New Suspension :)

Joined
11 March 2007
Messages
3,205
Location
Toronto
Hi Everyone,

Thought I'd share...

Over the past little while I'd noticed that under spirited driving and if I went over an undulation in the road my car would bottom out or sounded like the suspension hitting the bump stops.

Well it was plenty worn as we discovered by removing the original shock absorbers (66,000 miles). I could compress the passenger front shock absorber on my own!

Anyway I'm running Eibach Springs and installed the Bilstein Shock Absorbers and the difference is very much night and day. Superb in fact and my car feels alot better in all aspects (cornering and over bumps).

So if your ever in doubt as to the shock absorbers then change them out! I've heard that running aftermarket springs drastically reduces the life of stock shock absorbers.

Jetpilot3
 
I had exactly the same experience with Eibachs on stock shocks.
My guess is the Eibachs had sagged a little since the nose is a little bit higher off the ground with even Tanabe (should be lower some than Eibachs), but surely the oem shocks were not up to their task anymore. One front stuck on rebound too much to be healthy.
Now driving down the same roads, same bumps, with new Konis and
Tanabe springs there is no bottoming out anymore. I'm still using the
same bump stops.
 
I've heard that running aftermarket springs drastically reduces the life of stock shock absorbers.

Depends on the spring but since most aftermarket springs have a higher than stock spring rate this is basically true.

In my experience I have heard of several quality issues with the Eibach springs as opposed to no issues with the OEM spring--ever. And since the spring rates are very close to stock I'd recommend sticking to the OEM springs. The Tanabe is most certainly too much for the OEM shock. The only AM spring I'd really use with the OEM shock is the Dali progressive.

However since the price of the Bilstein is substantially less than the OEM shock and depending on who you ask the Bilstein is simply a better product ( e.g. it does have a lifetime warranty unlike the OEM shocks) I would strongly suggest replacing the OEM shocks with the Bilsteins if it's already opened up for a spring replacement.
 
I have Tein Superstreet. Set to the medium setting and drive is very, very comfortable.
 
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