FSD's and Weitecs - tomorrow!!

birdsd01

birdsd01

A2OC Donor
Weather permitting I am booked into Awesome GTI for an FSD / Weitec fitting session tomorrow :D:D I am very excited, infact this is better than Christmas :eek: (how sad am I?? rheotorical !) I am also getting the the strut top bearing done aswell, so hopefully this will see me right for the life of the car. I will post tomorrow evening with a first impression. My drive back from Manchester will hopefully give me time to try them out ;)

Thanks to all who have advised me on this upgrade, it all started after going for a passenger seat ride in Tank!! (crickey, that car can change direction effortlessly! ) If mine is half as good then I will be happy.

Cheers,

David
 
Best of luck for tomorrow - sorry to have cost you so much money, by taking you out in Tank!

I'm sure that the expenditure will be worthwhile though - take a good book with you, or otherwise, ask them to drop you off at the Trafford Centre, which is only about 5 miles away. You can keep yourself amused far better there!

Cheers,

Mike
 
I am having my Weitec 30/30s and FSDs fitted tomorrow too!! I am really excited too... I haave got new strut bearings and dust covers, spring seats and bump stops which I cut down by 30mm today. The glue job went OK too. I glued the scrap bits together to test the strength and I reckon its probably stronger than the PUR itself.

I will let you know how I get on too and what I think of the new set up.

I am also having the brakes front and rear changed for Mintex discs/pads/shoes and the brake fluid changing at the same time tomorrow too. I have got 2 new numberplates made and also got some chrome bulbs for front and rear indicators and side flashers, 9 tower white LEDs for sidelights, a new floppy wiper blade and some Halfords extreme bright headlamp bulbs to go in too along with a K&N. I am hoping all of this work along with a Stealth cam belt/water pump change and remap will make this a great car for me to keep for another 5 or 6 years.

I will be wanting a cruise fitting too within the next couple of months. That should finish it off nicely and finally when my front tyres need changing next I will get some 17" RS4/TT/Golf GTI/R32 wheels or similar as the icing on the cake.

Cheers guys,
 
Lee S said:
I will be wanting a cruise fitting too within the next couple of months. That should finish it off nicely
Click to expand...

Well, as I've said before, if you want the best job of cruise control fitting, just give me a shout when you're ready.

Hopefully, there'll be a midlands social which will be far more convenient than travelling up to Manchester for you in the next few weeks (hint, hint, social secs!!).

Cheers,

Mike
 
Lee S said:
I am having my Weitec 30/30s and FSDs fitted tomorrow too!! I am really excited too... I haave got new strut bearings and dust covers, spring seats and bump stops which I cut down by 30mm today. The glue job went OK too. I glued the scrap bits together to test the strength and I reckon its probably stronger than the PUR itself.

I will let you know how I get on too and what I think of the new set up.

I am also having the brakes front and rear changed for Mintex discs/pads/shoes and the brake fluid changing at the same time tomorrow too. I have got 2 new numberplates made and also got some chrome bulbs for front and rear indicators and side flashers, 9 tower white LEDs for sidelights, a new floppy wiper blade and some Halfords extreme bright headlamp bulbs to go in too along with a K&N. I am hoping all of this work along with a Stealth cam belt/water pump change and remap will make this a great car for me to keep for another 5 or 6 years.

I will be wanting a cruise fitting too within the next couple of months. That should finish it off nicely and finally when my front tyres need changing next I will get some 17" RS4/TT/Golf GTI/R32 wheels or similar as the icing on the cake.

Cheers guys,
Click to expand...


Wow now thats some work done why not get the oil and filter done just to finish it off lol(just kidding);), good luck both of you, deffinetly on the wish list will have to save for them

Cheers Phil
 
How much are you paying if you don't mind me asking - for FSDs, springs and fitting?
 
FSDs were £413, Springs were £120 and fitting is 3 hrs at £45 per hour, so about £660 ish for the suspension. I am having the brakes done as well though, so that will probably add another £100 to the bill.

