d2 s8 lowering springs
 

guys, can anyone point me in the direction of what ones to buy ?

Not looking to go mad on price or height but want a little lower and am on 19 inch wheels...

any thoughts much appreciated

si

Euro Car Parts do two kits -

H&R Suspension Kit (Coilover)
Product Code: 982445421
£1277.51

and
ST by KW Suspension Kit (Coilover) (ST X)
Product Code: 976440660
£815.04

I've had H&R kit fitted to just the front of mine for several years and only had one problem which was where one of the plastic washers had been substuted and set off a chemical reaction in the adjustment nut. 2 new adjustment nuts and some new washers and all is ok again

Don't bother with Eibach - they will lift an S8. Actual springs to lower a D2 are pretty thin on the ground tbh. Pretty much your only option these days is coilovers. Spax do a set as well but I haven't tried them yet.

Ooooh, interesting comment about SPAX.

Had a rather bouncy journey yesterday where Helga was doing her Renault Megane thing after traversing many road humps and platforms in and around NW London. I noticed that the car was sitting lower NSR when I parked up. I'd already had the rear coil springs replaced a few years ago after snapping one in half. The car was on standard suspension at the time. Fast forward to 2017 and the suspension was replaced front and rear with a set of quattro sports suspension from the forum sponsors. I'm going to have a nose at the car shortly now that it's light but I fear the coil spring is broken. I'd rather not outlay £1200 on H&R and SPAX are more reasonably priced.

Since your original post, have you had any experience with SPAX, MJ?

Yes, we fitted them to Mike's Murple before the last Germany roadtrip as we were supposed to be going round the Nurburgring.

The Spax RSX set is designed to lower the car at least 2-3" - when we first fitted it the car just sat on the bump stops! It was so low it wouldn't even come off the lift arms. We eventually wound the springs up far enough to get about the same ride height as my grey S8 which was quite an ordeal since access is very difficult and we nearly halved the free length of the springs. With the damping set to 50%, the ride was firm but acceptable. We did 2500 miles in a week on 19" wheels and it was certainly not objectionably hard.

I think Spax have simply used the same damper body on the D2 as they have on the B5 and C5 as it is really just too short for the application. It would be feasible to contrive a lower bracket to lift the mounting up by 2", but its a bit of a faff. The rear was much the same, although since the spring and damper are separate it would need changes to both for that to work. A spacer on the spring is easy enough but the damper is still too short, however that is easier to solve at the rear than the front.

If it weren't for that, I would be happy to recommend the kit. I've spoken to the Spax guys at the Autosport show about custom applications before, so it might be worth asking them if they can make a sensible ride height version for us.

Edit - pinged Spax a message to see if they're interested in making a 'road use' version of the kit :D

Many thanks MJ for that detailed update. I'll report back later once I've had a look at the rear coil springs before I decide on my next course of action. Cheers for pinging a message over to SPAX. In the meantime, I've seen a set of KWs for a couple of hundred pounds more and then we have the H&Rs coming in at about £1,200. Yikes.

Those Eibach springs I bought from you last year have been perfect. There's negligible difference in ride height. No good for lowering of course but for anyone looking for something close to stock S8 springs, they're a perfect choice (assuming they're still available that is).

That's handy to know. It must be the combination with Bilstein that lifts it then. Their B6 'sports' dampers are actually longer than the originals :rolleyes: