Suspension
- Thread starter Pig boy
- Start date
Pig boy
Member
What would you suggest . What was the difference from the sport ? What wheel size is most comfortable
Sports have springs approximately 25mm shorter and with markedly higher spring rates (hardness) ; there is also a difference in the spring seat and possibly bump stops relating to the lower ride height. 17" wheels with lower profile tyres on these too. Certainly 20 years ago this contributed to the reputation of A2s as having a somewhat spartan ride quality where 15" wheels particularly along with more normal springs give better ride on our generally poor quality road surfaces.
Little Dog
A2OC Donor
I assume everything is to original spec and there including the ARB? If so the springs should be fine which leaves being under damped. If that is the case new dampers will stop any oscillating wallowing feel. Good quality tyres can also significantly change the way a car feels in a corner.
Good Evening Robin,
I am struggling with this statement. If you look at two 7zap pages for sport springs and non sport springs the spring part numbers are the same??????
Andy
PlasticMac
Member
I thought, not sure why, or where I read it, that the Sports had a sort of cup that allowed the springs to sit higher, to give the sports a lower ride height.
Mac.
Standard suspension has different front shock absorbers to sports suspension. Bilstein, for example, make different front shock absorbers for the standard suspension and the sports suspension...as shown below.
Front shock absorbers for standard suspension (Bilstein B4 22-105813)
8Z0413031AB
8Z0413031AD
suspension; shock absorbers Audi A2 (A2) 2005 year Audi EUROPA 411010
suspension<br/>shock absorbers Audi A2 (A2) 2005 year Audi EUROPA 411010 spare parts
Front Shock absorbers for sports suspension (Bilstein B4 22-196309)
8Z0413031AC
8Z0413031P
suspension; shock absorbers; for vehicles with spo... Audi A2 (A2) 2005 year Audi EUROPA 411015
suspension<br/>shock absorbers<br/>for vehicles with sports suspension Audi A2 (A2) 2005 year Audi EUROPA 411015 spare parts
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There are two different top underlays which are numbered 6 in the diagram below.
You can see from the build codes that you only get the top underlay with OEM part number 1J0512149 if your rear springs have weight range 10, ie. build code 0YK.
However, out of the two top underlays only 1J0512149B appears to be available aftermarket.
VW Codes Decoder
0YD = Weight range 4 installation control only, no requirement forecast
0YE = Weight range 5 installation control only, no requirement forecast
0YF = Weight range 6 installation control only, no requirement forecast
0YG = Weight range 7 installation control only, no requirement forecast
0YH = Weight range 8 installation control only, no requirement forecast
0YJ = Weight range 9 installation control only, no requirement forecast
0YK = Weight range 10 installation control only, no requirement forecast
Top Underlays
| 6 | 1J0 512 149 B | underlay | upper | 2 | PR-0YD,0YE, 0YF,0YG,0YH, 0YJ+1GA,1GL, G03,G22 | |
| (6) | 1J0 512 149 | underlay | upper | 2 | PR-0YK,G0L, 1GA,G07,G08, G22 |
Top Underlays
| 6 | 1J0 512 149 B | underlay | upper | 2 | PR-0YD,0YE, 0YF,0YG,0YH, 0YJ+1GA,1GL, G03,G22 | |
| (6) | 1J0 512 149 | underlay | upper | 2 | PR-0YK,G0L, 1GA,G07,G08, G22 |
1J0512149B
1J0512149
As you can see in the two photos above, the 1J0512149 version is thinner than the 1J0512149B version. I haven't measured the difference in thickness, but someone who did said the difference was about 6mm.
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When I did the review of the aftermarket springs out there it became obvious that there were a subset of springs that were ~25mm shorter and considerably higher spring rate than the standards - I've assumed they were Sport springs ever since. There was a thread 2-3 years ago here where someone either raised or lowered their car by around that amount with photographs and I picked up both the concept of there being distinct springs for sport models as well as - (mentioned again in @PlasticMac's post after mine) - specific rubber spring mounts that contribute to the height differential. I don't have a sport-suspended car in any of our three so I've not looked at the 7zap diagrams for that option code in earnest and I was unaware of the part number issue you've raised.
Edited : having gone and looked at the normal / sport suspension pages - they have cited the entire range of springs available on both diagrams, but then as noted by @carlston above there are distinct parts - the shock absorbers (part 8) and the bump stops (part 3) are distinct to the 1GA (normal) and 1GL (sport) codes. There is no identifier of which within the listed spring numbers are used on sport and normal models, but I would hazard a guess that (bearing in mind the wide range of weight-related spring selection parameters that affect which springs are on any given car) there is a Venn-diagram of some that are exclusively used on non-sport and some that are exclusively used on sports.
On the rear suspension it is probably again the case - distinct rubber piece (part 6) at the top end, and different shocks - as well presumably as a subset of the springs being chosen for normal versus sports.
Apologies for the blanket statement earlier - no-one has picked me up on that before.
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My car was the same (boaty feel). I have replaced shocks with Sachs shocks and this transformed the ride.
I would suggest that you first try a car with sports suspension, because it can very easily go from boaty to too firm feeling. I find even normal suspension with 16 inch SE wheels more on the firmer side. But definitelly the replacement of shocks solved the boaty feeling.
I would suggest that you first try a car with sports suspension, because it can very easily go from boaty to too firm feeling. I find even normal suspension with 16 inch SE wheels more on the firmer side. But definitelly the replacement of shocks solved the boaty feeling.
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@Robin_Cox
Thank you for taking the time to consider and respond to my post.
I could accept that part of the 7zap spring list are sport springs and the remainder non sport springs and it may well turn out the sport subset are shorter in which case 7zap is at fault for the lazy presentation.
I am curious to know which springs are which. Just looked at the Bilstein website and that is no use for finding which is which, like Carlston's post above shows for the shocks, Bilstein front B3 maps to the one Audi spring, the one ending AL. A case of "one size fits all" I suspect.
Andy
Thank you for taking the time to consider and respond to my post.
I could accept that part of the 7zap spring list are sport springs and the remainder non sport springs and it may well turn out the sport subset are shorter in which case 7zap is at fault for the lazy presentation.
I am curious to know which springs are which. Just looked at the Bilstein website and that is no use for finding which is which, like Carlston's post above shows for the shocks, Bilstein front B3 maps to the one Audi spring, the one ending AL. A case of "one size fits all" I suspect.
Andy
probably the only way we could work this out definitively would be for people with non-sport and sport-sprung models of various types to write in with their coloured spot codes on springs (if original and visible) or the suspension build codes on the build sticker. Compile the list once large enough to have representative data across a range of models and specifications and work it out which original 6Q0/8Z0 part numbers from the list on that 7zap page correspond to sport / non-sport.
Some of that I worked out using the cross-referred after-market models which do have measurements cited on Autodoc and similar pages and as I said, there are subsets of springs that are listed as ~308mm and ~330mm in overall height, often with the shorter springs having thicker wire and a calculated spring rate around 40% higher. The shorter / stiffer springs would therefore correlate with notional 'sport' models, although it is worth noting that the lightest 1.2tdi variant also has 293mm springs for aero reasons. Have a lovely weekend!