Information Max comfort Wheel/tyres.

P

pamanal21

A2OC Donor
Hi all,
My A2 has the original 15" alloy wheels + koni fsd's fitted.
As is recommended by 'Schnelletrecker ' i have now switched to his rec' and had fitted, the
FALKEN/xiex 912/size 195/55 r15 85v th, these cost £204.00 for 4/ inc fitting all in.
First impressions: the ride is more softer,whole car feels slightly lifted! on plus side, more comfortable all round (instead of the Bump-Bump noise, i now gett the Dum-d-Dum one( if you get what i mean) early days yet to report on 'grip & wear etc.
My previous tyres were MICHLIN(energy) radials xse size 175/60 r15 81v and i have to say
these tyres were Great! car drove as if on rails,fantastic Grip & Wear, no complaints at all!.
Back to the Falkens; the car feels slightly 'squidgy' when under pressure sideways, i have yet to try 'boot to floor aplication' on Motorways so will report back later.
Generally speaking i'm not a speed merchant! and so far i'm more than HAPPY with the extra Comfort obtained by change of wheels, Hey-Ho, Happy motoring to all,
Cheers Alan.
 
Hi Alan.

Did you stick with standard length springs when the FSDs were fitted, or did you go for shorter springs? If so, what is your spring combo now - and has it produced a harder ride than the original set up?
 
Suspension springs & ride.

Hi Alan,
My car is a March 2001 1.4 petrol Model, and i do have to say that i think that at the time build quality was 'top of the shop', but as the years have passed by AUDI have certainly 'lowered' quality of components! suspension springs among'st others do fall into this category.
To answer your questions, i stayed with the 'original standard springs' when i had Koni fsd fitted, this set up did soften the ride quality (but NOT by enough!) say to the price of having koni's purchased and then fitted, my total cost was around the £650.00 all in, in no way am i de-crying the Koni's, they are great! but it's a tough price to justify them.
It has been mentioned before on previous threads that the difference in ride would be between running over a 5p piece versus a 1 pound coin, which i think you would agree is not very much, the FALKENS have made much more of a difference to ride/comfort and on A2s i doub't you would ever be able to better the 15"alloys, Koni's,falkens, as a total combination set up,
Yours,Alan.
 
Do you mean 'lowered' the quality of springs in terms of; ride quality, ride height (pun intended!) or poorer ( lower) material quality? Build quality and component quality are two different things so there is some confusion in what you are saying.... i do not personally believe build quality has deteriorated if the new A4 i had for a weekend last year was anything to go by.

I recently fitted Falkens to the front of my Sport and have noticed in comparison with the previous Pirellis a softer ride especially over cats eyes, slightly more understeer and about 2mpg worse economy.
 
"a 5p piece versus a 1 pound coin"

Thanks for the honesty Alan.

Your experience, if not a one-off, renders the FSD choice a 'no brainer/no goer'.
 
I don't think the FSD effect is quite 5p/1pound straight forward. The most significant benefit is proper damping and not hitting the bump stop over any pot holes or speed bumps. The FSD doesn't 'soften' the ride, it applies correct damping. Which is very hard to describe... It is more like a square wave versus a smoother sign wave if you get my drift. The softer rubber tyre will also have a significant effect on road noise and comfort.
 
Yep, we should not mix-up things:

The A2 driver looking for better ride comfort especially over wicked road conditions should install either Koni FSD or Bilstein B6 shocks to stop any bottom out tendencies. Also these dampers make the very nose-heavy A2 feel much more balanced:
  • improved roadholding
  • reduced breaking distance
  • better traction
  • flatter cornering
  • ESP activates later (i.e. better grip)
  • absense of nose-diving
  • FSD drivers often speak about feeling like driving a bigger car

So sophisticated damping characteristics should always be the #1 suspension upgrade for the A2!



In addition to that damper upgrade the second step can be softer tyres. Here's a list of potential tyre sizes for the A2 considering the tyre related comfort factor as well as rim protection and unsprung weight:

http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?p=47169&highlight=195/55R15#post47169
:)



To conclude:
  1. Both the Koni FSD and Bilstein B6 shocks effectively do prevent bottom-out tendencies and that nasty crashing noise while hitting serious potholes. So these dampers do cope with even the worst road surface conditions but also with sleeping policemen etc.
  2. The 195/55R15 Falken tyres on the other hand do soften the smaller road imperfections nicely but won't avoid bottoming of the stock Audi dampers.
  3. The combination of both upgrades (better shocks + softer tyres) will be hard to beat in terms of A2 comfort improvement. :)
 
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For what it's worth, I changed my original 15" wheels and 175 tyres (Dunlops) for Pepperpot 15" wheels and 195/55 x 15 Continentals. The differences are quite noticeable.

Firstly I thought the 175 tyres made the car feel a bit under-tyred and skittish, although that might in part be down to the Dunlops which I did not like. The 195's make the car feel altogether more stable, and just feel better all round. They ride expremely well, a big improvement. There is a slightly noticeable increase in rolling resistance, which no doubt knocks off a few mpg, but on balance I feel it is a trade off worth having.

The car is a 1.4 TDi 75, not a Sport version, and I do drive it pretty quickly, so grip and poise are more important to me that the last few mpg.
 
Material etc.

Hi Adrian, in reply i mean 'material' quality, the 'build' quality as never been in doubt! Audi must have known about the S/springs quality for at least 2/3 years now, but have never seen to look at /or resolve the tempering quality of same.You only have to read on this site that 'material' standard parts are not always quality.
Other examples; my Daughter has a 2004 A2 tdi still a great car but the finish, and materials used on her car, are from winding down production of A2s, thus Audi are/were mix matching parts to use them 'up' before stopping build of A2s,for example my car has beige interior all round, the Complete DASH is beige/ brown plus steering wheel, boot roller cover beige, in daughters car(same colour & trim as mine) dash is black,boot roller black, passenger sun blind minus vanity mirror, no rear nets to back of front seats & so on!. A2 is still a fantastic Car and i'm hoping to purchase daughters car later this year (providing price is right),then i'll have to start upgrading it! keeps me out of trouble you know!! Cheers Alan.
Ps,I do agree with 'Humps', re the KONIs.
 
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