Well I dropped her off this morning and will pick her up again at about 16:30. I will NOT be going straight home either..... I will be finding the bumpiest, roughest roads I can to test her out on... :D

Keep you posted.

HTH.

Lee
 
Had all the stuff fitted today. Well, almost all.... The friendly garage chap thought he was saving me some money by not fitting the new rear bump stops and dust covers on the rear shocks. His heart sank when I told him that they had been shortened to work with the Weitec/FSD combo. He said he would fit them on in a couple of weeks when I take it in for a service/belt change. I think he had been on it all day and had been doing a little swearing, hee hee. Apart from that all seems OK. I will give it a good checking over tomorrow in the light though. One thing I did notice was that it seems slightly lower at the back than the front. Will the front settle down eventually when it has done a few miles I wonder?

Anyway.... onto the ride... First thoughts were that it seems a lot quieter and smoother at all speeds. It soaks up the bumps a lot more quietly, smoothly and in a more damped, controlled manner. Excellent!! It also seems to be a lot flatter through the bends and the steering seems a lot more responsive, but that could be due to the new track rod ends and top strut bearings. Excellent#2!! It also seems flatter under acceleration and braking. A more level ride all round.

Downsides from what I have driven so far (about 30 or so miles). It seems like the ride is a little choppy at higher speeds, but I need to check all of my tyre pressures and then have a good play with it in the dry and daylight to really push it. It was snowing here again and the brakes were a bit poor as they were literally brand new and need bedding in, so I didn't want to push it too hard. How long will the Mintex discs/pads take to settle down?

I am guessing that things will get better over the next couple of weeks, so I will post any further thoughts as they settle down, but so far apart from the level of the car and the high speed feel, it is all good.

Cheers,

Lee
 
Last edited:
Glad you like it Lee - the Mintex pads will take around 100 miles or so to fully bed in.

As to the heights, I have standard sport springs at the back and Weitec -30mm at the front and visually, the car looks the same height all around, so take your own conclusions - I would expect the fronts to bed down more than the rears over the next 1000 or so miles.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Cheers for that info Mike. I have kept all the old springs so I guess I could revert to the old rears if need be, but they are SE not Sport. Is there a big difference? I am also guessing that if I jack the car up and use a pair of spring compressors, the rears will come out without removing the shocks.. or am I miles off?

Good news about the Mintex... They were starting to bite a little as I pulled into the drive, so hopefully they will be spot on within the next couple of days.

I have a feeling I will be popping up to see you at either the end of this month or the next... well... before the 1st April anyway. ;) I take regular, monthly trips up to Chester so its not too far to come from there.

I wonder how birdsd01 got on with his FSD fitting???? :eek:



Thanks,

Lee
 
The SE springs are about 10mm taller than Sport springs and yes, if you jack the rear up, you can easily change the springs over (I know of one owner who has a pretty strong grip and can compress then sufficiently by hand!!!)

Feel free to pop up whenever you want, just let me know a few days in advance, so I can be sure of having the parts ready!

Cheers

Mike
 
Sorry for not posting earlier, but we (me and my wife Helen) only got back at 10pm last night!

First impressions. Much quieter, and smoother over small imperfections, esp cats eyes! My front strut top mounts were knackered, so that may explain that? The back is about 15mm lower, I will measure it tonight and get the exact difference. At high speed it is less bouncy, and rides like a much bigger car, I would compare it to a MkV Golf. It was sleeting on the way back so I didn't have the chance to throw it around, but it goes around roundabouts with more assurance, and is doesn't seem to get disturbed if there is a bump mid corner. I have also found it less likely to scramble for grip on rough tarmac.

The back end does squeek a little over speed humps? I am hoping this will go when they bed in, but I will contact Awesome today to ask their advice. I don't think the bumpstops were changed:confused: so could this be the effect? since it does sound like rubber squeaking over rubber?

I will post further updates when the weather is a bit better :D But so far I am impressed enough to think it was a worthwhile upgrade.

Thanks for all the help on the way!

