blueS4

I'm going to be swapping out my 02 allroad's air suspension for a coil spring set-up from Arnott (which sits at level 2), and I wanted to find out if anyone has tried to use stock RS6 springs (or another spring) on the Arnott conversion to lower the ride height?

Any pics would be great too!

Thanks,
Jon

white fish

I think arnott is getting a coil over kit in a couple weeks

blueS4

Thanks white fish. I spoke to someone at Arnott already about the timing to get their coilover kit on the market, but they didn't know anything about it. Since I need something now, I've already ordered / received their new coil spring conversion kit. What I was really hoping to know was if anyone had any experience or knowledge about using a different spring with this kit.

K04-S4

Coilover Kits are supposed to be matched for dampening and spring rate. Changing spring rate without adjusting dampening can compromise the kit's intended handling.

blueS4

Thanks for the heads up about changing spring rates with a particular shock, but that's why I was asking if anyone had any first hand knowledge about using something else. The kit that I'm having installed isn't a coilover though, it's just a coil spring conversion (non-adjustable), so a 1" drop on a quality shock, shouldn't compromise the car's handling.

K04-S4

If you change the springs on the Arnott kit with springs from another manufacturer then the Arnott design matched spring rate to dampening rate will change. The only question is "how much" will it affect vehicle drivability, it may be minimal or it may be significant. I would ask Arnott if they have lower springs that are matched to the dampening rate of their shocks.

For example with B5 A4 production life, there were many springs and shocks available. Springs have color coded bands to identify their spring rates. Audi highly recommends to replace broken springs in axle pairs with identical banded springs in order to retain designed drivability.

Look forward to hearing how this works out for you. I hear Arnott kit is quite good if your willing to sacrifice the OEM air ride.

blueS4

I'm having the stock Arnott kit installed tomorrow, so I guess I'm going to find out how everything behaves fairly soon. I'd still like a lower ride height, but the question about finding a matched spring rate remains unsolved. Before ordering the kit I inquired with Arnott about a different spring that would allow the kit to sit lower than the allroad's Level 2 setting (I always had it set to Level 1) and the guy I spoke to said they didn't have anything else to offer.

Do you know if there's a way of calculating a replacement spring rate to have the desired drop?

K04-S4

I would suggest ask Arnott the spring rate of their existing spring, then use that number to compare spring rate of an alternate lower spring. Perhaps ask their shock dampening rate too as both numbers could be helpful in a lower spring search. Just nice to know what to expect if replacing with alternate spring.

blueS4

KO4-S4, I would agree it would be nice, but after some communication with Arnott I don't think that I'm going to get any further than I have now. The initial response I received from Arnott was "to cut small increments of coil off until the desired height is reached." Not exactly the information I was hoping for. I responded that I didn't really want to cut the springs, but I was hoping that even if they weren't able to suggest any compatible lower springs could they just tell me the spring rate and shock dampening rate so that I could try and source something myself. It's been over 2 weeks and no reply, so I don't suspect anymore information is going to be forthcoming from them.

So, I guess that my original query still applies - Is there a way to calculate a replacement spring rate to have the desired drop?

white fish

have you done the swap yet?

what about lowering springs for a A6 avant