[P_G]

So having had the car over a month now I usually park up in efficiency but can't help but think the car needs to be another 10mm lower, so has anyone looked into lowering the air suspension parameters using VCDS / Ross Tech / Carly / Carista?

I know there are Ghost lowering links but I don't want to compromise the ride quality and Cete shouldn't be needed. I've seen plenty of C7RS6/7's with air suspension lowered using VCDS so I wondered if there was knowledge out there on doing the same to the GT's? The ideal would be to have a parked up setting which is lower than any of the modes but I suspect that would involve too much additional programming so probably best to adjust the factory height values.

Any advice / insight would be appreciated.

 

[ajag]

Subscribed. I've had ghost links with a 1" drop for about 2 mos, and am going back to stock. Not worth the compromise in ride quality/susp travel.

 

[Ps702]

Subscribed. I've had ghost links with a 1" drop for about 2 mos, and am going back to stock. Not worth the compromise in ride quality/susp travel.

Other than how much better it looks being lowered, are there any benefits in handling? Is the ride quality that noticeable?

 

[ajag]

Other than how much better it looks being lowered, are there any benefits in handling? Is the ride quality that noticeable?

No, this is a 5k lb barge, it handles well for what it is but I notice no improvement in handling with the drop. Ride quality is totally subjective, of course, but it was very noticeable to me. Of course you could use links and just not drop it as much and tweak it how you like. Prior to the ghost link drop I was usually in dynamic mode, after I always use the custom setting with comfort ride, the ride in dynamic is pretty bad now.

 

[AudiGT]

No, this is a 5k lb barge, it handles well for what it is

This is a great description of the GT. Don’t let the handling fool you. These are big and heavy!!!

 

[mmmzon]

These are big and heavy

I like it - with strong winds in Colorado, I am actually not afraid to drive at motorway speeds.

 

[shanejc]

So having had the car over a month now I usually park up in efficiency but can't help but think the car needs to be another 10mm lower, so has anyone looked into lowering the air suspension parameters using VCDS / Ross Tech / Carly / Carista?

I know there are Ghost lowering links but I don't want to compromise the ride quality and Cete shouldn't be needed. I've seen plenty of C7RS6/7's with air suspension lowered using VCDS so I wondered if there was knowledge out there on doing the same to the GT's? The ideal would be to have a parked up setting which is lower than any of the modes but I suspect that would involve too much additional programming so probably best to adjust the factory height values.

Any advice / insight would be appreciated.

I've poked around with VCDS and it looks like it is probably doable but I haven't figured out the security code that is necessary to write the adaptation. If anyone does, would be awesome to share!

 

[Maelstrom]

I can’t imagine lowering my GT below Efficiency. As it is it’s incredibly easy to scrape the underside and front in that setting.

 

[P_G]

I can’t imagine lowering my GT below Efficiency. As it is it’s incredibly easy to scrape the underside and front in that setting.

I was thinking more for when it is parked up, agreed on traffic calming measures in efficiency it can scrape the underside. If you park up in comfort or dynamic it looks like its still got is transportation blocks in!

 

[bmo2400]

I lowered mine using Ghost lowering links. I haven't had any bad underside scrapes but I know to drive carefully around dips and bumps. A well known-shop for Euros near me, Pacific German in Laguna Hills, CA, has the Audi Factory Scan tool and can program the car settings to ride lower. I am planning to actually have them remove the lowering links and use the factory scan tool to lower the car as supposedly it rides better. I am just waiting for them to find out from their contact at Audi if they can also enable the Matrix Headlights for my GT, I guess it depends on when the car was produced. Here is a before and after lowering and also another when I had the 22's put on

 

[ajag]

I lowered mine using Ghost lowering links. I haven't had any bad underside scrapes but I know to drive carefully around dips and bumps. A well known-shop for Euros near me, Pacific German in Laguna Hills, CA, has the Audi Factory Scan tool and can program the car settings to ride lower. I am planning to actually have them remove the lowering links and use the factory scan tool to lower the car as supposedly it rides better. I am just waiting for them to find out from their contact at Audi if they can also enable the Matrix Headlights for my GT, I guess it depends on when the car was produced. Here is a before and after lowering and also another when I had the 22's put on
View attachment 5105 View attachment 5106

Any luck with the scan tool solution? I removed my lowering links and the ride is definitely quite a bit better, going to leave them off but would be great to have a software solution. I still don't understand why they won't let you run the car in dynamic setting with the lowered ride height of efficiency.

