I own 2002 TTQ, and I have some loud creaking when I go over speed bumps. My mechanic said the Struts are worn but I dont want to replace it with factory parts. And looking into a much sportier ride.

I was wondering is the shocks and struts the same thing? (not sure if the terms are the same?)

If I want a sportier set up, what do I need to replace? Like what should I be looking for in a kit? (Springs, struts, bushings? shocks? )

Can any one recommend a kit?

Thanks

I had some creaking with my 2001 when i bought it last year. One cause of creaking is usually the failure of the front swaybar bushing. There's a plastic center around the bar with a rubber bushing over it. The plastic center ususally separates from the bar, with age, and then moisture, dirt, corrosion combine to cause the noise. Regardless, with age, the suspensioin in our cars wears out and needs replacing. Mine was bad and I also had one front strut failing. Rear shocks and other strut were not leaking, but given their age and mileage, they were bound to fail within a few thousand miles or couple of year.

I decide to do a major suspension overhaul. I installed Bilstein Struts/Shocks, Eibach Pro Springs, new drop links, ball joints, front control arm bushings (I went to the DEFCON2 setup), and new front sway bar bushings.

Given the cost of these items, I decided to do the labor my self. big task, but there are plenty of DIYs out there plus i bought the Bentley Service manual. With those, i felt comfortable enough to give it a try. Thought being, If I really get into trouble I'd just have to call a towtruck and have it towed to an independent shop or dealer. I believe I spent between $1300-1500 for parts plus the few tools that i didn't already have. I also believe I saved over $1000.00 in labor charges by doing it myself.


I documented my efforts here. http://public.fotki.com/TTQ2K2/

Regarding a sportier set up over stock, some folk do a strut/shock/spring (struts for the front, shocks for the rear) combo and other do coilovers. Coilovers are more expensive but give you the option to adjust the height for street or track. strut/shock/spring combo, like mine, give you the sportier setup and lower it over stock, but not as much as you can get with coilovers. IMO, if your not going to track your TT, and a modest lowereing looks good to you, then the additional cost of the coilovers can not be justified....but that's just me. Both Bilstein and Koni make a good and reasonably priced strut/shock package and H&R and Eibach make good/reasonably priced lowering springs.

good luck.

cheers.

Hey thanks for the response, I was looking into purchasing the Koni FSD kit with neuspeed springs or eibach's. Would you recommend doing the ball joints, bushings and control arms too?

Also did you have any issues lowering your car with the quattro? Are there any complications. I plan to only drop it slightly..maybe .5"-1"....

Thanks

I did my ball joints because I already was planning on the DEFCON2 setup to replace the OEM control arm bushings and it just make sense at the time. Control arm bushing begin to show wear/cracking by the time our cars approach 10yrs, so again it made sense to do it...a lot of the labor is the same so rather then do the work twice or three times, I just replaced a much as possible.

Regarding lowering issues...the eibach/bilstein combo did not/does not lower enough to exceed OEM specs. some kits do, but Eibach advertises up to a 1.1 inch drop and with that your alignment guy should still be able to get it within specs with the need for KMACS or adjustable control arms. As of today, mine only dropped about 0.75 inch over OEM. Regarding lowering with quattro there are no issues. In europe, audi oem became 25mm lower than US beginning mid 2002 through the end of the run in 2006, so no issues.

I don't know the limit on the neuspeed springs, but the seller should be able to give you there specs before you buy, should you go the neuspeed route. If you go eibach, I know tirerack had competitive prices when I was shopping for mine. I was fortunate enough to buy mine from another guy who sold his TT before he got all of his suspension upgrade parts together.

cheers.