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Thread: My story with H&R springs and DRC shocks

  1. #19
    Registered User Brazil's Avatar
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    No problem, Jason. Glad we got it tackled in one afternoon. Let me know what it's like after the recharge.
    2003 RS 6
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  2. #20
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    Do not do this mod! H&R Race springs from an A6 4.2 are too low when mounted in DRC shocks! DRC line interferes with axle in front and Hotchkis rear sway bar hits the rear axle. I clearly would have not done this mod if this had been reported by the one who started this thread. I guess I'm going back to stock springs. Lesson learned the hard way.

  3. #21
    Registered User ben916's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Avus-RS6 View Post
    Do not do this mod! H&R Race springs from an A6 4.2 are too low when mounted in DRC shocks! DRC line interferes with axle in front and Hotchkis rear sway bar hits the rear axle. I clearly would have not done this mod if this had been reported by the one who started this thread. I guess I'm going back to stock springs. Lesson learned the hard way.
    That sucks!
    SOLD - 03 RS6 Avus (905355)
    Current - 03 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 double cab - the YETI, lifted, winched, snorkeled, lockered, skidded, geared

  4. #22
    Registered User Kgnast's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Avus-RS6 View Post
    Do not do this mod! H&R Race springs from an A6 4.2 are too low when mounted in DRC shocks! DRC line interferes with axle in front and Hotchkis rear sway bar hits the rear axle. I clearly would have not done this mod if this had been reported by the one who started this thread. I guess I'm going back to stock springs. Lesson learned the hard way.
    OUCH. I am sorry to hear that was the end result for you. I just purchased the 29298-1 H&R Street Springs. This car will be running BBS LM's and I don't need to be that low. I ran the A6 4.2 street springs on my 4.2 and that was a significant drop requiring grooved Bilsteins with the spring perches set to bring the car back up. The tires completely tucked into the fenders. Even caused fender lip damage although, I ofcourse, had them rolled and even pulled in the front. Anyway, a bit of drop will be great. I hope the H&R RS6 specific kit works out just fine. I don't mind a gap in the rear, but I do mind the almost 2" gap that is currently there.

    I will post pics when I get the springs installed and the BBS LM's mounted up. These are 20"s, so I really do think the RS6 kit is going to be just fine. Not mention, the H&R A6 4.2 springs settled over time, a lot, requiring continual upwards adjustments in the front by moving the spring perch into the higher grooves on the shock body.

  5. #23
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    Not blaming Audi-RS6 here, in fact his probably worked because of the higher than stock DRC pressure that likely resulted from just putting in lower springs without cracking the DRC system. I guess that H&R knows what they're doing by not making lower springs for the RS6 than their sport RS6 units. 6 hours of work ahead of me, again. At least I know what I'm in for this time.

  6. #24
    Registered User ben916's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Avus-RS6 View Post
    Not blaming Audi-RS6 here, in fact his probably worked because of the higher than stock DRC pressure that likely resulted from just putting in lower springs without cracking the DRC system. I guess that H&R knows what they're doing by not making lower springs for the RS6 than their sport RS6 units. 6 hours of work ahead of me, again. At least I know what I'm in for this time.
    I would like to be there when this happens so I can get the 411 on what to expect.
    PM me your contact info, please
    SOLD - 03 RS6 Avus (905355)
    Current - 03 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 double cab - the YETI, lifted, winched, snorkeled, lockered, skidded, geared

  7. #25
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    Problem is the car looks perfect now, rides great until DRC line hits the axle front. I'm going to see if I can tweak the lines for clearance somehow.

    1.375 inches lower than stock in front, 1.25 inches lower than stock in rear. I can't believe this is too low for the components to handle, it does look perfect to me. Will report back after I dig into it some more to try to resolve the clearance issues.

    Ben, you can email me any time, I'm on QW forum.

