[wasabisashimi]

What's better?
1)Tein full coilover (tein flex) or 2) bilstein shocks with eiback lowering spring

This is for spirited driving, i dont mind harsh ride. Want good cornering and lower ride.

In other words, whats the difference in buying a full coil vs buying shocks and springs separately and put them together?

[TOPEC]

Bilstein shocks + springs

A good set of shocks + springs is better than average coilovers.

The only down side is u won't be able to adjust ride height, but most people won't touch the ride height after they install their coilovers anyways
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[bcrdukes]

If this is for spirited driving/daily street use, I would highly recommend Bilsteins and Eibachs. Coilovers would be overkill and should be pursued when and if you are ready to do some serious tracking.

[Teh Doucher]

id personally go with the tein ss with the edfc controller. its costly, but its worth it because you can change how soft/stiff you want the shocks from inside the car.

[wasabisashimi]

are the springs more important or shocks for ride characteristics ( tighter corner, comfort ride, lower stance etc)?

there are far way too many companies that make lowering springs beside the big name HR and eiback.
Shocks can be had from bilstein, koni, and tokico

[bcrdukes]

You need to find a good shock and spring combo.

You need to tell us what kind of car this is for.

[Phil@rise]

The Tiens offer full adjustability so with some seat time and tweaking they will perform the way you want. Not just the way your stuck with.
But are you into tinkering with your ride?

[wasabisashimi]

You need to find a good shock and spring combo.

You need to tell us what kind of car this is for.

this is just a general question, but if you want to know the car, its for a 2005 A4 3.0 cabriolet to be exact

[Jackygor]

I would get spring and strut combo, less moving parts, easy to maintain, cheap, and you are unlikely to NEED coilovers anyways.

[Lomac]

This is for spirited driving, i dont mind harsh ride.

:lol You say that now...

Want good cornering and lower ride.


Just an FYI, upgrading your springs/shocks are only about 30% of the puzzle when it comes to good cornering.

[GabAlmighty]

Billy HD's are good with lowering springs. They tend to have a little less than optimal dampening (for my cars atleast).

[SpuGen]

id personally go with the tein ss with the edfc controller. its costly, but its worth it because you can change how soft/stiff you want the shocks from inside the car.

Yeah, because pulling over and opening the hood/trunk is SO hard.
Bilstein all the way.
Your A4 is comfy and still taut. Why would you throw that away for stiff ass coilovers?

My H&R coilovers (bilstein internals) are just slightly stiffer than stock. Height adjustable, but no dampening adjustments. Much improved handling, without sacrificing the Lexus comfort at all. The only stiffness I complain about is from my low profile tires and old bushings

[TOPEC]

oh and a word about teins, they rust like no tomorrow, every moving part seizes up from the rust, and they leak/blow easily. not to mention the stupidly stiff ride it comes with to "make" the driver think their cars handle a billion times better.

a good spring + strut combo can pwn the teins easily.
they're just not meant for the NA market.

[TheSalesman]

What car is this for?
I would go with koni yellows and GC coilovers which you can choose your own spring rates depending on your style of driving.

[TOPEC]

What car is this for?
I would go with koni yellows and GC coilovers which you can choose your own spring rates depending on your style of driving.

this is just a general question, but if you want to know the car, its for a 2005 A4 3.0 cabriolet to be exact

.

[!Yaminashi]

The bilsteins for sure

[5 Zigen]

oh and a word about teins, they rust like no tomorrow, every moving part seizes up from the rust, and they leak/blow easily. not to mention the stupidly stiff ride it comes with to "make" the driver think their cars handle a billion times better.

a good spring + strut combo can pwn the teins easily.
they're just not meant for the NA market.

i dun have that problem on couple sets of Tein that i had, I never tried to adjust it after the third or fourth year but I still had tried to adjust within the first couple years for diff setup etc...the longest period that i have tried loosen them up was 2.5 years and they came loose for adjustment without a problem...i put anti-seize on them before installation (on any coilovers) and I haven't had one that I can't loose for a long time...

edit: oh and the longest period that I have owned a set of Tein (HR) was 7 years with appro 130k, no leak minor surface rust with regular "clean up" (i normally pressure rinse my car 2 to 3 times a week so I don't have to hand wash as often), and my other set lasted me 4 to 5 years with appro 80k with one blew shock cuz i ran over a "pothole" on marine drive in a rainy day (i hear the noise, and car drives fine after ~ lucky it wasn't a bad one so when i checked it couple days later, i noticed the shock started to leak)

[5 Zigen]

OP: i will pick bistein shocks with eibach springs for A4, had them on A4 / A3 / TT etc and they worked very great! also the pss9...have not yet tried Tein on euro's yet...

[SumAznGuy]

oh and a word about teins, they rust like no tomorrow, every moving part seizes up from the rust, and they leak/blow easily. not to mention the stupidly stiff ride it comes with to "make" the driver think their cars handle a billion times better.

a good spring + strut combo can pwn the teins easily.
they're just not meant for the NA market.

And the Teins are not rebuildable while the Billsteins are.

[5 Zigen]

And the Teins are not rebuildable while the Billsteins are.

they are rebuildable...

[bcrdukes]

^
Where.

[5 Zigen]

^
Where.

http://www.tein.com/service/index.html

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

E knows his shit :thumbsup:


ya Teins are rebuidable

blisten combo is the way to go between the two


but KW > all
no rust issue

:thumbsup::thumbsup::D

[bcrdukes]

Why send your money and dampers to the US when you can get your Bilsteins overhauled/spec'd and shock dyno'd locally?

