I just had to replace the two rear shocks on my TT. They are magnetically adjustable, and were very expensive. I was informed by my non-dealer shop that Audi recommends that the shocks be "calibrated". I guess they use the scanner to set up some values in the shocks. Anyone know about this? How important is this?

 

The magnetically adjustable struts in the newer cars/performance vehicles out there are adjusted multiple times every second to micro-changes in the road. If you were to just install new ones, and don't properly sync/calibrate them with your car's computer, your starting dampening value could be off, and as a result, any change the computer makes will be made off of a different starting value than the computer is expecting. And that can lead to complications with have a strut thats too soft/hard, and an unbalanced system.

 

Thanks. This is so puzzling to me. The structure and weights of the car are known, so why would any calibration be required? The computer knows whether a shock is in the front or the back, so that cannot be the issue.

 

Its not so much that the computer doesn't realize what corner of the car the strut is on. Its more like a tire pressure sensor. If the computer isn't getting the right feedback in regards to dampening pressure, or the starting value is off, then every calculation the computer makes in real time will be altered.