    Jason

  8. #26
    Registered User Elevens's Avatar
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    No Disrespect to anyone, but Coilovers are the only way to go. A perfectly matched Spring-Shock combo designed for your car and infinitely adjustable ride height. I have tried to pass this along, but some try other ways which may or may not work. I always go with what's tried and proven. Some even attempt to keep the DRC system with different Springs. The DRC will fail!! Read the Forums, why bother? Some try different Spring shock combinations, why bother? Coilovers take any guesswork out of the equation. And having an Infinitely adjustable ride height is a big plus. You can always use initial cost as an excuse to take another route, but in most cases you will wind up spending more in the long run. The first thing I did with my car was to install Coilovers, the DRC was fine but I was not about to wait for it to fail. One less future headache. By applying Tried and proven results from this Forum and the UK Forums, I couldn't be any happier with the results. A perfectly handling and Extremely Fast car. Just my 1 cent............................
    03 RS6, VIPER ECU, MTM TCU, Milltek Full Catless Non Res setup from Turbos to the boxes(ROAR'S), H&R Coilovers, Hotchkiss ARB's, 19x10's with 275-30-19 PSS's at each corner, Kenwood 9960 Head unit, V1 Radar Locator. 517 Trans Rebuild, ScrollProducts Turbo Rebuild.

  9. #27
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    Jason,

    Sorry to hear the news. I wanted to clear up some things about what audi-rs6 said in the past.

    The red quoted item below is 100% incorrect. IMHO

    The primary reason for high riding 4x4 RS6s after the suspension recall is plain and simple. The dealer tech cuts corners and torques the control arm bolts with the suspension unloaded. This happens more on the rear than front due to the nature of the job to replace the struts. You see, the rear control arms need to be removed to replace the rear struts and due to the tight fit the tech just torques the control arms with the suspension unloaded causing the rear to sit 1/2 to 3/4 inch too high.

    If you torque rear inner control arm busings with the suspension unloaded beware of the super rake 4x4 RS6. No matter what springs you choose.

    My RS6 #1...a low mile car with the DRC recall sit just fine after the recall. 13 7/8 front and 14 1/8 rear. Now KW V3 what took so long.

    My RS6 #2 sit just fine after the recall same as the above. Now Kyle RS6 #2.

    My RS6 #3...a low mile bone stock car sit just like a 4x4 RS6 after the recall. I checked the front control arms which were fine then loosened the rears and loaded the rear suspension before retorque. The end result?? 13 7/8 front and 14 1/8 rear.

    A stock RS6 will have a slight rake due to the nature of the body panels but just say no to the SUPER RAKE RS6 4X4 and set the rear control arms properly. Plain and simple.



    Quote Originally Posted by Audi-RS6 View Post
    I decided to lower my car

    Did factory recall on shocks.
    Bought set of springs H&Rs Sport setup.

    H&R developed their RS6 setup with old shocks, new ones as you know sit higher, tons of claims including two of our cars.

    I installed H&R on stock DRC set up. Nice ride but rear looks ugly. Way too high. I could not understand why they had to make it 1.5 drop at a front and 1.0 rear when all prior a6 setups are 1.7/1.5 and 1.9/1.5

    So, question was
    1. will the 4.2 set up fit.
    2. to figure the difference in weight between 4.2 a6 and RS6
    3. Should it be Sport or Race setup they have for 4.2

    RS6 vs 4.2 door stickers shows same front weight and 60lbs heavier in rear. Possibly because of battery and additional cooler.

    So I bought H&R Race setup for A6 4.2 quattro. And got what I wanted. More stable and better looking ride.

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  10. #28
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    I would agree with everything Elevens has to say about coilovers. After changing out the DRC in my RS6 after 5 years of ownership I wondered what took so long. But

    Some DRCs seem to do just fine. My DRC recall was perfect and the car drove great for the last couple of years but finally I just gave in to the coilover hype. Wow is all I have to say.

    Now with RS6 #3 I have another low mileage so cal DRC in perfect working order that is now sitting at exact stock height. I plan to leave it until there is a shock failure and replace with the H&R coilover setup just like Elevens.

    If you want lower go coilovers. H&R or KWs and ditch the DRC

    If you want stock get yer control arms retorqued and shoot for stock ride height.

