Any body using Bilstein B16 PSS coilovers?

[SilverFRS]

Any body using Bilstein B16 PSS coilovers? If so could you give your impressions/review?

[CSG David]

@dp1

[dp1]

I use my car as a daily driver, with B16 only Nov-Mar and Ohlins R&T for street/ax/track Mar-Nov, in north east. B16 are more compliant on the street than Ohlins, more so now with new springs on and revalving of Ohlins. I swap bw summer and winter tires at around the same time and I don't push the car on the street with winter rubber. B16 are on their softest (recommended) setting for street. Less jarring and less body roll than stock.

B16 have progressive springs, really smooth at highway speed. If you push them, they should feel solid after initial compression, around mid-corner through exit. Very good street dampers IMHO, others should chime in on ax/track use.

[ZHoward]

before i use it on my cayman, pretty good on track/autocross and also good for DD, really comfortable, if u dont know how to adjust KW v3, get B16

[Dihudaxia]

I think it is finally time for my review of the Bilstein B16’s. Its been 3 months, one gymkhana and one track day completed. I hope I can share some valuable feedback.

But before that, a little background….

I bought the B16’s to replace my Ohlins MI20 set, because after 10,000km of mixed driving (Road & Track), the front damper using was worn out. I loved the Ohlins, it was and still is a fantastic coilover. It’s one of the many I have tried that can really give good comfort on the road and when adjusted, really shine on the track (at least for an average driver like me). Honestly no one would ever regret getting them.

I bought the B16’s off the feedback from DP1, and he mentioned that the B16’s are even more comfortable than Ohlins. Thanks to his feedback, I made the purchase. And I figured it’s time to give back to the community and do a quick write up.


For the basics of the B16, its nicely packaged, uses the stock mounts for better comfort and NVH. What I didn’t like is that the B16’s height adjustment is via it spring perch, therefore the lower you go, the more stroke you lose. I would very much prefer the threaded body type (Ohlins). Secondly, these don’t go very low. Based on the instructions manual, the max you can lower the car (within recommended range) is around 25mm (1 inch). Any lower, you will run outside the recommended settings. And it affects the ride quality. So it will not go as lower as advertised (up to 50mm on some websites). Be warned…

Now for the drive…

In a nutshell, OP wasn’t kidding, the B16’s are more comfortable than Ohlins.
My road setting is F3/R3 (Bilstein rates 10 as stiffest, and 1 as softest). So it’s on the moderately softer side. By comparison, my road setting for Ohlins is F13/R13 (20 being full soft, 1 being full stiff). So it is also on a moderately soft setting.

I don’t ever drive on the fully softest setting, it’s actually less comfortable because it will make the car too soft and for some reason, it feels less damped than ideal.

If you are looking for comfort, you will find it here. It is not as comfortable as stock, but it is not far from stock quality of ride. I am very picky about comfort, I have swapped out 4 sets of suspension in search of this elusive “as comfortable as stock” idea… From springs, a TW brand coils, to HKS GT, and Ohlins, this is the most comfortable of them all.

Where it loses out to the Ohlins is on track performance. They are softer, and it shows on a track. I visit Sepang International Circuit, and comparing Ohlins to Bilsteins (all other handling mods being almost equal), the Ohlins give better control, better feel, less roll and more confidence. It probably boils down to the spring rates used. The progressive springs on the B16 has (like any progressive spring), a slightly odd feeling, the progression can shift quite suddenly as the spring coils are compressed. Perhaps it’s just me not being used to it.

I also participate in Gymkhanas and that is where the B16’s has a slight edge, it is easier to get the tail unstuck when compared to Ohlins. It is again more likely due to the stiffer rear setup. It is easier to hold onto the slide when the rears do break free.

Is it less stable? Maybe… But unless you drive like a mad man on the street chances are you won’t feel it being unstable for the most part of your daily drive.


So far I am happy with the B16 for the road, but I wished for the Ohlins-like confidence on the track. Give me the B16’s any day as I spend 80% of the time driving on the street… For those on the fence, I can strongly recommend the Bilsteins. You won’t regret it considering it is significantly cheaper than the Ohlins.

