FSD's on the Audi

ALF · FSD's on the Audi

I have had the Koni FSD's fitted to the A4 now (on standard springs). Coincidentally, it was at the same mileage as when I had them fitted to the Alfa (44k), the main difference being that the Audi needed none of the suspension/ARB bushes replaced despite me asking them to check them all and replace as needed (on the Alfa, that doubled the price of this particular job).

Once again, the differences are marked. Not quite as massive as on the Alfa, which was appallingly under-damped on really rough roads at speed (though better on the motorway for that), but the comfort of the car is very substantially improved. It is a much more relaxing partner at all speeds, with smooth, relaxed, well damped vertical movements rather than the harsh jerky movements even on quite smooth surfaces that made the various S-Line or Sport-spec A3's, A4's and A5's I have experienced seem a lot less relaxing than they could have been. At motorway speeds, small bumps are heard more than felt, the sophisication of the damping feels very un-Audi.

I've only done a few hundred miles on them and no full-attack dry driving yet, but they seem an improvement there too. The car has slightly more body roll on turn-in, but it definitely communicates better as a result and is more to my tastes. Traction (especially in the wet) is better, and the dampers stiffen up when pressing on without ever starting off the savage pogo-stick vertical movements that the car suffered from before when pressing on on a really poor surface. The standard car was very grippy and well tied down on perfectly smooth surfaces, but throw it a typical British road and it was just too harshly damped.

Overall I'm very pleased. With the mileage I do, I need a good degree of comfort but don't want to compromise control when pressing on on a good road. Once again, my experience of the FSD's is that they do exactly what they say on the tin - provide a great compromise between both requirements, sort of like giving you the best bits of an SE and S-Line spec in one, without the downsides.

GonnaBreakABuggy

JohnC

With all the criticism of the quality of Audi's ride and comfort on British roads you would think they would fit these dampers (or an Audi version of them) as standard.

ALF

You would. The car was good on the smooth stuff before though, and had very tied-down body control when really pressing on - the Audi dampers were a lot better than the standard Alfa ones, but really poorly specified for the UK. Although the A5 is supposed to be better, I still found it jiggly over the small stuff in Sport guise... I can't bear it when you go to press a button on the stereo, air con etc on the motorway and are jiggling up and down so much your finger is going one way and the dash the other!

Gurney

So they suit the Audi too, excellent news.

They are so popular for the GTAs that they are organising a group buy on AlfaOwner!

Frank Bullitt

Your experience mirrors that of A2 Sport owners who've had FSD's fitted to replace the horrific dampers Audi send them out with; all the control with the harshness minimised to be of no real concern.

Common concencus appears to be that Audi should send them out from the factory like that but don't calibrate for the UK.

I've thought about them for mine, as they are supposed to make the 'SE' silky smooth, but can't quite justify the cost of it! When mine are on their way out then I'll probably do it then.

ALF

I've not been in one, but I thought Audi SE's were quite soft anyway? When we were trying to sell the car some prospective buyers had tried similar age A4 SE's and said they were very much softer.

Having felt the results on my S-Line, I'm not sure I'd want the FSD's on SE springs/ARB's - slightly softer dampers often suit stiffer springs (a setup many marques have settled on for the UK) and the FSD's seem well suited to the S-Line setup.

Frank Bullitt

The A2 SE is still reasonably firm; it's not like the A4 SE I drove which was a bit boat-esque. The A2 SE looses the 'Sport' models harshness, but the lightweight nature of the body means it can pitch on bad roads when 1-up, and broken A-roads can be transmitted through the structure. The benefit over the Sport model is less marked apparantly, but definately there over sharp ridges and scarred tarmac with no loss of precision in the handling and steering.

PG

JohnC

Manufacturers even buy and strip down their competitors cars to see how improvements could be made so surely the cost of a few dampers isn't beyond them. For something as central to a cars success as the suspension it defies logic that they haven't done something in this area.

ALF

When you see how cheaply original OEM dampers can be bought, even sometimes from main dealers, you realise the manufacturers often use very low cost componentseven in such a critical area. Same goes for LSD's - they could buy them for well sub £250 per vehicle and transform the handling, but few do.

When it comes to seats, many VW and Audi seats are actually recaros even if not branded as such - the ones in my Audi definitely are - so some see sense there, at least!

GonnaBreakABuggy

A set of FSD's will probably cost double what a set of pretty reasonable dampers would to a manufacturer

Guitar Zero

So - do Koni design and tune sets of FSDs to suit particular makes of car ? - i.e, you specifically order a set for a 156 GTA estate (for example)

"him"

I doubt it, normally it is a case of std. spec. +25%

Guitar Zero

So do they do them by model then ? - so Koni will design and tune for a 156, irrespective of engine, body style, spring rates or bushing specs ?

GonnaBreakABuggy

Pretty much, a digressive damping valve tends to work fairly well across a fairly wide range of spring rate from where it was set, and the FSD in particular alters the rebound and bound based on the damper velocity - fit stiffer springs and it'll hit that velocity slightly sooner, (but the rapid damping rate increase from the digressive valving means the velocity won't be much different) and then the damping curve thereafter is pretty flat anyway.

You'll only start getting properly custom-valved dampers when you start buying Ohlins/Penske/RDC/MVS and the like, or the proper race-series Bilstiens/Avo's.

Or those Fox shox I've just posted in the sticky

"him"

GonnaBreakABuggy

Pricey from there!
Aw, look at the weenie little 20cc gas pocket, poor bugger.

Mine only take 600cc you know

Want some Foxes, Mr. "him"?

Rear spring rate is adjustable on mine too...

"him"

...make the nasty man stop!

Muuuum, he is using numbers at me again...

GonnaBreakABuggy

980cc of synthetic racing oil....

PG

ALF

GonnaBreakABuggy

mmm, custom valving:

Guitar Zero

scamper

Gurney

Turbonutter

I've got Koni adjustables on the Sierra along with some springs developed by a guy who worked/works freelance for Ford SVE/Motorsport and was involved with the original development of the car - he developed them specifically to work with the Koni shocks and compared to standard he's done a pretty good job
They are pretty much the best set-up I've had for the car ( and I've had 2 others apart from standard ).
One of the complaints levelled at the Sapphire Cosworth originally was that it was under-damped - testers complained of "secondary bounce that could unsettle the car when pushed hard".
It would be good if he could try the FSDs and maybe come up with soem springs to suit those

Gurney

'Under-damped' is what afflicts std GTA's too if I am not mistaken.

I find my FSD equipped example has a perfectly acceptable ride/handling balance but then again I have never driven a std GTA to compare.

GonnaBreakABuggy