    IMHO

    Quote Originally Posted by Elevens View Post
    No Disrespect to anyone, but Coilovers are the only way to go. A perfectly matched Spring-Shock combo designed for your car and infinitely adjustable ride height. I have tried to pass this along, but some try other ways which may or may not work. I always go with what's tried and proven. Some even attempt to keep the DRC system with different Springs. The DRC will fail!! Read the Forums, why bother? Some try different Spring shock combinations, why bother? Coilovers take any guesswork out of the equation. And having an Infinitely adjustable ride height is a big plus. You can always use initial cost as an excuse to take another route, but in most cases you will wind up spending more in the long run. The first thing I did with my car was to install Coilovers, the DRC was fine but I was not about to wait for it to fail. One less future headache. By applying Tried and proven results from this Forum and the UK Forums, I couldn't be any happier with the results. A perfectly handling and Extremely Fast car. Just my 1 cent............................

  11. #29
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    It's been a learning experience, that is for sure! I have three twin turbo Audi's myself, the RS6 being the one with the most issues due to the manual conversion, prior abuse and lack of recent maintenance. I know coilovers are where the car will end up eventually, heck, that's what my other two cars have! Until then, I'll be rocking the DRC in order to have money for necessities like a new clutch, rebuilt turbos, etc...

  12. #30
    Registered User ttboost's Avatar
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    Are you going through a clutch already? Are you stock? I don't recall? Did you chassis dyno?
    2013 Audi S8

  13. #31
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    The clutch is not up to task for a proper stage 1 tune. It's not worn out, just not holding the power. Any more than 450ft lbs of torque at the wheels spins it up. Can't wait for that so we can turn the wick up!

  14. #32
    Registered User ttboost's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Avus-RS6 View Post
    The clutch is not up to task for a proper stage 1 tune. It's not worn out, just not holding the power. Any more than 450ft lbs of torque at the wheels spins it up. Can't wait for that so we can turn the wick up!
    Which clutch? South Bend? I went with the Spec Stage 3 plus, pretty sure I'm making way more 450/450 and holding fine. I guess that's good to know for the manual converters out there. Your clutch is probably good for a stock car, but anything other than that, no good?
    2013 Audi S8

  15. #33
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    Yes, South Bend stage 3.

  16. #34
    Registered User Avus-RS6's Avatar
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    Apparently it is more difficult to try to keep power down on these cars when doing a proper tune that lets the turbos spin more freely. Props to Jason at AMD for developing a "shitty clutch" tune that works with what I have. 450awtq at the wheels is well over stock levels but nowhere near what it could be.

  17. #35
    Registered User ttboost's Avatar
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    Yep...it's a twin turbo V8...The only reason they can't make any more power then they do, is because of the tiny turbine housings they have. Mine only made 317awhp/370awtq, stock on a Mustang dyno. Probably a lot of other issues going on at the time, like a bad TC, etc.. but still..not very impressive for a TT V8...Much better now that we have released some driveline loss, I have some 'test pipes' installed too. I've already picked up 60whp and haven't even finished tuning yet.
    2013 Audi S8

  18. #36
    Registered User Brazil's Avatar
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    Elevens: I think you're forgetting about the elegant solution of the DRC system itself. As an engineer, I appreciate the idea and the execution. A well-functioning DRC will outperform coilovers for street driving. It is compliant while still keeping the car reasonably level during dynamic events. To get the same anti-dive/squat/lean on a coil system, you have to increase the spring rate to the point where the car is no longer comfortable. Now, I have an Esprit that basically sits on the ground and an S4 that keeps chiropractors in business, but the RS6 is a different beast. For this, I think the DRC is a great solution if you can keep it working correctly. Jason spent 1/5th of what good coilovers would cost, so that's another consideration.

    DHall1: We didn't remove the rear control arms, we slightly dropped the subframe. This is by far an easier way to get it done. I would be surprised if the dealer techs are even doing the work by removing the caliper and control arms--no matter what the procedure says. Also, the lower strut mounting point on Jason's car was left untorqued until the car was on the ground, but I don't think that's your point here.
    2003 RS 6
    2001.5 S4
    1990 200
    1990 Lotus Esprit SE
    2002 F4i Racecar

    Smileys are to Car Forums like the Bubonic Plague was to Europe...

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