 

[Gtakacs]

Any luck with the scan tool solution? I removed my lowering links and the ride is definitely quite a bit better, going to leave them off but would be great to have a software solution. I still don't understand why they won't let you run the car in dynamic setting with the lowered ride height of efficiency.

Because the car suspension to be "dynamic" it needs to be able to compress and expand. If you're lower, your compression travel is limited which makes it less likely to have the ability to absorb the bumps. It's simple physics really...

 

[ajag]

Because the car suspension to be "dynamic" it needs to be able to compress and expand. If you're lower, your compression travel is limited which makes it less likely to have the ability to absorb the bumps. It's simple physics really...

I guess I misunderstood what dynamic mode means as I thought it was audispeak for sport suspension setting. Understandably moving the suspension lower will reduce compliance/comfort but improve cornering stability, correct?

 

[Gtakacs]

There is so much more to suspension settings than ride height... Spring stiffness, compression linearity, rebound settings, preload, etc. Bottom line is the engineers tuned the combination of all those variables for a compliant and/or better handling driving characteristic. You're trying to adjust one of those variables based on looks alone which is, to be blunt, stupid.

As with everything, there is compromises. The engineers decided that 90 km/h was the point where they would sacrifice compression travel (ride height) to get better driving dynamics and stability because the likelihood of a driver hitting something that requires the extra 22mm of compression at that speed is much lower than it is at slower speeds. Also note that they likely adjusting the spring rate and rebound settings to compensate for the lower compression travel to ensure the car won't bottom out while they will sacrifice ride comfort in the same process.

I'm not a automotive engineer but this is just common sense... I never understood people who would make extreme sacrifices in ride quality or stability just because it looks cool, be it short springs on a sport car or a lift kit on a Jeep...

 

[ajag]

There is so much more to suspension settings than ride height... Spring stiffness, compression linearity, rebound settings, preload, etc. Bottom line is the engineers tuned the combination of all those variables for a compliant and/or better handling driving characteristic. You're trying to adjust one of those variables based on looks alone which is, to be blunt, stupid.

As with everything, there is compromises. The engineers decided that 90 km/h was the point where they would sacrifice compression travel (ride height) to get better driving dynamics and stability because the likelihood of a driver hitting something that requires the extra 22mm of compression at that speed is much lower than it is at slower speeds. Also note that they likely adjusting the spring rate and rebound settings to compensate for the lower compression travel to ensure the car won't bottom out while they will sacrifice ride comfort in the same process.

I'm not a automotive engineer but this is just common sense... I never understood people who would make extreme sacrifices in ride quality or stability just because it looks cool, be it short springs on a sport car or a lift kit on a Jeep...

I understand there is more than one variable involved and I was fully expecting some loss of compliance in exchange for subjectively improved appearance by fooling the suspension into a lower ride height with the links. That was not my question, my question was why not allow for adjusting the suspension to the lowest setting (as in the efficiency height) when in dynamic mode? More options is always better IMHO, however the Audi engineers made the decision to simplify the customers choice by not allowing this, maybe for the reason you mentioned given their target clientele.

I made the decision to try the lowering links given the previous reviews of them had stated the ride degradation was minimal. I did this for subjectively improved looks as I stated, and not for handling, although there may be benefits to handling it doesn't really matter for a car like this. I wouldn't say this was anywhere near an "extreme" sacrifice in ride quality or stability, it was minor but the tradeoff was not worth it so I went back to stock. Your generalization and ad hominem comments were unnecessary.

