Bilstein Group A Coilovers

[Sam 4]

Anyone had any experience of them? Any good? They are coming with group n mounts, could a lower drop be acheived with tarmac springs, i don't want it that low( as i have it now ) but this kit only does 25mm about 35mm on mine no doubt,

 

Anyone used them? i don't mind a stiff ride, i just gotta get me some thicker torsion bars or arb, which is best to match, i thought torsion bars..

[crf450 0 1 Cars]

I've got Bilstein tarmac coilovers which I bought secondhand off rallyusedparts to go on my car, I think the differance is the tarmac struts are stiffer and have less travel and run a 9" spring instead of 10"

Cheers martin

[Sam 4]

Whats it drive like on the road???

[crf450 0 1 Cars]

I won't have my car on the road until next year now,I'll let you know then.

Cheers martin

[SimonJ 2]

I have the same. Great on the open road but when you slow down you could feel it if you drove over a match.

[Sam 4]

Was that tarmac or gravel ?

[SimonJ 2]

Tarmac. Very easy to swap inserts though and new forest or tarmac inserts only £70 each.

[Sam 4]

Might give tarmac a try, supposedly lower as well...

[Guest Tommy F]

I got gravel Bilstein coilovers that i use on gravel and tarmac. I change the springs depending on the surface (Tarmac ones are shorter). To describe the ride as firm would be the understatement of the century. They are awesome though and well worth it. I use sphereical bearing top mounts.

[Guest Kev-G]

Are the Tarmac inserts shorter than the gravel? I have a set of Bilstein's in the garage and when they were fitted to the car (with 10" 200lbs springs) the ride height was greater than std. (even with the platforms screwed right down) - I played around with springs and helper springs, but couldn't get the ride height/spring dislocation sorted out.

 

Does anyone know the length of a Tarmac insert (body + piston)?

 

Cheers,

 

Kev-G

[SimonJ 2]

Kev, I had the same problem and got progressive (I think) springs from Skip Brown which has finally given me a sensible ride height (around 10mm drop from standard) and no gap on full droop. This was not even the case with the 9" PTS springs.

Still, this is with the height at it's lowest and I dread to think what it would look like at max height or even half-way with the 10" springs.

[Guest Kev-G]

Simon,

 

Do you have Tarmac inserts? Are you able to measure the inserts?

 

Cheers,

 

Kev.

[Sam 4]

So Simon did you get custom springs from skip brown,how much and are you saying you can lower it more than 10mm from std?

 

cheers, Sam

[SimonJ 2]

Kev: yes I do have tarmac inserts. They are on the car so might measure them at the weekend. Note: Both PTS and another reputable Pug expert both suggested that it is ok to cut and reweld the damper piston. i was dubious abot this at first but the more I think about it, it might be ok.

 

Sam: The springs are in SBs catalogue as 'Tarmac (low)'. 10mm is the lowest I can go without possible spring displacement on full droop (though there is 'rattle'). Would probably go to about -15 or slightly more but dodgy on full droop.

 

Great solution if not bothered about a Max Power ride height.

[SimonJ 2]

Meant to say, £45 +vat for the pair I think, may have been a little more.

[Sam 4]

Do you mean the spring becomes loose when u jack it up?

I assume my forest dampers will have longer pistons ? So i will have even more chance of the loose spring effect

[SimonJ 2]

Yes, when you jack it up the way I have it the spring is loose but will not dis-locate as the top and bottom spring pans are not flat but have a spring location shape to them (expect there is a technical term like flange or gusset or something!). Beyond a 10mm-ish drop the spring may actually be dis-located when jacked up.

[Sam 4]

So over a big bump it could become loose? Or is this not likely to happen?

[SimonJ 2]

If I lowered it those last few mm then the spring could come loose over a big bump or on the inside wheel in a very tight corner I guess. Former not likely in my discipline but not worth the risk.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a link to show the contrast between 10" PTS tarmac springs amd the SB ones.

[SimonJ 2]

Hopefully the before and after are obvious here. The older pic is admittedly under acceleration and the newer under fairly hard cornering but the suspension is really stiff front and back so it gives a fair impression of the difference between the springs (see previous post).

http://www.jamisons.freeserve.co.uk/Comparison.htm

[SimonJ 2]

Think might work now

Edited November 5, 2003 by SimonJ

[Anthony 1,000]

Nope - you have got the pictures pointing at a local hard disk (D:) rather than a website address...

[Sam 4]

Mail me the pics and i will host them and post on here, i am desperate to see them, i wanna see what mine will look like lol

[Sam 4]

sorry sam@dcoe.net

[SimonJ 2]

Got someone else to try this last night (9:40) and it worked on their PC. Will mail nevertheless.