[BMW DIET]

good write up

[Chowbow]

Originally Posted by BMW1983

After months of trying to decide what I was going to do with my suspension I decided to try this route with the Bilstein HD's (B6 Sports....I think) and the Eibach ProKit.

First, thanks to ChowBow for the very helpful information and review .... very informative.

I made a mistake when I bought my car without the sports package. Eventually, I bought sport shocks, struts and springs from another member of this forum as I sought a drop and tighter response. I felt I got both of these, but continued to feel a good amount of .....chatter...for lack of another description. At times, I simply felt things were a bit harsh.

Made the change to PS2's from the RFT's and this helped a good amount - - but still didn't like the chatter like feeling with the drive.

After exploring every option and reading all I could find over these options I went with the above set up....

In one word I can describe my response....

EXCELLENT!

NO MORE CHATTER!! Simply a much smoother ride overall. Yes, bumps seem to have a sharper initial phase but the response from the shock/strut is so quick you hardly have any time to notice it. This combined with the progressive spring from Eibach makes for a comfortable ride.

The drop with the Eibach Pro Kit is perfect in my opinion - - I wouldn't like it any lower.

Haven't tracked the car yet....but will do so occasionally in the near future.

I think that if you desire a moderate drop from non ZSP or a modest drop from ZSP with very good comfort and fabulous control without the need to play with rebound settings and height adjustment then this is a set-up which will likely meet your needs. I feel I am driving a different class of car now.

Hope this information helps any who might be interested in this set up.

Cool dude, glad you like the setup.

[trfortin]

Originally Posted by Chowbow

I just installed my new shock / spring combo last night, and just thought I'd post a quick review since I have not seen anybody post about this combination. Some primer about the parts I chose...

I did not want to lower the car a lot. I thought the stock sports suspension sat a little high, but it wasn't too bad. I went with the Eibach kit because it gave the least lowering (from people's experiences here), and it's a softer spring that H&Rs. I want to maintain ground clearance and suspension geometry, while giving just a slightly lowered look that's NOT slammed.

I picked up Bilstein HD shocks because I prefer the feel of monotube gas shocks compared to the Koni yellows. The Koni yellows are also quite stiff, which further turned me away from them. I wanted the shocks to have plenty of strong rebound, and mated well with the Eibach springs. The Bilstein HDs were designed to work with the stock springs. However, throughout Bilstein's history, their HD and Sport shocks often have the same valving. The HD just has a longer shaft (NOT a longer body, this is a common misconception) than the Sports. The reason for the longer shaft is because if you use REALLY short springs, at full extension with the HDs, Bilstein does not want to have the spring come off the spring seats. In terms of compression, both versions of the shocks compress the same. Meaning if both shocks were fully compressed, they would have the same external height from top to bottom. The Sport version does not compress more since the shock bodies are the same.

Originally I was going to get the Bilsteins custom valved to match the Eibach springs. When I talked to Bilstein at first they said that they had valving to go with the Eibach E90 springs, but it turns out that was incorrect. They told me to try it with the current valving since the Eibach springs are somewhat soft and they believe the shock will be more than able to handle the spring rates. They informed me that if I was unhappy with them, I could send them the shocks and springs and they will custom valve it for to match exactly with the springs.

Now the install... I decided to DIY it. I called around and a lot of places in the Bay Area just didn't have the scheduling that would suit mine (not their fault), so I figured I'd just break down and do it after work yesterday. It was quite a pain honestly, since I was doing it all by myself. I would highly recommend 2 people for the job. The extra set of hands would be very helpful at times. Power tools would be really helpful too, and an impact gun is a must to get the top nut on the Bilsteins. I only had an electric impact gun but that worked for me. Some things to note apart from some of the DIYs already posted... When you tighten the mounts for the shocks, make sure that you jack up the suspension arms so that the shocks and springs are compressed as if the car was sitting on the ground so the shocks are not hanging at full extension while you tighten the mounts.

I didn't get done with the install til about 11pm, and just took the car out for a quick test drive to make sure things were tight and took a couple on-ramps. Then this morning I got some time to test out day-to-day commute comfort.

