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500 Mile review - - > Bilstein Suspension ( l o n g )
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Posted by Diamond Dave (more from Diamond Dave) on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:31:44 Share Post by Email
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OK, it's been 500 miles since I installed my Bilstein suspension and I wanted to give a mini review.

Car: 1994 9000 Aero, 5spd, LeMans Blue, no TCS, Full 3" JT exhaust, 210K miles.

This is the 4th car I've owned with Bilsteins. My weekend car is a 92 Miata with the factory Bilsteins. The other two were a 88 Scirocco and a 84 Jetta GLI with the Bilstein Sport strut/shocks and lowering springs. The only difference between Sport and HD is that Sports are designed to work with a lowering spring.

I purchased the Bilsteins through ScanWest in Seattle, WA. Great guys to deal with. I did the front upper strut bearings at the same time. Parts costs were: $135 apiece for the fronts, $77 apiece for the rears, and $115 apiece for the strut bearings. BTW, the front struts are the entire strut assembly, not just a strut insert; very exciting to see that much yellow under there.

Front strut R&R was straightforward. remove the bolts on the top and the two on the bottom. Unbolt the brake line bracket, go to the spring compressor, compress spring, put the spring and new strut bearing on the strut assembly.

Rears were odd. I had to cut an opening in the interior liner to access the shock mounting bolts. Other than that, quite straightforward.

First drive impression: what have I done?! The ride was so horrible and harsh I was mentally shopping for a set of Boges. How could my precious Bilsteins be doing this to me? The feeling wasn't much different than the blown suspension I replaced, with the exception that at least I felt like they were controlling the car; just harshly so.

Fastforward to ~500 miles later and I couldn't be happier unless I were twins! Still a firm ride, but just butter smooth most of the time. Bilsteins typically like to handle the rough stuff with some speed and they protest going slowly (just think how would a rally drive go through these railroad tracks). The only time I notice anything odd is when going over concrete roads (with a sidewalk style cutoff between slabs); then it's pretty doggone harsh. But for everything else the ride is fantastic. The only downside is I waited 60K miles to put these suckers on!


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