what to look for in buyin an B5 s4
#2
12-01-2004, 10:05 PM
RE: what to look for in buyin an B5 s4
has the timing belt been changed (must be done around 60k miles)?
Is the suspension squeeky? Push down on each corner of the car. If it squeeks, that's going to cost a few hundred bucks.
Is the suspension squeeky? Push down on each corner of the car. If it squeeks, that's going to cost a few hundred bucks.
#6
12-02-2004, 06:20 AM
RE: what to look for in buyin an B5 s4
im lookin into the streetsport or tracksport.
http://www.goapr.com/Audi/products/sus_stasis_b5s4.html
http://www.goapr.com/Audi/products/sus_stasis_b5s4.html
#7
12-02-2004, 01:11 PM
RE: what to look for in buyin an B5 s4
I found this review on them for you...
Last Friday I got my new STaSIS Street Sport suspension installed and after a weekend to try it out, here are my impressions. As of the time of installation and up until this afternoon, I had a Neuspeed 19mm swaybar on my car set to the soft setting. The STaSIS Street Sport suspension has 450F/500R spring weights.
The suspension is a fixed height system and drops the car from around 26 1/2 inches at the top of the wheel well to around 25 1/4 inches. Slightly more than I expected, but within reason. My main purpose for the upgrade was for handling and I could have lived with the stock height just fine. I do note that getting a jack under my car is a little more cramped than before, so I guess I get to live with being somewhat "slammed". I did notice that more kids in their Hondas nodded approvingly as I was driving around, so apparently this must be the right "look". I am running with 17 inch wheels and intend to stick with them, so have no rubbing issues.
Since this is a more substantial suspension, no weight savings are to be had - front set up comes in at 13.5 lbs (10.5 for stock) and the rears weigh 12 lbs (9.5 stock). Sort of stands to reason you won't save weight here.
With the 19mm swaybar in, the ride was much stiffer than I had expected - it was almost a match for the ride of the 700+ lb STaSIS coilovers I got to drive in Feb. Rougher roads were almost eye popping and left me wondering how I was going to get my wife to accept this new "feature" to my car. The car's handling prowess on the other hand was almost hard to believe. Dive and squat behaviors are non-existent and cornering is so flat it's frightening. I pushed the car pretty hard over the course of the weekend and simply could not break the tires loose at all. I sought out the twistiest roads I knew of in Clark County WA and the car left me astonished at what could be done. These were narrow country roads and I made a point of staying absolutely within my lane, so I didn't drive like I could on a track. Country roads here in the NW have very poor visibility because of the trees and vegetation and rarely offer more than 3-400 yards of view for oncoming traffic. I have had this S4 since Halloween 2000 and had no clue it could behave like this. You have often heard the phrase that the car simply "handled like it was on rails" before and I will repeat it here. It will go exactly where your steering input points it in an almost unnerving fashion. As of late today I was finally taking street corners without slowing down at all - just a little letoff on the throttle to drop some weight on the front wheels at turn in and then head back for the gas at 30-35 mph. No problem.
I did however decide that the ride with the 19mm swaybar was simply too stiff for my liking and after a trip up the Columbia Gorge today, popped the car up on jack stands and swapped the factory swaybar back in place. The 19mm swaybar might be interesting to take out on a lapping day, but not for daily use.
The ride without the aftermarket swaybar is nicer from my perspective - with the rear end back to being independent at each wheel, bumps were swallowed in a fashion similar to the factory suspension with the swaybar - very tolerable. This point is important to me because my wife and I intend to do some touring this summer in this car and I have no desire to get beat up on the road when I have to do some long driving sessions.
At the same time, dive and squat were still totally absent and body roll on turns was surprisingly still absent. Slightly more lean than with the swaybar, but not nearly as much as I expected given how much softer the overall ride had become. I did try a couple of street corners at the speed limit and the only time I managed to break the tires loose was when I nailed the throttle just after turn in from 35 mph (early apex) and even then only got a quick chirp. Even when I did finally get the tires to break traction, steering was very neutral - I could not really perceive either understeer or oversteer. Fantastic traction improvement over stock. I never realized how much traction is lost to a sloppy suspension. I almost look forward to a wet day so I can try to get a better feel for where the limits are and how the car handles when you push them.
