Bilstein B8s, Swift Spec R springs, Raceseng camber plates
 

Shoutout to i8ur911 for doing most of the install labor last Saturday. Thanks Jason!

Very pleased with Bilstein B8 dampers! Smoother than stock PP Sachs on the street, less harsh high-speed damping :) At the same time low-speed damping feels sufficient for the Swift Spec R springs which are about 55%F/68%R stiffer than stock at 4.4 kg/mm front and 5.3 kg/mm rear. Looking forward to the track :)

Install notes: I cut the B8 internal bumpstops in half, down to ~32mm from ~64mm because of paranoia over bump travel! Used 6mm spacers on top of front springs below upper spring perch as with previous setup to correct front ride height with the Raceseng camber plates. Using the stock rear bumpstops, stock upper mount.

Ride height is now just under 13" from hub to fender lip, just under 25" from ground to fender lip, front and rear, on 245/40-17 Cont ECS

Alignment with maximized camber and minimized caster:
front toe: 0.00/0.00, 0 total
front camber: -3.34L/-3.39R
front caster: 6.43L/6.36R
rear toe: 0.03L/0.04R, +0.07 total
rear camber: -2.73L/-2.93R

Oh yeah, previous setup was stock PP/Sachs dampers, Swift BRZ Sport springs, Raceseng plates for track, stock upper mounts after track season.

That setup with the Raceseng plates was severely lacking in bump travel, the smallest bumps on the street would bottom the fronts :( At the track I'd also get mid-corner understeer as the outside front would be on the bump stop. Mind you this was after addressing the front travel issue with 6mm spacers for the front spring regaining front ride height lost with the camber plates, and cutting the front bumpstops down to 20mm (from 60mm)


With the stock front upper mounts, it was no problem on the street fwiw...

So, B8's seem to have way more bump travel than the stock PP/Sachs dampers :) I had to *try* to find the bottom which I did by hitting a speed bump at ~30mph. Normal usage is super-smooove over bumps. Yay!

Did you measure bump travel and/or total travel with the dampers off the car?

- Andrew

I, um, did not... That woulda been a good idea...

Lol no worries. I've done the same when I'm really excited to install something.

- Andrew

Yup! When I ordered them I had it in my head that they had more bump travel, but then found some info suggesting there was zero additional bump travel, only reduced droop travel. Which is why I cut down the internal front bump stops. I'm actually a little (barely) concerned that I'm gonna go from being more front-bumpstop-active at the track to more rear-bumpstop-active, might become oversteery and/or overwhelm the stock Torsen by unloading the inside rear. We shall see!

Dan what were you running for rear camber before?

Seems like it was a little less, on the order of -2.5 I think? But couldn't be by a whole lot as ride height is pretty much the same and nothing else changed that should alter rear camber...

I've driven a Swift R equipped BRZ on factory worn shocks. Smooth was not a word I would describe the ride. Glad the Bilsteins match up well. Good luck!

Sorry to bring this back. With your original setup (PP Sachs/Swift R), what was the reason why you went with the camber plates instead of bolts? Limited camber adjustment with bolts? I think you are also running some 17x9 +35, was there not enough inner wheel clearance for bolts?


Thanks.

Exactly, I needed more camber than camber bolts would provide, given 17x9 wheels and stock-diameter springs. Even without camber bolts, I have to run 3mm spacers with 17x9 +40 wheels with 225/40-17 Hoosiers. 17x9 +35 wheels with 245/40-17 Conti ECS fit without spacers with ~6mm clearance.
So yeah, camber bolts wouldn't buy me anything.

Oh yeah, the new setup worked great at Palmer Motorsports Park a couple of weekends ago :D

Definitely a lot less midcorner-understeery, and probably now more rear bumpstop-active vs. front so more oversteer but not a problem at all. I'm not planning to add back in any front bump-stop length, or to take away any from the back. If anything, I might get some rear subframe inserts to keep the rear end from squishing around which it feels like it is doing a bit in left/right transitions.

Thanks for the reply. With 6mm clearance, I wonder how much camber can you run safely. That is going to be TIGHT.

I never tried camber bolts as I knew it was a no-go. Actually that had been my plan but friend and competitor told me to forget about it, get plates. He was right... Running -3.3/-3.4 with camber plates :)

Rear subframe inserts are nice! What other bushings are you allowed?

- Andrew

Aftermarket poly or rubber bushings allowed, any metal => points...

Thanks again. I am assuming the answer is no but I will ask anyways, did going to the B8 give you more wheel/suspension clearance?


If i have to run camber plates to fit 17x9, for the price of shocks, camber plates and lowering springs, i might as well run Fortune Auto 500 with camber plates already or the B14. I will just swap back to the stock suspension for the winter time.


Thanks.

The B8s definitely gave significantly more bump travel up front. I was pretty much resting on the bump stops at -30mm ride height with the PP Sachs struts and Raceseng camber plates (which take away some bump travel). Any small bump => BAM! It was pretty terrible on the street. I'd have to slow to a crawl and weave around to avoid bumps. With the B8s the car is transformed! Drive over bumps at normal speeds with no problems.

One reason I went with non-adjustable Bilsteins is that I'd rather have *good* nonadjustable dampers engineered to work well over a broad operational range, than lower-end adjustables.

I didn't like the B14 progressive spring rates for track work: F 2.5-4.5, R 3.0-7.0, and ride-height adjustability costs me a point (42 lb.).

FortuneAuto might be fine. I didn't consider them because ride-height adjustability (1 point, 42 lb.), and also Bilsteins seemed more of a known-good quantity.

Gotcha. Some opportunity there then IMO either with rubber or poly.

- Andrew

Plan is to take incremental approach. 1st stabilizing the rear subframe and seeing what that does, proceed from there.

Makes sense. You've got a good set up going already.

- Andrew

What I meant was wheel/suspension clearance (as in more room for camber bolts) with the B8 vs PP sachs.


Yes, I did read up on the progressive rate of the B14. Seems like everything is a compromise. haha....


Agreed with the Fortune Auto name vs Bilstein but FA's package is hard to beat. $2k (cdn) all in for their 500 series (street/track) that is a monotube design, 5 year warranty, built stateside as is the rebuilt at $75 a corner. Each shock comes is dyno matched......seems like they are somewhat big in the drift scene. Could be all marketing but sounds not too shabby.

Ahhh, nah, not much if any difference as far as clearance for wheels/tires I'd bet, though I didn't specifically measure clearance before/after...

Indeed!


Yeah, they seem to have a decent rep and offer spring rate options.
Another thing to consider for me was that it's my daily driver and gets driven on snowy/salted roads, I get the impression that most aftermarket coilovers are not really designed to stand up to that.

If you want to adjust height between summer and winter seasons, then it'll be a pain to keep the threaded sleeves clean and functional. Same about corrosion, which most of the manufacturers saying that they have protection and in reality you have corrosion! I had a set of adjustable "quality" coilovers with limited mileage and I sold them after 2 years. I cannot imagine what would be their condition if they were installed in a highly mileage car ...