Thinking of getting them and would like opinions. Plus, if you are using them, what springs?

 

I have the Bilstein Sports and after 15+ full day track events, autocross, drag strip and daily driving - I can say that they are very very good.

I use Eibach ERS springs 400# front 600# rear with the Mugen 26mm rear bar on Ground Control perches.

Unless you like an oversteering FF driver, you might want to use softer rear rates.

The Bilsteins are great. They 'self-adjust' according to the driving surface and how hard you work them. Good for up to 600-800# without re-valving.

Bilstein has a patent on the monotube damper design for good reason....

You might also look into the PSS9 suspension system from Bilstein

 

zygspeed has them too, i drove that beast, very nice ride, quality too.

 

Big Phat R: Thanks for the info. According the the bilstein site, there are no coilovers for the integra. Anyway, I am worried about rubbing with too much of a drop and using 16x7 volks with 215-45-16s. The bilsteins seem like a great alternative to the tein or zeal coilovers. I am not too concerned about adjustability.

 

I was told once that bilstein shocks were more for "off roading" purposes than for sport cars.
A couple of people here recommended the H&R springs with the Bilstein shocks combo.
Do any of you have different opinions or inputs on this? perhaps other better shocks??
thnks

 

I run my car with 225/40-16s on 50mm offset 16x7 Mugen rims, 2" of drop and no rubbing.

Bilstein IS a premier manufacturer of off-road shocks but they also make excellent road racing specific products, as well as OEM replacement shocks for pretty much every car on the planet.

Who do you think the Japanese modelled their attention to detail and engineering science from....? The GERMANS.

Bilstein, Eibach, Sachs, H&R, Porsche, BMW.....need I say more?

For the money/value - Bilstein is a good product. Sure you can get Ohlins, Moton etc for four times the money - but none of us are good enough drivers to know the difference.


[Modified by Big Phat R, 3:36 PM 7/17/2001]

 

Thanks Big Phat R.

 

I am running a very similar setup to Big Phat R. Bilstiens w/ GC and 400 /600. No bar though, I'm not quite ready for that much oversteer

After a few track days I concur with R, they are really quite nice. I am running 225/50/15 on stock r rims with H & R 5 mm kit all the way around and no rubbing.

 

In all honesty, I'd rather get the zeal B2s, but the $$$, I can get a set of H&R springs with the 4 bilsteins for just over $600 or so. Quite a price difference for the money.

 

Jon7,

I am using them also. Same set up as the Phat One but with 600f and 800r. I also had them revalved upon suggestion of Charlie Curnutt at American Honda Competition. They are good and I have been racing wheel to wheel on them for two seasons now. Bilstein does have a part # for the Type R but of course I don't have it.I also think that someone is selling some used ones here in Vancouver with H&R springs. I will try to find out how much.

Victor Penner

 

Can anyone provide the ordering information on the shocks? This is an option I want to seriously consider but finding information on them is hard.

As well, does Bilstein make more then one series of shock that will fit on the R?

Thanks,

 

i think we've discussed this before, but this time i think i'm going to take big phat r's advice and get the ITR-specific bilsteins. i'm currently running eibach ERS springs with koni yellows in my R, and i like them, but i want to try the ITR-specific bilsteins . . . if bilstein designed them for the R, then they have to be better than the koni yellows i have.

also, i'm wanting to buy the 23mm JDM rear sway . . . dan, did you get all those emails i sent you?

peter


[Modified by R1020, 9:24 AM 7/18/2001]

 

I called the bilstein offices last night. They told me the PSS coilover system is being developed for more and more cars. I was told the integra specific system may be out in 6 months, which in my experience probably means closer to a year.

 

So what are people using now from Bilstein?

Regards,

 

are we talking about the BE5-2340 - 2341 Bilstein shocks?

 

"I am running a very similar setup to Big Phat R. Bilstiens w/ GC and 400 /600. No bar though, I'm not
quite ready for that much oversteer "

Can someone please explain to me what oversteer is?

 

Oversteer is basically when the back wheels don't want to follow the front wheels when going through a corner (i.e. they are having a tendency to go straight when the intended motion of the car is to turn). Oversteer is much more easily produced in a rear-drive car, but it makes a front-wheel drive car faster at a track because it causes the car to rotate in the direction you are going.....

 

Actually a better description would be that they tend to turn too much, hence the name oversteer. The issue is that the *** end won't stay behind the car. Up to a certain degree, it's faster than understeering.

I'm also running 400F/600R. Rumors of uncontrollable oversteer are wildly exaggerated. I'm still understeering more than I want. Gonna try to crank the hell out of the rear shocks next event. I'll make sure to wear a set of Depends.

Warren

 

Here is another interpretation:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dph0rgb/PoM/pom/node31.html

 

Yes...those are the shocks.

From all the good reviews...it seems like we can improve the stock system for far less money than buying a full coilover set-up.

 

Oops. Forgot to mention that I'm not running the Bilsteins. I'm running custom valved Konis, but I've heard good comments about them from Steve Colletti, who races a Type R in Grand-Am. That's what he used before stepping up to super expensive JRZ's.

If you really wanna trick them out, you can send them off to Shocktek and have them revalved and made externally adjustable.

Warren

 

yeah, i was going to mention the shocktek bilsteins - converted to coilovers and externally adjustable. the type r uses the bilstein sport model. these dampers would be an excellent choice if you wanted to set up your own suspension with eibach ers springs. i'm sure everybody here could help you choose spring length and rates. also, shocktek has software to help pick the suspension components based on your driving needs.
i had bilstein hd's on my gsr and i loved them. they were very comfortable on the highway, but really stiffened up during aggressive driving.


[Modified by monkey_truckR, 11:20 AM 7/18/2001]

 

Thank you all for the xplanations, they do help. I know its hard to describe
certain things with out the aid of pictures or any other visual help.

Now, does an all-wheel drive car have understeer or oversteer? or both?

Also, can you guys please explain how the suspension of the cars relate to oversteer & understeer?


[Modified by BLITZ, 11:20 AM 7/18/2001]

 

All-wheel drive cars tend to be heavy because of the extra weight of the center and front differentials. How they handle depends on the weight of the car, location of the motor (front/mid/rear) and the suspension set-up. Ideally you want neutral handling but weight usually penalizes you and you end up with an understeering (nose heavy plow) car. The Audi S4 is a well known understeering car due to its front engine layout - but the Porsche C4S and Turbo tend to oversteer due to the rear engine layout.

How to "tune" a suspension depends again on the kind of car you have, weight and drivetrain layout.

For discussion purposes imagine you have a 50/50 weight distribution in a front engine/ rear drive car like the BMW M3. 50/50 weight distribution can be considered handling nirvana as it is as close to "neutral" as you can get for handling purposes. Generally speaking the stiffer you make the front suspension, the more the car will have a tendency to understeer and vice versa (stiff rear = oversteer). But there are a great many things that also affect the handling of this example car. Spring rates, tire grip, shock damping, speed of the car, weight bias, alignment (e.g. camber), ride height etc etc etc all play a role in handling. Suffice it to say it's a very complex subject!

Formula One teams have TEAMS of engineers that work on the handling of cars using real-time telemetry and input from the driver.

How your car handles depends a lot on you, the driver and how you manoevre your car. Even though my car is set-up for oversteer tendency, I can still get it to understeer, drift neutrally or oversteer depending on the conditions of the moment.
Does that help?

 

Yes it does help. Thanks for all the replies.

Big Phat R. Are you going to the EXPO? may be this way I
can ask you more questions in person.