S3 Front Suspensssssion

[White S3]

Can anybody tell me how long (in cms)a factory standard suspension damper and spring for an S3? I think I might be riding low since the rebuild.

Hit a pot hole today and punched the bonnet clips out of the fibre glass (more work to do) but the upper wishbone hit the inner wheel arch in the process. Funny thing was that within 20mins of doing it the council road team were out filling it in so couldn't take any evidence photos for the claim. Bah!

[phillpot]

Have you checked out the "ride heights" on the suspension wiki?

[greymrj]

Phillpot is right, it is the ride height you have to look at. I doubt if there are any S's around with 'factory standard' spring damper units. Any original ones will have sagged by now and owners have fitted a variety of different ones.
Mine had non standard (fitted when the car was a year old) Koni's with constant rate springs at the front and progressive rate at the back, it now has Gaz classics and constant rate all round. Because of slight variations in suspension and chassis parts I know the 'at rest' spring lengths on the front are not exactly the same.

[White S3]

Its not so much the ride height that I'm thinking, its the age of the springs - original from build so now 22yrs strong so suspect shrunk with age. Have found possible replacements for front but they come in at 44cms uncompressed. I know that they are from Blackpool stable originally but were destined for a light weight kit car that was never built (just don't know the model of the original beast).

[glenrobbo]

I've got my old ( uprated ) Koni springs & dampers in the garage.
I'll go & measure their free lengths in the morning & report back here if it helps.
I don't think S1 varies too much from S3 settings.
But these days most coilovers are adjustable for ride height & damping rate.

Trouble is, none are suitable for the awful ystate of our roads these days.

[phillpot]

Just out of interest what sort of gap have you got between top of tyre and inner wheel arch?

Reckon I've got about 60-65mm.

Edited by phillpot on Tuesday 29th October 09:15

[glenrobbo]

Here's a pic of my old Konis ( they were not original, previous owner uprated when the car was a few years old.

The smaller dia spring is the front one, 36cms between eye centres.

[Ab Shocks]

We make them to 14"

[White S3]

Thanks guys, it would appear that the 44cms ones I have had my eye on are probably from a Chimp or Grif. Oh well, will have to save the pennies a little longer.