View Single Post
Old 12-10-2013, 10:52 PM   #94
Fizz
Senior Addict
 
Fizz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Drives: 86 GT
Location: Perth, Australia
Posts: 1,217
Thanks: 249
Thanked 336 Times in 215 Posts
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Here are some pics from my install...










The installation itself was pretty straight forward and fairly simple....but it would definitely help if you have a buddy to give you a hand. If you find it difficult to hold the springs down (to fit the top mounts) just wind the height adjusters lower and then wind it back up to your desired height once installed on the car. Springs compressors will help but not necessary. I reused the stock bump stops for rear dampers, but trimmed off about 1". My only gripe is that they should have included shorter/matched bump stops and the nice blue dust covers for the rears as well. However, overall the build quality is top notch as you'd expect from Bilstein.

Ride quality is obviously firmer than stock but without being 'crashy' over rough surfaces. No NVH issues whatsoever. This may be due to the fact that I re-used the factory top mounts....so YMMV if you use aftermarket camber tops. Anyhow the damping over medium to larger bumps/dips is amazing...very well controlled even at speed. In comparison, with stock suspension on the same stretch of road it tended to feel a little floaty once over a certain speed. With the Eibach Pro Kit, it was better but I still thought it felt slightly under damped. With the Bilstein the car also felt more alive and responsive to steering inputs. But one thing that I've noticed now even more than before was that the stock tyres are the weak link and a limiting factor in the handling department. What I mean is that the stock tyres were never brilliant, but with the stock suspension it masked its low grip limits to a certain degree. Whereas now I find myself pushing harder into corners more often only to find the tyres giving up early.

To summarize, I'd say the B14's are well suited to the everyday driver who wants a top quality German made coilover, improved handling, ability to adjust ride height to your liking, retain the factory NVH levels, and not bother messing around with compression/rebound dials. Factor in the price of about $1k and I'd say these B14's offer serious bang for buck value.

Last edited by Fizz; 12-10-2013 at 11:55 PM.
Fizz is offline  
The Following 13 Users Say Thank You to Fizz For This Useful Post:
Anthonytpt (12-11-2013), chanomatik (02-05-2014), Createddeleted (08-04-2014), CSG Mike (01-29-2014), DAEMANO (01-26-2014), dem00n (12-10-2013), fooddude (05-03-2014), FT-86 SpeedFactory (12-10-2013), KayC (12-11-2013), koevasi (03-15-2014), mfbmike (12-11-2013), PRORICAN (12-11-2013), Racecomp Engineering (12-11-2013)