XYZ Racing Tarmac Rally Coilovers — Audi A8 4WD (OE FOR AIR STRUT) (Cancellation Kit for Electronic Damping) 2007-2010

The D3 A8’s Aluminium Space Frame construction and permanent quattro drivetrain are the raw ingredients for a serious tarmac stage car – but Audi’s factory air struts and Continuous Damping Control system were calibrated for motorway comfort, not sealed stages. This conversion replaces both with a Tarmac Rally-specification coilover, and the included cancellation kit manages the electronic delete for CDC-equipped cars without filling the dashboard with fault codes.

Tarmac stages suit the A8’s strengths better than you might expect: the permanent quattro system delivers traction out of slow hairpins, the ASF platform is stiffer and lighter than a comparable steel-bodied saloon of the same era, and the car’s mass becomes a stability asset once the suspension stops fighting the road. Removing the air struts and their load-levelling variability gives a consistent, known ride height across a full event – regardless of fuel load or how much co-driver kit is in the boot.

What this coilover does for your 2007-2010 Audi A8

Where the factory air struts were tuned to isolate passengers from surface imperfections, the Tarmac Rally setup is calibrated to manage what happens at the tyre contact patch when asphalt breaks up mid-stage. The damping absorbs the jolt from blind crests and drainage channels without allowing the body to roll away from the loaded tyres. On broken tarmac, suppressing that body movement is directly linked to traction at all four corners – which, on a quattro platform, is the primary speed lever. The coilover setup also eliminates the air suspension’s vulnerability to heat cycling on longer events, where repeated thermal stress can compromise air line and seal integrity.

About the Tarmac Rally coilover

XYZ Racing developed the Tarmac Rally specification from direct sealed-stage competition, and those proven settings carry over into this A8 4WD application. The damper is built to handle the particular demands of uneven asphalt – absorbing sharp impacts from surface breaks and crests that would otherwise transmit into the chassis – while keeping the tyre in consistent contact with the road between those inputs. That balance of impact absorption and controlled rebound is the core discipline of tarmac rally damper development: too compliant and the car floats over high-speed crests; too firm and the tyre skips under braking. The geometry of each setting reflects what XYZ’s racing programme proved across multiple events, not a desk-derived compromise.

Fitment for the Audi A8 4WD (OE FOR AIR STRUT) (Cancellation Kit for Electronic Damping) (2007-2010)

This kit is built for the D3-generation Audi A8 quattro in chassis code AU42-C, covering the 2007 to 2010 model years. The application is specific to cars originally fitted with factory air struts – if your A8 left the factory on conventional passive dampers, this is not the correct application. The cancellation kit included is for cars with Continuous Damping Control; confirm your car’s original suspension specification before ordering.

What buyers also search for

• Audi A8 D3 air suspension conversion to coilovers for tarmac rally or sealed-stage competition use
• Audi A8 quattro CDC electronic damping cancellation for motorsport build 2007-2010
• D3 A8 air strut delete coilover for competition events with quattro drivetrain
• Audi A8 4WD tarmac rally suspension upgrade including electronic damping delete kit

Configure yours below – the configurator confirms fitment and cancellation kit compatibility for your specific A8 variant.