 

[bmo2400]

Any luck with the scan tool solution? I removed my lowering links and the ride is definitely quite a bit better, going to leave them off but would be great to have a software solution. I still don't understand why they won't let you run the car in dynamic setting with the lowered ride height of efficiency.

I have held off on this as I am happy with the lowering links overall and considering trading in mine for an RS so wouldn't make sense to spend the money removing the links and then lowering another way. If I end up getting an RS I will have the local shop lower it using their factory scan tool as supposedly there is not much of a difference in ride quality and they do this on a ton of Audis. Weekly I see their Instagram of lowering Audi's (including GTs and Etron's) this way. And yes I did this 100% for the looks

 

[Gtakacs]

I posted the technical specs regarding various modes and ride height in another thread:

Dynamic mode and ride height?

Is there a reason the car can not be dropped to its lowest setting when in dynamic mode? You would think it make sense for performance and aerodynamics to be at its lowest height...what am i missing here?

www.e-tronforum.com

Key point being:
"Various adaptive air suspension regulating characteristic maps are activated depending on the setting selected in Audi drive select.
Every mode has a defined vehicle level when the vehicle is stationary and a corresponding damper characteristic map. Automatic
changes to the levels are initiated by the regulation depending on the vehicle speed. "

Changing vehicle levels that are not matching with the rest of the suspension configuration is not supported by Audi.

Bottom line for me, is that I trust the German engineers who invested significant amount of development and testing time to make the car ride the way they felt would be the best compromise. Now having said that, every city, every driver's typical route, be it a pothole infested city or smooth tarmac on a track is different and there is very likely that there might be a different setting that would fare better in the given situation than what the German engineers cooked up and went with. So far I haven't seen anything that would indicate that I should or could single handedly make it better by adjusting the ride height outside the confines of what is available via the driving modes.

But to each their own...

 

[Carnut]

Take it from someone who has taken many AWD cars from Lamborghini’s to Porsche’s and turned them into RWD and rebalancing the suspension is probably the hardest part. I remember the first Gallardo I did (it was mine) back in 2004 and it took over a week to get it right. Everything you do to a car effects something else and I have never done anything to a car simply for looks if it does not improve the cars driving dynamics I was not going to do it. My girlfriend wants mission e wheels on the GT and I might have to do it just to be nice but if it were up to me I would leave it the way it comes. I can not see the benefits of changing wheels on a car as heavy as these are not like 10lbs of each corner will make a bit difference. I have learned over the years that most people do not think the way I do and will spend lots of money on things that are for looks only so I say it is your car and your money so go for it though I would not be surprised if lowering these cars will have a negative effect on handling rather than a positive one.

 

[Gtakacs]

I think by now we established that the active participants of this thread are trying to lower their cars for a strictly aesthetic reason, so any kind of engineering rationale is irrelevant going forward. I say they do whatever makes them feel better about their cars' looks, they paid good money for it, they're the ones riding in it. I merely pointed out the reason why the German engineers refuse to give the option to the owner via a dashboard setting; suspension setup is difficult and they simply didn't feel like the benefit of offering the option with its included R&D time would outweigh the handling compromise, engineering cost and confusion/complexity for the average owner.

 

[APolo]

I lowered mine using Ghost lowering links. I haven't had any bad underside scrapes but I know to drive carefully around dips and bumps. A well known-shop for Euros near me, Pacific German in Laguna Hills, CA, has the Audi Factory Scan tool and can program the car settings to ride lower. I am planning to actually have them remove the lowering links and use the factory scan tool to lower the car as supposedly it rides better. I am just waiting for them to find out from their contact at Audi if they can also enable the Matrix Headlights for my GT, I guess it depends on when the car was produced. Here is a before and after lowering and also another when I had the 22's put on
View attachment 5105 View attachment 5106

I recently swapped out wheels for 22's and added the lowering links, car looks absolutely amazing! I did notice my steering wheel is slightly off-center, I spoke with an alignment tech at Audi and they advised me that the vehicle would have to be aligned and re-calibrated due to the drop/ Have you or anyone heard of this?