In a word, I would describe this setup as "fast," meaning bump and rebound occur very quickly and while the car may feel bumpy over rough roads, it is very well controlled. Right off the bat, the suspension is a little stiffer and there is a lot more rebound in this setup than the stock sports suspension. Hitting small bumps and ruts on the road are more pronounced due to the stiffer setup. The initial impact is definitely stronger but the bumps are absorbed well and does not upset the car. Larger dips are very well controlled and mid corner undulations are also well controlled. With the stock suspension, I was always weary of the mid corner undulations since the shocks didn't seem to keep up with being compressed, and then hit another level of compression. This was particularly noticeable on the rear, the fronts were quite well controlled on the stock setup, IMO.

Through sweeping corners the car cornered with less body lean than stock. There's still some body lean which is not bothersome to me and the car sticks very well. I have yet to get an alignment though, and it's been raining all morning so I didn't get to really stretch it's legs. I will take the "long" commute home (through Calaveras Road, for those in the Bay Area who know it) and really test out the suspension then. I think the setup will really shine through left / right transitions with the increased stiffness and fast / high rebounding shocks.

I am very happy with this setup, and I would recommend it to those who don't mind a slightly stiffer ride. Most of the stiff feeling comes from the shocks IMO, but it is definitely not punishing. If I were to rate the stock sports suspension on a scale of 1-10 in stiff / harsh ride quality, I would say it's about a 5 (1 being a Lexus LS460 or something, and 10 being darn near race car stiff), and the Bilstein / Eibach setup a 7. It's stiffer and well worth the slightly less comfortable ride for the increased handling dynamics.

At this time I do not plan to remove the shocks and send to Bilstein to revalve. I think I could use a little more rebound on the fronts, but the rears feel great. If they get worn out and I send them back to Bilstein to get freshened up I might change the valving then, but for now I'm happy and impressed with this combination. It's still a very streetable combination, it doesn't lower the car too much, and handling is much improved over stock.

I'm not sure why many of the vendors here don't carry the Bilstein shocks, mostly just Konis or the PSS9s, but after trying them out, I would highly recommend this setup to other members.

chowbow,
What do you think about using just the bilstein HD shocks with the stock sport suspension, I don't want to drop the car at all but I do want better handling. Please advise.
thanks

[Chowbow]

Yeah the shocks are actually valved for OE springs so that setup would actually be better than what I'm running right now since I don't have my Bilsteins custom valved. It should be a good setup with much improved handling.

[trfortin]

Originally Posted by Chowbow

Yeah the shocks are actually valved for OE springs so that setup would actually be better than what I'm running right now since I don't have my Bilsteins custom valved. It should be a good setup with much improved handling.

thanks, do you know of anyone that has done it yet?

[Chowbow]

Nope... Be the first.

[trfortin]

Originally Posted by Chowbow

Nope... Be the first.

will do, but I have to wait until spring I'm in new england and it's still friggin snowing

[vip]

All - I should be getting some Bilstein HD shocks by next week. Will be mating them to my H&R sport springs on my e90 335i. Review to come!

[Fraggy]

Nice. I had Bilstein with H&R Sports on an E46 once, it was very nice.

[swifty]

Originally Posted by vip

All - I should be getting some Bilstein HD shocks by next week. Will be mating them to my H&R sport springs on my e90 335i. Review to come!

Pls provide a review after you get 'em...thanks.

[vip]

Originally Posted by swifty

Pls provide a review after you get 'em...thanks.

I sure will. I will post up a full lengthy review.

[vip]

Originally Posted by swifty

Pls provide a review after you get 'em...thanks.

Posted up a review folks! See below:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...75#post9054075

[Namreh]

on e90 325

bilstein + eibach ???

b6 + pro-kit?

or b6 + sportline??

b8 is better for passengers?

[hillhucker]

^in the rest of the world you can get the Bilstein B12 kit. This is regular B8 dampers mated with Eibach springs. Check it out on their international page. I have the Euro B8s coming in a couple weeks.

[jjellyneck]

Originally Posted by Namreh

on e90 325

bilstein + eibach ???

b6 + pro-kit?

or b6 + sportline??

b8 is better for passengers?

Bilstein's B12 kit seems to work very well for those who have installed it. Apparently the changes they have done to match springs and dampers made the big diff.