Coil-Overs :
High quality coilovers unite different abilities:
1. A much safer riding quality
2. best car appearance due to individual tuneability to match your body kit, wheels etc
3. optimised and harmonising spring and damping characteristics
4. (optional) INOX technology, no problems with seized up spring seats even in winter times
5. front damper cartridge can be exchanged in case of malfunction
Only two manufacturers are recommendable for the A2:
FK and
KW
A)
www.fk-automotive.de offers 4 versions:
FK Highsport: no adjustable damping
FK Silverline: identical to Highsport but INOX construction in addition
FK Koenigsport: adjustable rebound damping for both axes (made by KONI, equivalent characteristics to the high quality yellow Konis). You can adjust the rebound damping of the front shocks in-situ. However the rear dampers have to be dismounted to be able to change the rebound setting.
FK Silverline-X: identical to Koenigsport but INOX construction in addition
All A2 coilovers by FK are characterised by a twin spring system for the front suspension. I.e. a pre-load spring combined with the main spring. The supplementary spring ensures a consistent preload of the main spring within all desired lowering settings.
FK coilovers related info and pics here:
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4727&page=8
http://www.der-a2.de/vbtest/showthread.php?t=22699
B)
www.kw-gmbh.de offers two versions:
KW VARIANT 1: no adjustable damping, INOX construction
KW VARIANT 2: adjustable rebound damping for the front axis only (made by KONI, equivalent characteristics to the high quality yellow Konis). You can adjust the rebound damping of the front shocks in-situ. INOX construction
All A2 coilovers by KW are characterised by a single main spring system for the front suspension. The advantage of such a solution versus a twin coil system is the increased residual spring travel reserve meaning there’s a reduced chance to get the spring en block. The downside is the non-existing preload device.
A direkt comparison between the FK and KW coilovers in terms of riding stiffness has not been conducted yet. However from reports of different users there seem to be only little difference.
The six introduced coilovers permit 30 to 50 mm of (legal/recommended) lowering, thus matching the German TUEV-regulations. But they still allow much deeper settings for the “hardcore” A2 drivers. Below 50 mm most probably shorter coupling rods are required (e.g.
Febi-Bilstein # 04585) to prevent the stabiliser anti roll bar from striking the drivetrain during compression stage.