David
 
Unfortunately, the side effect of FSD on the A2 is a slightly raised front compared to the back. I'm on SE springs all round. This raised front 'issue' is well known, especially in the German A2 forums. It doesn't affect anything else. I'm one of the first to fit A2 FSDs in the UK, after a couple of years and the front is still slightly raised. I'm not opting for the look so it is not bothering me. Enjoy your new setup, it is a quality product. I notice the FSD's oil temperature has subtle effect on the damping. It seems the ride over speed humps is ever so slightly softer in the cold or when the FSDs have not completely warmed up.

For the normal road, they are great replacement to the OE audi dampers.
 
Does the raised front phenomenon happen also with diesel, or just the petrol - thinking the diesel has a heavier lump up front, might keep the nose down a bit?
 
birdsd01 said:
The back end does squeek a little over speed humps
Click to expand...

Hi,

if the rear is squeaking now, that may be the result of non-shortened PUR bump stops!


Post # 3 of this thread shows the instruction how to modify these yellow rubber bump stops in case of any lowering by sport springs.

Especially with Koni FSD plus lowering springs this PUR shortening is essential!



Lee S said:
One thing I did notice was that it seems slightly lower at the back than the front.
Click to expand...

birdsd01 said:
The back is about 15mm lower, I will measure it tonight and get the exact difference.
Click to expand...


As for the A2 rear getting lower than the front this mainly results from the implemented gas pressure of the front twin-tube FSD dampers along with a quite strong compression damping force setting of the FSD front shocks (that prevent the A2 front from bottoming).

To avoid this unsatisfying “back lower than front appearance” :mad: the German A2 owners upgrading to Koni FSD or Bilstein B6 like to modify their WEITEC / ABT / EIBACH etc front springs slightly before first installation.

This special procedure does not apply cutting the springs (which would be irresponsible :eek: ) but instead uses defined homogeneous heat generated by electricity as well as defined compression to reduce the spring's free-length.
This modification does neither alter the spring steel properties nor does it weaken the spring durability! :) Moreover the springs surface powder coating won't be harmed and the colour w/ labelling is maintained.




There's one German company specialised in this technique professionally. They customise almost any kind of car / bike springs for customers around the world (including professional racing sports).

REUTER MOTORSPORT info:

http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?p=64171#post64171



For all A2s a 20 mm shorter front spring is highly recommended for proper looks in case of 20 to 35 mm lowering springs plus Koni FSD or Bilstein B6. The final result will be a true 30 to 40 mm lowering both at front and rear net.
Especially the light 1.4 petrol A2s will benefit from this front springs modification. :)






The latest example for that professional front springs mod is a German A2 1.4 TDI that has installed the gas high-pressurised (25 bars) Bilstein B8 shocks. He went to B8 because of lowering exceeding 35 mm...

Because this A2 has heavy stereo in the boot permanently, the A2 front had to be lowered even more to compensate for the additional rear weight. So the owner sent the 045VA ABT front springs to REUTER MOTORSPORT to get them professionally compressed by 20 mm each.

The result is an even 40 mm lowering at both axles despite the high pressure Bilstein gas shocks!





To summarise, for nice looks of your A2 I would like to highly recommend all future A2 owners intending to upgrade to
  • WEITEC / FSD
  • WEITEC / B6
  • WEITEC / B8
  • ABT / FSD
  • ABT / B6
  • ABT / B8
  • etc
to order the springs from REUTER MOTORSPORT directly:

http://www.reuter-motorsport.de/
http://www.federnpressen.de/

In case of a group buy, Mr. Reuter should give a discount for the front springs modification. Insured shipping to UK isn't that expensive (about 25 EUR).
 
I found the first miles with fSD gave a slightly queasy ride effect and was initially unsure. as Schnell suggests give them a bit of time to bed in and they get even better!
 
Can someone clear something up for me - does the FSD actually make the ride softer and more floaty (think French suspension), or is it just better control- so does it retain the firm suspension? I can't stand the feeling of floatiness in cars like that it makes me feel queasy!
 
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