Front end too high after TDI suspension rebuild - KYB RH1664 Springs

I don't think its very safe to run as it is...regarding handling.
Also if you had an accident. the insurance company may have an issue also.
Just a thought...
 
Thanks all for the replies, pics and info on your own experiences, greatly appreciated! :)

@philward - I left it all to the garage to sort, not sure how it was torqued up but will ask. Would torquing up fully laden as suggested affect ride height? Might be worth revisiting if so.
You are not looking to lower the car significantly it is only slightly high. I've never got the A2 wrong but I do know other cars I have torqued without weight on the wheels do ride slightly higher. This tends to be a DIY mistake, working without ramps makes it difficult to access joints. It would be surprising if a garage had made this mistake.
It's a simple check though, on ramps loosen two bolts, give car a good shake torque up. Also check the large rubber bush for the suspension arm having been fitted at the correct angle. From memory it is fitted horizontal and pulled down to connect the ball joint.
 
My car came with an expensive receipt for rear springs, having covered 40k upon removal they were clearly over an inch smaller than the replacements I bought and fitted.
Two of the standard (not lowering) rear springs that Eibach sell for the A2 are Eibach R10474 and Eibach R10923.

The Eibach R10474 is 303mm long and and is sold to replace 8Z0511115R.

The Eibach R10923 is 334mm long and is sold to replace 8Z0511115AS.

Both of these rear springs are for cars without OSS.

The shorter rear spring is stiffer so although there's an uncompressed difference in length of 31mm, the shorter rear spring wouldn't compress as much once fitted perhaps resulting in a lower rear ride height of about 25mm.

Maybe you had an 8Z0511115R rear spring or something similar?

Kilen and Lesjofors sell just one spring to replace both 8Z0511115L and 8Z0511115R. This might have the same specification as the Eibach R10474 spring, although you can't be sure as Kilen and Lesjofors don't list the specifications of their springs.
 
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Two of the standard (not lowering) rear springs that Eibach sell for the A2 are Eibach R10474 and Eibach R10923.

The Eibach R10474 is 303mm long and and is sold to replace 8Z0511115R.

The Eibach R10923 is 334mm long and is sold to replace 8Z0511115AS.

Both of these rear springs are for cars without OSS.

The shorter rear spring is stiffer so although there's an uncompressed difference in length of 31mm, the shorter rear spring wouldn't compress as much once fitted perhaps resulting in a lower rear ride height of about 25mm.

Maybe you had an 8Z0511115R rear spring or something similar?

Kilen and Lesjofors sell just one spring to replace both 8Z0511115L and 8Z0511115R. This might have the same specification as the Eibach R10474 spring, although you can't be sure as Kilen and Lesjofors don't list the specifications of their springs.
Great interesting info many thanks! Very possible however maybe it's my wishfull thinking that the car looked higher after the new tears fitted!
When Merlin called on Sunday his front height looked spot on will have see if he knows what springs he has although not keen on changing the springs again it's a bit of a faff!
 
Hi this may or may not help, not particularly an Audi A2 thing... but when new suspension parts are fitted its important to torque the main bolts such as for the wishbones to the front cross member when the car is at ride height, ie not jacked up with the suspension hanging on full droop.
If the bolts are fully tightened at droop, it doesnt allow the compliant rubber bushes / nylon bushes to relax back to the neutral position. In effect the bushes are acting like spring assisters. Carefully slackening the suspension bolts at ride height then retorquing them may help you ride issue.

This youtube video of a ford probably explains it better, its the same principle about 2.20 in

 
Hi all, as promised an update after the rear suspension was replaced with the following parts:

- KYB RH5514 Springs
- Monroe 23948 shocks
- Febi axle bump stops and top mounts
- Meyle shocker bump stops and dust covers

And here is the 'after' picture:

WhatsApp Image 2021-11-25 at 12.15.42.jpeg


As you can see a huge difference, it's definitely levelled the car to a much more reasonable level. I didn't measure the height of the rear but would estimate an additional 3" gain (at least) compared to the previous setup.

No markings on the older springs and judging by the previous owners I'd be very surprised if it had been intentionally lowered so probably some extremely tired aftermarket ones - just goes to show how much things can sag over time and high miles. It does definitely appear that the KYB springs will give you extra height over other manufacturers.

The front is still too high for my liking, and looks to be noticeably higher than it should be if using genuine Audi parts but I'll be running it as is through the winter and looking to fit the 1.4 petrol springs once the winter wheels come off next year. For reference, ride is firm but not crashy.

Thanks again everyone for the thoughts and advice, hopefully this thread will be useful to people looking at suspension upgrades in the future.
 
Hi all, as promised an update after the rear suspension was replaced with the following parts:

- KYB RH5514 Springs
- Monroe 23948 shocks
- Febi axle bump stops and top mounts
- Meyle shocker bump stops and dust covers

And here is the 'after' picture:

View attachment 88656

As you can see a huge difference, it's definitely levelled the car to a much more reasonable level. I didn't measure the height of the rear but would estimate an additional 3" gain (at least) compared to the previous setup.

No markings on the older springs and judging by the previous owners I'd be very surprised if it had been intentionally lowered so probably some extremely tired aftermarket ones - just goes to show how much things can sag over time and high miles. It does definitely appear that the KYB springs will give you extra height over other manufacturers.

