Audi Introduces New Lightweight Composite Springs

Before the end of the year, Audi will be replacing the standard steel suspension springs with new lightweight versions made of glass fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials in its upper mid-sized models.

The new spring, which Audi developed in collaboration with an unnamed Italian supplier is thicker than the standard steel spring and has a slightly larger overall diameter with a lower number of coils.

What the spring gains in size it dramatically looses in weight. Where a steel spring for an upper mid-size Audi weights nearly 2.7 kilograms, the new composite spring with the same properties weights around 1.6 kilograms. Together the four GFRP springs thus reduce the weight by roughly 4.4 kilograms (9.7 lb), half of which pertains to the unsprung mass.

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