[5 Zigen]

Why send your money and dampers to the US when you can get your Bilsteins overhauled/spec'd and shock dyno'd locally?

1. you only asked me where

2. how often do you have to do so if you take care of them properly? I have friends who are running tein flex for over 60k on a S2K and STi with over 80k etc etc without any issue, even tein basic at 65k range with no rust or anything (and car is parked on the street, not garage kept)...

I doubt too many ppl are willing to RE&RE them so often just to "dyno'd" them locally, I know there are ppl who is willing to do so but 80% of ppl won't...

yet like i said, bilstein is a better setup for OP's car and I am not recommending Tein on european cars, just that another person says it's not rebuildable while it is rebuildable, and RX Renesis mentioned about the rust issue but most ppl won't adjust it after they found a correct height setup yet I have also adjusted some Tein's after about 2.5 years and 40k...even had friend purchased them used, seized and we just cut the purch out and replaced them...but it was seized because someone over-tightened it, it's stripped...

[bcrdukes]

^
Sorry, my post wasn't directed towards you as an attack. I was trying to highlight the disadvantages to Tein's since general opinion is geared towards the Bilstein/spring setup.

[5 Zigen]

^ for dd shocks and springs is a much better setup than coilovers, bilstein is also a better brand than Tein IMO too...

the only bad thing is when the shocks and springs is given you and uneven ride height, that would be sucks!

[Lomac]

the only bad thing is when the shocks and springs is given you and uneven ride height, that would be sucks!

The differences tend to be minimal, especially for the better brands. However, if it's a concern, you can get them dyno tested and then exchange 'em with the manufacturer if the numbers come out uneven.

[91civicZC]

Just cause Im like that, Thought I would post up my two cents.

1)If a coilover is built correctly for the vehicle, it should give you no more stiff or worse a ride than a shock and spring setup. I’m not sure where this idea comes from, other than people using old school Japanese coilover style tuning where its all about crazy high spring rates vs shock and spring combos that have been traditionally sold from Euro companies with less aggressive spring rates with better dampers. Long story short, they are both spring and damper setups, both should perform as needed depending on the intended use. The other part that people ofeten miss is the fact that replacing your upper mount with a "camber plate" (which is a whole other topic to rant on) decreases your comfort value. Usually stock upper spring seats have some rubber and some "give" that sftens the ride a little. taking this away with any kind of solid mount will put more feedback into the cabin and "stiffen" the ride.

2)As above, traditionally Japanese tuners tend to use a higher spring rate, and control those forces with high rebound force in the dampers, while the compression stroke is mainly controlled by the high spring rate itself. European setups generaly have better control over both he rebound and compression forces in the damper, and usually use a less high spring rate. In my mind this is preferable for both handling and comfort values. Remember, this is a general statement, there are exceptions out there of course, and Japans damper tuning has come a long way in the last few years

3)If it was up to me, I would go coilover over spring and shock combo every time, simply for the added adjustment (choices) it gives me. However, many of the coilovers out there than can be purchased for the same price as a quality spring and shock combo are total shit. I would look to larger brand names, and find out what they can show you to back up “performance” claims. If a company can sell you a neato wow groovey coilover for 500 bucks, but has never competed in a 24 hour race, or a ALMS race, or has never been used by an OEM on a factory car etc etc, you probably aren’t getting much more than your 500 bucks worth. Performance/build quality comes at a cost.

Just my thoughts on the thread above.

To answer the OP original question, I would recommend the Bilstien Eibach setup if given that those where my only choices, as Bilstien normally makes a good product.

[5 Zigen]

The differences tend to be minimal, especially for the better brands. However, if it's a concern, you can get them dyno tested and then exchange 'em with the manufacturer if the numbers come out uneven.

I dun think anyone would dyno tested them before putting them on, and usually after install they can only suck with the situation. friend recently purchased a set of eibach pro damper kit for his Acura and exactly that's what happened, front is 1.5 fingers higher than rear while eibach claims the front should lower .5" more than rear...it was odd and he was very unhappy with that situation....

and i do agree with 91civicZC, spring rate and dampening should match to have good result...

[SumAznGuy]

http://www.tein.com/service/index.html

Interesting. Thanks for letting us know.

[5 Zigen]

Interesting. Thanks for letting us know.

not the cheapest thing to do and absolutely pointless for low end models...haha

[wasabisashimi]

ok,Here are the things i learn in this thread so far, tell me if i am wrong:
1) coilover setup (ex tein, or KW) gives matching damper rebound rate and spring rate. While the bilstein + spring is not perfectly matched. (can a driver tell the difference in ride quality though?)
2) Coilover allows perfect height matching (front and rear wheel gap) when lowering vehicle.
3) no name coilover is bad vs brand name shock plus brand name spring setup.

[5 Zigen]

in my opinion i have no problem with both Tein and KW, depends on what you want and in my old car I have tried 4 diff suspension setup before I'm happy to leave it as is; even my sister's car i'm on the 3rd set

damper control is better than stiff spring rate, bilstein + eibach for your Audi is a good dd setup...a driver can definitely tells ride quality as well as a passenger...

and I can almost tell you not many shops is going to spend that time perfecting up your ride height, unless you pay big bucks for corner weight etc...in general my adjusting time needed is almost close to installing time lol...but it's just me...

[wasabisashimi]

with my other car, i negotiated with installers for a 2 week window for height readjustmen after they initially installed coilover for me (given that i always purchased coilover from them). This allowed me to find my right position, just need to make sure shop will agree to that. Not gonna pay big bucks.