Audi allroad suspension

We just scored a killer deal on a allroad 2.7tt -awesome car - our Forester met an early demise at the hands of a deer. Got the allroad for the same price as the insurance + selling the Forester. New turbos, exhaust etc.. $13k in dealer receipts in the last 2 years - I feel sorry for people that take their cars to the dealer - well not really.
Anyway it has the airbags removed & has Arnott springs with Bilstein shocks. The rear springs feel too soft & the slightest uneven pavement while cornering upsets the handling & it like wiggles through it. I contacted Arnott but they say the early springs were too soft but were replaced with stiffer ones & all soft ones were recalled. How can I tell what lbs. these are? 2bennit makes stiffer ones but wants me to ship the entire rear spring assys. to them & for $350-$600 will fix em up for me. I'm a diy guy & if I can just get stiffer springs I can put them on myself. Where could I get custom springs & what rate. I've done lots of spring/shocks/struts on other cars & I know good springs don't cost $350-$600. Anybody have ideas?

I can't help you with the springs question, but I do have slightly used Bentley Manual for A6/Allroads '98 thru '04. It was helpful for when the auxilary coolant pump went out on my old '00 A6 2.7t. PM me if your interested.

Again, no help on the springs, but I'm curious why both airbags were removed.....seems odd.

good score on an allroad, though.

Photos!

A race shop with a spring checker could help.

mdshaw wrote: . New turbos, exhaust etc.. $13k in dealer receipts in the last 2 years - I feel sorry for people that take their cars to the dealer - well not really.

I feel sorry for people who buy German cars and don't know thats normal maintainance numbers.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

mdshaw wrote: . New turbos, exhaust etc.. $13k in dealer receipts in the last 2 years - I feel sorry for people that take their cars to the dealer - well not really.

I feel sorry for people who buy German cars and don't know thats normal maintainance numbers.

+1 Seems par for the course to me.

The Allroads have many failures to the air suspension system. From simple leaking airbags to bad pumps and bad distribution blocks. The spring conversion is a wise investment since front bag replacement is at least $1500.

If you have the spring length and diameter you can order whatever spring rate your heart desires. Either get the company to tell you what thier "updated" spring rates are or have them tested at a suspension shop to find your starting point.

The previous owner is a hedge fund manager & spared no expense fixing the car for his wife & their kids. He replaced everything that was the least bit suspect & didn't want the airbags leaking. Then they decided to adopt another baby from China & couldn't fit 3 car seats in it. They got a new Lexus SUV with the 3rd seat - GX470? He didn't care about what he got for it really, was happy I was really interested in it & liked the car. He cut his price in half after I started asking all about it & talking about our families. He is a great guy. Right place at the right time I guess or gift from God - not sure.

ultraclyde wrote: Again, no help on the springs, but I'm curious why both airbags were removed.....seems odd. good score on an allroad, though.

He means suspension airbags (sometimes called "air springs"), not supplemental restraint airbags.

I'm no help on the rear springs, but if I may ask, how much was the car? Need to get the wife another wagon in the next year or so, and wouldn't mind straying from the Subaru fray for once... Allroads do make me drool, so.

If I tell you how much we paid, you will fall over in your own drool - $5,000 As I said it's had $13k of dealer repairs over the last 2 years including - new K03 turbos, new axles, new exhaust, timing belt, water pump, new Perellis, brakes, new torque converter, air springs removed & Arnott/Bilsteins installed. So now the ride height doesn't adjust but didn't plan on doing any off-roading anyway. The rear springs are too soft. I'll be getting some new ones as soon as I can figure out what I need. It is an awesome car, the best riding car I've ever had, allthough our 300D was close. If you want to haul the family, pets & luggage at 130mph in leather wrapped comfort this is the car to have.

I love Allroads, I saw some that had the 6 speeds and loved them even more then the autos

I would love to have an Allroad but im not in the right place financially to take those kind of risks..

Congrats on the sweet deal.

did any allroads come without the air suspension? I bet those have stiffer springs than the ones that did.

I did a similar conversion ditching the rear air shocks on my mpv recently. finding the standard 4wd springs was a bit of a chore.

All allroads came with the air suspension.

Streetwiseguy wrote: I feel sorry for people who buy Volkswagen cars and don't know thats normal maintainance numbers.

Fixed that for you