FTO AUSTRALIA

Just thought id put together a quick note with respect to shocks...

Bought a set of Bilstein shocks off the shelf a few years ago now and had them installed. When I got the car back, they seemed very hard and every sharp bump pretty much made the car bounce. On top of that I started going through strutt tops about every 3-5 months.

I just got the shocks tested by someone who knows what they are doing and they have just been re-valved (softened) and matched with lowered king springs. I cannot believe the difference. The car now handles so much better (and its softer). Interesting thing though - I got told that the front shocks were valved differently (left to right).

Just thought I would put this together for those looking at replacing suspension - the lessons I have learned:

- Harder is not necessarily better. On a super smooth track with slicks, they may be worth while, but for our roads, the car loses traction on the bumps.

- Japanese shocks are generally way too hard for Australain roads.

- Make sure you match the shocks to the springs - Soft springs (standard) + hard shocks amke for crap handling.

- And more importantly, if you dont know what you are doing, get someone who does, its worth the extra.

What was the $$$ on that exercise Dwayne?

Ouch,

You ask the hard questions....

Original Bilsteins $1600 (but they are no longer available and if they were I imagine they would be cheaper than that.

Sorting out the other suspension components (drop links, bushes etc) has cost me a packet, but that was mostly because I went to Pedders. They gave me a steering rack rebuild which I suspect I didnt really need and charged me $1100 on top of all the other bits and pieces. Should have gone to a specialist that knew what they were doing. So this cost would not normally apply.

Tein pillowball strutt tops cost me $250 incl postage from japan (www.perfectrun.com.au).

Quadrant suspension in Melbourne re valved the 2 front struts for under $400.

The King Springs cost me $250 and has lowered the car between about 3.5 cm (looks great apart from the lower centre of gravity).

The wheel alignment with camber adjustment cost $60.

And the look on my mates face as I accellerated away from his Turbo charged Silvia in the twisties without much effort..... priceless (and he would even out-drive me on a bad day...).

Oh and another thing to add - get a spring rate test done on your shocks before you start. This will give a good indication on what has to be changed. In my case, the shocks handled slow bumps pretty well, it was the sharp bumps it had problems with (pot holes, rough roads etc). This is what ended up being changed.

You think Bilstein would make custom shocks on demand?

Try quadrant suspension in Melb. They were the ones that did mine.....

dstocks wrote:Try quadrant suspension in Melb. They were the ones that did mine.....

Go to Centreline Suspension. Basically the best guys around for suspension. They do lots of racing setups and know their sh*t.