inch or more before things start to move out of range.
I was in the same boat as you recently. I love how the stock suspension feels and works. I put the money back into getting a stocks suspension.
I wouldn’t worry about it with only a 3/4" drop, that is barely going to affect anything. It will have a slight amount of camber but not enough to be problematic from a tire wear point of view. Regardless of the drop, I always suggest getting a 4 wheel alignment on these cars when you do shocks/springs, especially if you have are replacing tired old suspension components as sometimes you have to drop part of the subframe (like in the rear). If you are going through the hassle, spend an hundred extra and pick up new upper/lower end links and inner and outter tie rod ends to save time, money and aggravation.
For a daily car, the cup kit is ideal, but if you want to really improve the handling on these pigs you need a fully adjustable suspension. I just had my car professionally balanced and corner weighted with a track alignment, it handles a million times better now. It sits a bit funny, but its worth it for how well it feels.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f202/sewermonsterBW/IMG_8255_zpspxorrv9z.jpg
Good news…thanks for the input.