[Canehda]

Feel bad for waiting this time but after a summer of using my bilstein b16 for street and track they have been fantastic. On the street they are honestly better than OEM as they deal with bumps with one stroke where the oem may hop around a little. On track they have been great as well, they are deff on the soft side of the spectrum but I feel like I was getting a lot out of the MPSS I started the year with and the rs3 I finished the season with.

NOTES
-the spring rates are much stiffer in the rear, even when I tried staggering rear tires I still felt the car was always ready to over steer which is a lot of fun but I felt I was concentrating more on keeping the rear end in check then I would like.
-adjustments are VERY small, honestly I couldn't feel difference from min to max on daily driving, I could feel some minor adjustment but really I just set it in the middle and forgot about it lol.

I do want to make note of this because here's my issue with the b16... The b14.... I picked these up for my sisters BRZ while she had it during the summer and well... They feel like they are damped exactly the same, after trying the two back to back I noticed very little if any difference... The metal collars on my b16 were cool but not worth the nearly $1000 premium... I'd be very interested to know what the actual difference is.


But being part of the car world means nothing is ever good enough... And so with my latest purchase - re71r - I have just boxed up my coils to get revalved down in Cali at bilstein for some linear swift springs
8k square... Will update as I get them since a lot of people have talked about this but it seems like no one here has had their bilsteins revalved!

[R2]

Originally Posted by Canehda

Feel bad for waiting this time but after a summer of using my bilstein b16 for street and track they have been fantastic. On the street they are honestly better than OEM as they deal with bumps with one stroke where the oem may hop around a little. On track they have been great as well, they are deff on the soft side of the spectrum but I feel like I was getting a lot out of the MPSS I started the year with and the rs3 I finished the season with.

NOTES
-the spring rates are much stiffer in the rear, even when I tried staggering rear tires I still felt the car was always ready to over steer which is a lot of fun but I felt I was concentrating more on keeping the rear end in check then I would like.
-adjustments are VERY small, honestly I couldn't feel difference from min to max on daily driving, I could feel some minor adjustment but really I just set it in the middle and forgot about it lol.

I do want to make note of this because here's my issue with the b16... The b14.... I picked these up for my sisters BRZ while she had it during the summer and well... They feel like they are damped exactly the same, after trying the two back to back I noticed very little if any difference... The metal collars on my b16 were cool but not worth the nearly $1000 premium... I'd be very interested to know what the actual difference is.


But being part of the car world means nothing is ever good enough... And so with my latest purchase - re71r - I have just boxed up my coils to get revalved down in Cali at bilstein for some linear swift springs
8k square... Will update as I get them since a lot of people have talked about this but it seems like no one here has had their bilsteins revalved!

Any updates on your experience after the revalve and 8k springs with the re-71s on track? How about street comfort?

[Canehda]

Originally Posted by R2

Any updates on your experience after the revalve and 8k springs with the re-71s on track? How about street comfort?

In terms of comfort the ride isn't as bad as i thought, its not stock but there is zero unneeded undulation and small bumps are soaked up really nicely, big stuff hits hard but i don't feel like the car is crashing if you understand me.

in terms of track performance, after sitting in a car that had KW clubsports I would say that performance is about on par... After the recent special my local shop had on the KW Clubsports i think that if i were to start over I would just get the clubsports off the bat but if someone who has the B16 already and wants to upgrade them rather than eat the cost of selling and buying new i would 100% recommend. The quality of dampening is great, i can really attack curbs on track without fear the car will be unsettled. turn in is sharper but i have noticed that at low speed the car is still very understeer biased even with 19mm rear sway but at high speed the car is very nervous, i run zero aero and i I feel this is more of an issue with my alignment than with the suspension itself but once i get a nice rear diffuser and wing i will decide whether to revalve the rears for 9k springs

hope this helps!

[strat61caster]

@Canehda why would you need a revalve? Are you maxed out on stiffness adjustment in the rest already? I thought one of the upsides to adjustable coilovers is being able to adapt to stiffer springs...

[R2]

@Canehda I guess this brings up the next question, what were your goals for revalving? Do you have a dyno plot to show the difference?