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D3 - Axles, Brakes, Suspension and Steering Brakes, Springs, shocks, steering racks, steering columns, suspension arms, wheel hubs etc.

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Old 29th December 2017, 07:10 AM
daandaman daandaman is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 109
Default Lowering or lowered your (S)8? READ!

Alright guys, doing very high distance commuting and also quite some seriously spirited driving with my S8, I have noticed what that does to your tires in different setups. Since I lowered and aligned the car it had been eating it's front tire inner shoulders. This means the reinforcing fibers would show through where the rest of the tire would still be in 80% new condition. The steering arms being dropped as low as they can and the subframe slid to center the camber and the toe set to completely neutral with one set of tires and slightly in with another and slightly out with a third. The big issue is obviously the high amount of camber the car is in from being lowered. I was lucky enough to have one of the very first adjustable top control arms for the S8 from SPC in the USA and after about 60.000km in a little over half a year I can vouch for their quality.
The correct part numbers are 81371, 81372, 81373, 81378 which are good for the D3 Quattro (A and S)
I paid slightly over 500 USD and import taxes. It completely fixed my crazy tire wear. Be aware that the swap might be very hard to do when the pinch bolts are corroded stuck but a good specialist or dealership will have the right tool to get the bolt out. A simple paint stripper heat gun also does wonders. Also be aware that the alignment will be WAY off and that a regular alignment place will not know where to start not be able to understand the related effects adjusting the rear or front arm will have on both camber and caster of that wheel. You are best off bringing the car to a place where they build high end rally or race cars to get it dialed in the first time. I did and the guy (a champ in alignment) still needed a few hours altogether with me helping. The car now has better handling than stock. Also notice that depending on how lowered you are, The top arms will need to push the hub out accordingly and in my case this means the balljoints were catching on the inner fender liner during some situations which gave a really hard to pin down clacking sound. 3 minutes with a heat gun sorted that out though after seeing the aluminium becoming slightly polished on the rubbing areas.

I'll go as far to state that when lowering an a8, This is a must do.
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