Bilstein Sprintline

[Nickoff 0]

Call me an ignorant numpty but what exactly is included in the sprintline kit? Front & rear dampers I guess, but are springs supplied for the front? If so are they any good? I want to replace the suspension now I'm earning and was toying with the idea of getting an sbc ph1 setup, but after having done a search it sounds like it's a bit too harsh. I only use my pug on the road, not track and need it to be practical enough to take a full complement of passengers occasionally. I do want it to handle though, so I was thinking of the sprintline kit with some sbc springs. Plus a rebuilt beam. Does this sound like a good idea? What does everyone reckon?

 

Cheers,

 

Nick

[pug_ham 242 3 Cars]

A full kit should come with matched springs but if you are going for the Sprintlines I don't think it will be much (if any) softer than the SBC phase 1 kit & if you are going to use the SBC springs you might as well get full benefit by using the shocks they have to match them imo.

 

From what I remember of NickR's car the SBC kit isn't that harsh, certainly not when compared with some makes. Its made with fast road in mind not track work afaik.

 

Graham.

[TEKNOPUG 3]

Call me an ignorant numpty but what exactly is included in the sprintline kit? Front & rear dampers I guess, but are springs supplied for the front? If so are they any good? I want to replace the suspension now I'm earning and was toying with the idea of getting an sbc ph1 setup, but after having done a search it sounds like it's a bit too harsh. I only use my pug on the road, not track and need it to be practical enough to take a full complement of passengers occasionally. I do want it to handle though, so I was thinking of the sprintline kit with some sbc springs. Plus a rebuilt beam. Does this sound like a good idea? What does everyone reckon?

 

Cheers,

 

Nick

 

 

I'd say that you have the right idea. This is what I run on mine. Anything less than this specification really isn't worth bothering with for fast road. You'd be better off just replacing with standard Peugeot parts. Bare in mind that the standard setup is pretty stiff already so the ride comfort will deteriorate noticeably.

 

But hey, you shouldn't have bought a 205 in the first place if anything other than handling pleasure is your priority........

[jonD6B 0]

I personally find the Sprintline kit a little too much for road use so wouldn't warrant the cost.

[Nickoff 0]

I only ever use my car for weekends plus I acknowledge that I didn't get my 205 for ride comfort in the first place. Teknopug, do you have the sbc springs as well? How does your car fare on crappy british roads? As it stands my pug has the original front setup (15 years old) with some plain bilstein rear dampers (a bit rubbish) on a tired rear beam, so the back sits lower than the front. To top it off its on some truly awful tyres, 3 fuldas and one dark horse. It tends to bounce around on bumpy roads and just feels twitchy and unsettled going fast, like the front and rear are slightly out of sync. I thought I'd settle for the sprintline kit rather than sbc ph1 because of the price, as there are other things I need to replace like the rear beam etc., but I really do want to improve the handling - I'm sure most peole got this car for cart-like handling not straight line speed.

Thanks for the input, more suggestions/experience of sprintline/sbc ph1 would be welcome!

Cheers,

 

Nick

[TEKNOPUG 3]

I only ever use my car for weekends plus I acknowledge that I didn't get my 205 for ride comfort in the first place. Teknopug, do you have the sbc springs as well? How does your car fare on crappy british roads? As it stands my pug has the original front setup (15 years old) with some plain bilstein rear dampers (a bit rubbish) on a tired rear beam, so the back sits lower than the front. To top it off its on some truly awful tyres, 3 fuldas and one dark horse. It tends to bounce around on bumpy roads and just feels twitchy and unsettled going fast, like the front and rear are slightly out of sync. I thought I'd settle for the sprintline kit rather than sbc ph1 because of the price, as there are other things I need to replace like the rear beam etc., but I really do want to improve the handling - I'm sure most peole got this car for cart-like handling not straight line speed.

Thanks for the input, more suggestions/experience of sprintline/sbc ph1 would be welcome!

