Suspension mods

A5/S5/RS5
#1

Hi guys!

Resident A5/S5/RS5 section topic creater here LOL (trying to keep the subforum alive).

So yesterday, I was cruising around trying to see what coilovers are available for the RS5 and I ran into the H&R RSS+:
http://www.hrsprings.com/application/search/results/3/1542/2013

(which is awesome since almost no one makes aftermarket parts for the RS5)

I’m hoping to combat body roll/brake dive and have sharper response. I rode shotgun in Achtuning’s development Golf R that has the RSS and it really wasn’t bad. But the RS5 rides pretty hard and I don’t mind it.

But Coilovers is in essence, uncharted territory for me. I was going to do suspension mods on the B8 S4 but decided to order a RS5 instead (thankfully so, since it’s significantly faster around a race track).

I’ve thought about trying sway bars first (to level the car through corners better). But what’s the pros/cons of having a stiffer sway bar vs coilovers? In essence, both reduces the ‘yield’ of the suspension and transferring more of the forces to the tires directly. Stiffer sway bars ties two ends of the axle together more. But I’m trying to weigh if I should start with coilovers and play around with what dampening rate I like (I guess for daily and track) and get away with stock sway bars or go the cheaper option for sways and then get coilovers.

Thoughts on coilovers/suspension mods would be most appreciated. I always want to learn and make informed purchases… ;D

#2

Is there an Alu Kreuz for the RS? It really helps with steering precision in A4/S4 applications. I’m assuming the RS has he same crappy factory brace.

#3

Yeah, there is an Alu-kreuz for the RS5. I already have it installed.

There was an improvement from the stock brace, but not as pronounced as it was on the B8 S4.

I’ll take a pic of the stock one later. :slight_smile:

#4

Don’t do it. Coilovers and daily drivers never mix.

Keep that thing running as intended from Audi and buy a track car, seriously! Learn from my experience, as I tried to thread the middle with my S4 just like you are attempting (brakes, coil overs, etc.)

#5

I have bilstien B12 series on my 2012 S5, stock prings and the aftermarket sways, links, and alukruez that eurocode offered. I love the shocks. OE left rear strut was leaking oil after 8k miles. So I decided to get some aftermarket shocks. I kept the OE springs. and now my car no longer scrapes when heading in and out of the driveway. it did scrape with the stock shocks. reason: bilsteins require more force to initially start compressing compared to the OE struts… ugh!! looks like bilstein doesn’t offer anything for an RS5 on their north american website. sorry, nevermind

#6

How about you pull an OE # off of one of the rear struts and I can do some research for you. I found nothing offered for my vehicle initially, but after googling the OE #, I found the B8 struts are all the same between the various B8 vehicles, A5,S5,A4,S4,Q5 except the electronic shocks, those are different.
I used bilstein #24-145895 front $239.99 each
and
#24-145992 for the rear $118.45 each

again, I do not know if these will work for the RS5, but that OE number can help me verify what you can use.

#7

I hear Bilstein is the best, I have a set of KWs that have worked fine for me

#8

I like the stock RS5 shocks and springs. It was fun to play with my buddy’s RS5 and the different ADS settings.

So I say to start small and go with sway bars. It would also be a good idea to get better end links at the same time. 034 Motorsports sells sway bar end links for the front and rear.
Front: http://store.034motorsport.com/products/chassis-components/audi/a4-s4-a6-s6/sway-bar-end-link-motorsport-front-adjustable-b8-audi-a4-s4-a5-s5-q5.html
Rear: http://store.034motorsport.com/products/chassis-components/audi/a4-s4-a6-s6/sway-bar-end-link-motorsport-rear-b8-audi-a4-s4-a5-s5-q5.html

#9

Sways first. They’ll set you up better helping decide if you need to go further.

#10

Still thinking about it… Thanks for chiming in guys!

I do like the balance of the car right now and would like to tighten things up more while preserving that balance.