The front is still too high for my liking, and looks to be noticeably higher than it should be if using genuine Audi parts but I'll be running it as is through the winter and looking to fit the 1.4 petrol springs once the winter wheels come off next year. For reference, ride is firm but not crashy.

Thanks again everyone for the thoughts and advice, hopefully this thread will be useful to people looking at suspension upgrades in the future.

I’ve got to replace my entire suspension asap, just wondering if you got all the required nuts and bolts from Audi? From Timmus’ definitive suspension thread if I understand it correctly I need 20 bolts and 12 nuts!
 
Hi all, as promised an update after the rear suspension was replaced with the following parts:

- KYB RH5514 Springs
- Monroe 23948 shocks
- Febi axle bump stops and top mounts
- Meyle shocker bump stops and dust covers

And here is the 'after' picture:

View attachment 88656

As you can see a huge difference, it's definitely levelled the car to a much more reasonable level. I didn't measure the height of the rear but would estimate an additional 3" gain (at least) compared to the previous setup.

No markings on the older springs and judging by the previous owners I'd be very surprised if it had been intentionally lowered so probably some extremely tired aftermarket ones - just goes to show how much things can sag over time and high miles. It does definitely appear that the KYB springs will give you extra height over other manufacturers.

The front is still too high for my liking, and looks to be noticeably higher than it should be if using genuine Audi parts but I'll be running it as is through the winter and looking to fit the 1.4 petrol springs once the winter wheels come off next year. For reference, ride is firm but not crashy.

Thanks again everyone for the thoughts and advice, hopefully this thread will be useful to people looking at suspension upgrades in the future.

The car is being photographed with no passengers or luggage. That could add 500kg assuming 4 adults weighing 100kg each and 100kg of luggage and the ride height would then look rather different.
 
I’ve got to replace my entire suspension asap, just wondering if you got all the required nuts and bolts from Audi? From Timmus’ definitive suspension thread if I understand it correctly I need 20 bolts and 12 nuts!
Hi Froggy, I did a bit more reading and on the advice of others' posts I found I didn't need half as many nuts and bolts listed in reality. Best double check for your needs, but here is what I purchased in addition to the suspension parts, all was fine with the garage.

Rear shock to axle:
2x N90517304 - M10x75 Hex Bolt (supersedes N90517302)
2x N10286110 - M10 Collar Nut (supersedes N10286102)
Rear shock top mount:
2x N90648402

Front shock stretch nuts and bolts:
2x N10207804
2x N10106402

I bought the full Meyle front strut top kit which came with all their respective nuts and bolts, so bear that in mind too. Good luck!
 
Hi Froggy, I did a bit more reading and on the advice of others' posts I found I didn't need half as many nuts and bolts listed in reality. Best double check for your needs, but here is what I purchased in addition to the suspension parts, all was fine with the garage.

Rear shock to axle:
2x N90517304 - M10x75 Hex Bolt (supersedes N90517302)
2x N10286110 - M10 Collar Nut (supersedes N10286102)
Rear shock top mount:
2x N90648402

Front shock stretch nuts and bolts:
2x N10207804
2x N10106402

I bought the full Meyle front strut top kit which came with all their respective nuts and bolts, so bear that in mind too. Good luck!
Fabulous - exactly what I needed thank you!
 
Is there no spec for A2 OEM ride height (wheel centre to underside of wheel arch)?
Without this dimension any checks and comparisons are subjective, at best. My FSI Sport, not parked straight and level, looks to be 330mm rear, and 350mm front. It is definitely OEM and it's rubber bits are excellent condition.
Mac.
 
Is there no spec for A2 OEM ride height (wheel centre to underside of wheel arch)?
Without this dimension any checks and comparisons are subjective, at best. My FSI Sport, not parked straight and level, looks to be 330mm rear, and 350mm front. It is definitely OEM and it's rubber bits are excellent condition.
Mac.
Yep same here - NS spring snapped at the weekend and a bit of it dropped off and rattled to the road. Drove it 75 miles with a busted spring no issue. Had to have car working for this weekend so had no time to consider suspension options and just got the local garage to bung new standard parts on. I knew it would make the front sit high and sure enough I was right.
Thing is a few years ago when I had a TDI I spent weeks weighing up options, in the end went for Bilstein and Spidan setup - same thing happened!
The mechanics say that things settle and level after some time but I never saw it happen before.
His advice was to renew the rear springs and have them compensate for it - a monster truck was not what I had in mind haha
 
There does not appear to be any ride height measurements for the A2 - only sport suspension is lowered. The way to check is the side rubbing strips are parallel to the ground, if they slope down to the rear then either wrong on the front or the rear need replacing and vice versa.

Here is a picture of my car on KYB standard springs.... The arch in the front wing is higher into the body by design to allow full suspension movement while cornering so the front gap "looks" bigger.

1638449542534.jpeg
 
There does not appear to be any ride height measurements for the A2 - only sport suspension is lowered. The way to check is the side rubbing strips are parallel to the ground, if they slope down to the rear then either wrong on the front or the rear need replacing and vice versa.

Here is a picture of my car on KYB standard springs.... The arch in the front wing is higher into the body by design to allow full suspension movement while cornering so the front gap "looks" bigger.

View attachment 88865
Great, so the rubbing strip should be our datum for ride height queries. My FSI Sport looks very much like yours, and is on Audi OEM springs.
Mac.
 
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