Cheers,

 

Nick

 

 

 

My full spec is Bilstein Sprintline shocks, SBC springs, GrpN mounts (front and rear) rebuilt rear beam and lowered to compliment the the front, brand new strut bearings, top mounts, drop links etc. Gooodyear Eagle F1's on the front and Michellin Pilot Exaltos 2's on the rear (need to get new ARB bushes aswell as tracking done). I have a Quaife ATB LSD, rebuilt 'box with 10% longer final drive (coutersy of a Turbo diesel), Helix Clutch and GE quickshift and rods etc. This is purely for "fast road action". Many people with more advanced setups would run rings around me on track.

 

The car feels like a proper sports car on decent roads. Every journey is a real event and it feels like you are driving something special (particularly when you consider the relatively small £5k outlay - 200bhp per tonne is not to be sniffed at!), it gives me a real adrenaline rush, especially when my friends have mortgaged their future on Porsche Boxters, Audi TT's etc. It will run away from CTR's for example and doesn't suffer the same sort of understear.

 

However, I had the car in central London for a couple of years and it was a nightmare. Speed humps it can manage but it was the dips in the road (where they had laid cables and the road had subsided) that it really suffered. A Nissan Micra would beat me, no trouble! But that's unfair to the car. The roads are simply diabolical in London (I guess that we don't pay enough in road tax, petrol tax, insurance etc to deserve good roads.......). I drove a standard 1.6 Gti down to Southampton a little while ago and that was such a relaxed journey. I've also driven my Dad's 406 Sri and that's likewise. But it's unfair to compare them. Fortunately I don't need my car every day (only 6k in the last 30 months).

 

If you need your car everyday, or the roads where you live are equal to Turkmenistan, then I would seriously recommend that you just buy new Pug parts. Simply renewing all the old, worn out parts witnh new will make a big difference. Otherwise, I would suggest that either Bilstein or Koni be the choice (Bilstein Sportline excluded - dangerously soft at the rear). I appreciate that they aren't cheap (hey, you get what you pay for!) but if you can't afford them now, save up. Cheap suspension, such as Spax, will just upset the balance of the car, for little gain.

 

 

 

I personally find the Sprintline kit a little too much for road use so wouldn't warrant the cost.

 

 

That's a fair comment and I'd agree with it for every day driving. But when modern hatches are getting more and more powerful, the enhanced qualities of the 205's handling really reaps rewards. Especially when a pukka suspension kit costs the same as four tyres for a Leon Cupra R (for example).

Edited May 17, 2006 by TEKNOPUG

[jackherer 543]

(Bilstein Sportline excluded - dangerously soft at the rear).

 

the crap bilsteins are called streetlines.

[Nickoff 0]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I'm really undecided now, torn between std peugeot suspension or the bilstein sprintline kit. I may have to use my car to go to work by the end of the year as my company may be relocating to dorking which would mean a blast along the mickleham bends every day. Even though council tax where I live is probably among the highest in britain, the roads are still diabolical in places, so perhaps the sensible thing to do would be to get new std suspension. Is there anyone in the leatherhead/surrey area who uses their pug as a daily driver with a non std suspension setup? What is it like?

Cheers,

 

Nick

[Guest Aggs]

I have just fitted SBC Phase 1 kit and can say it is firm but not at all crashy and can easily take speed bumps and bad roads in its stride.

I had Spax front adjustables taken off and really feel the difference in the SBC spec suspension,previously had to almost completely stop at speed humps, and the car used to "skip" on my famillier test route on some bumpy undulating type cornerswhich did not feel nice.

Skip Brown Phase 1 superb on same undulating type corner and I cannot stop grinning esp. after being so reluctant to spend so much money on the kit.

I also used to have to slow down on bumpy B and unclassified roads,but now no problem.

I would say handling comes first over power mods.

The Spax adjustables were great on really smooth roads and came into there own on track days.

Will be posting them on Ebay soon.

My car is an every day car too.

