Bilstein B8s, Swift Spec R springs, Raceseng camber plates

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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

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.

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

- Andrew

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

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

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

[Petah78]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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

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.

[ZDan]

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.

Originally Posted by Petah78

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.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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

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

- Andrew

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Racecomp Engineering

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.

[Racecomp Engineering]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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

[Petah78]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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.

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.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Petah78

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

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...

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

Indeed!

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.

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.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by ZDan

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 ...