I would like to commend STaSIS for their customer support and followup. Paul Lambert has been very generous with his time and has anwered a zillion questions from me that ranged far beyond what was necessary for supporting his product. He called me Friday night to make sure that the install had gone OK and wanted my initial impressions of the system. Not many tuners out there are offering this level of followup. I suppose I am lucky to have purchased this system before the racing season had started up, because I can't imagine him having this sort of time available after it gets going again.
All in all, no regrets for this purchase whatever. I got exactly what I wanted and have no doubt that I will be smiling about the way my car drives for a long time to come.
Last Friday I got my new STaSIS Street Sport suspension installed and after a weekend to try it out, here are my impressions. As of the time of installation and up until this afternoon, I had a Neuspeed 19mm swaybar on my car set to the soft setting. The STaSIS Street Sport suspension has 450F/500R spring weights.
The suspension is a fixed height system and drops the car from around 26 1/2 inches at the top of the wheel well to around 25 1/4 inches. Slightly more than I expected, but within reason. My main purpose for the upgrade was for handling and I could have lived with the stock height just fine. I do note that getting a jack under my car is a little more cramped than before, so I guess I get to live with being somewhat "slammed". I did notice that more kids in their Hondas nodded approvingly as I was driving around, so apparently this must be the right "look". I am running with 17 inch wheels and intend to stick with them, so have no rubbing issues.
Since this is a more substantial suspension, no weight savings are to be had - front set up comes in at 13.5 lbs (10.5 for stock) and the rears weigh 12 lbs (9.5 stock). Sort of stands to reason you won't save weight here.
With the 19mm swaybar in, the ride was much stiffer than I had expected - it was almost a match for the ride of the 700+ lb STaSIS coilovers I got to drive in Feb. Rougher roads were almost eye popping and left me wondering how I was going to get my wife to accept this new "feature" to my car. The car's handling prowess on the other hand was almost hard to believe. Dive and squat behaviors are non-existent and cornering is so flat it's frightening. I pushed the car pretty hard over the course of the weekend and simply could not break the tires loose at all. I sought out the twistiest roads I knew of in Clark County WA and the car left me astonished at what could be done. These were narrow country roads and I made a point of staying absolutely within my lane, so I didn't drive like I could on a track. Country roads here in the NW have very poor visibility because of the trees and vegetation and rarely offer more than 3-400 yards of view for oncoming traffic. I have had this S4 since Halloween 2000 and had no clue it could behave like this. You have often heard the phrase that the car simply "handled like it was on rails" before and I will repeat it here. It will go exactly where your steering input points it in an almost unnerving fashion. As of late today I was finally taking street corners without slowing down at all - just a little letoff on the throttle to drop some weight on the front wheels at turn in and then head back for the gas at 30-35 mph. No problem.
I did however decide that the ride with the 19mm swaybar was simply too stiff for my liking and after a trip up the Columbia Gorge today, popped the car up on jack stands and swapped the factory swaybar back in place. The 19mm swaybar might be interesting to take out on a lapping day, but not for daily use.
The ride without the aftermarket swaybar is nicer from my perspective - with the rear end back to being independent at each wheel, bumps were swallowed in a fashion similar to the factory suspension with the swaybar - very tolerable. This point is important to me because my wife and I intend to do some touring this summer in this car and I have no desire to get beat up on the road when I have to do some long driving sessions.
At the same time, dive and squat were still totally absent and body roll on turns was surprisingly still absent. Slightly more lean than with the swaybar, but not nearly as much as I expected given how much softer the overall ride had become. I did try a couple of street corners at the speed limit and the only time I managed to break the tires loose was when I nailed the throttle just after turn in from 35 mph (early apex) and even then only got a quick chirp. Even when I did finally get the tires to break traction, steering was very neutral - I could not really perceive either understeer or oversteer. Fantastic traction improvement over stock. I never realized how much traction is lost to a sloppy suspension. I almost look forward to a wet day so I can try to get a better feel for where the limits are and how the car handles when you push them.
I would like to commend STaSIS for their customer support and followup. Paul Lambert has been very generous with his time and has anwered a zillion questions from me that ranged far beyond what was necessary for supporting his product. He called me Friday night to make sure that the install had gone OK and wanted my initial impressions of the system. Not many tuners out there are offering this level of followup. I suppose I am lucky to have purchased this system before the racing season had started up, because I can't imagine him having this sort of time available after it gets going again.
All in all, no regrets for this purchase whatever. I got exactly what I wanted and have no doubt that I will be smiling about the way my car drives for a long time to come.