I nearly went back to standard all round but glad I did not.

PS also fitted Group N top mounts and new bearings on front at same time,kit lowers car approx 25mm.

[Nickoff 0]

Aggs, if you don't mind me asking, how much did the ph1 kit cost? Just to buy it, not to have it fitted.

[Guest Aggs]

Aggs, if you don't mind me asking, how much did the ph1 kit cost? Just to buy it, not to have it fitted.

 

Phase 1 suspension Front and rear. £590 4 dampers and 4 springs!!!

If you send back original struts you get £40 back.

 

Group N top mounts 2* £6 each plus 2*£10 for bearings.

 

The suspension is firm but not crashy, just about ok for motorway driving, the springs may loosen a bit but just covered 100 miles so far.a bit more body roll compared to Spax,but tracks the road better, as stated in previous post.

[TEKNOPUG 3]

Phase 1 suspension Front and rear. £590 4 dampers and 4 springs!!!

If you send back original struts you get £40 back.

 

Group N top mounts 2* £6 each plus 2*£10 for bearings.

 

The suspension is firm but not crashy, just about ok for motorway driving, the springs may loosen a bit but just covered 100 miles so far.a bit more body roll compared to Spax,but tracks the road better, as stated in previous post.

 

 

4 springs?!

[Nickoff 0]

4 springs?!

 

That's what I thought, I guess you only actually bought 2 Aggs. Well I'm still as confused as before, I don't know whether to go standard, sprintline or sbc ph1. I think the best thing would be to replace the rear beam, droplinks, tyres etc first, then see how I feel about the dampers/springs.

[Wurzel 16]

I had the Sprintline kit on mine for a while with a standard 309 rear beam.

 

I was instantly impressed with the ride comfort. I expected it to be harsh as hell, but as suggested by other members on here who use it, it wasn't. It gave the little car a 'big car' feel. Well dampedl, firm but not crashy. I used the supplied springs as well.

 

I took the car for a quick shake out down at Blyton rally school (see avatar picture). The car handled really well. The track was pretty rough as well. The roads around my place are fecking awfull if I'm honest. Bumpy as hell but the Sprintlines soaked them up admirably.

 

Only thing I will say though is that I felt the rears were too soft. I didn't have them on my car for very long (50 miles) before refitting my stiffer shocks.

 

From what I gather, the SBC kit is very similarly damped to the Sprintline kit. You might like the rear shock on the Sprintline kit dependant on your driving style, you might not.

 

I had it for a while and then sold it to a member on this forum purely because I wanted coilovers (so I could play more with settings etc). If I had more sense than money, I'd have stuck with the Sprintline kit on the front and the GrpN Billies on the rear.

[Nickoff 0]

Wurzel, I think you just helped me decide. I'm going to go for the sprintline kit. I'll have it fitted out of the box, along with the suspension parts I'm going to renew, and then I can alter the setup later depending on how I get on with this.

Cheers everyone for your input,

 

Nick

[Guest Aggs]

Yes 2 springs!!

Good choice mate.

I bet SB kit virtually the same!!!

[Doof 11]

Care to report on how this went Nickoff?

 

What did you go for and what do you think of it?

[Henry 1.9GTi 36]

maybe too late. but i use the sprintline on road and track. Its quite firm and bumpy on not so good roads, but its not crashy. Handles very well on both road and track. But the main improvements can be made at the rear with torsion bars and Anti roll bar. This is a bit much for road use maybe? and the standard peugeot suspension is really good for just road driving especially B roads.

Track day the front tyres came out looking a bit worse for ware and the rears were still brand new, cold even. Now with a rear ARB the rear tyres got as hot as the front as it pushed the back round more rather than just sliding on the fornt tyres with understeer. also i would recomend the rear antiroll bar for road use as over bumps it makes no difference to the stiff ness unless the bumps on one wheel only. Can still cruise over speed bumps relatively easily. Good luck with what u decide though.