Bilstein strut info...

[Stephen]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=1502233&postcount=11

[flyboyx]

there is nothing user serviceable inside a bilstien strut. if you take it apart, it will be trash. u can send them back to the service center in cali. they will change the strut to sport valving/bumpstop for 165.00.

[bwh13]

I received an engineering drawing of the bump stop specs and placement in the strut. No info on disassembly...

[whiltebeitel]

did you ever find any pictures or more bump stop info on the shocks? I would really like to see how to disassemble them





Taylor

Probably not a great idea to go pulling apart a gas-pressurized shock. A friend of mine got curious and nearly took his face off messing with one. Luckily, he just had to clean off the shock oil and send it off for a rebuild.

[E30_fiend]

did you ever find any pictures or more bump stop info on the shocks? I would really like to see how to disassemble them





Taylor

[bwh13]

OK got the H&R's on there without too much trouble, only took 2.5 hours with the spring compressor a friend has. Every shop needs one of those, changing springs takes literally 5 minutes. Hopefully this will be the last of working on the suspension...have to attach the front sway bar links in the morning then I'll drive it around...

[Jean]

It's not going to be any softer with H&R Sport springs either ;)

[bwh13]

OK it appears that I do have the Sport Bilsteins based upon the number off the rear shocks. I was not reading the numbers correctly. SO...my problem my be that the Eibach springs are sagged or something similar.

I've measured the space between each coil on the Eibachs when the car is on the wheels and there is less than 1". I would think there would be more like 2" or more but I could be wrong. All I know is the front suspension will hardly move when I press down on it, so it surely is too stiff. I push down on friends Z4 3.0 and it moves at least 3 maybe 4 inches.

In any event I've learned a lot about the struts/shocks and appreciate everyones input.

Hopefully the H&R's will be here tomorrow and I can install them Saturday...

[Hellabad]

Just got off the phone with Bilstein regarding the HD struts I have on the car. These struts have 3.75" of travel and the difference between them and the Sport struts is the length of the internal bumpstops. Between the shorter ProKit springs and the heavier S52 engine, I'm probably riding on the bumpstops now.

The bumpstops can be changed pretty easily by dis-assembling the strut, so I'll do that when I change the springs to the H&R's. This should give me the ride quality I'm looking for...If not then I might have Bilstein revalve them for me.

Rear HD shocks should be fine even with lowered cars as they have a lot more travel...

I think the Bilstein guy might be wrong. Things change, but that hasn't been true in the past. I have almost every Bilstein here and I can take pics but not until tomorrow. Please post the parts numbers and I will go look.


Jay

[Stephen]

Yeah you can lower your car more with a shortened bumpstop, Hellabad has said so in a few threads. Im hoping he pops in here soon

[bwh13]

Yes I'll get rid of the Eibachs as soon as the H&R's arrive this week. I'll be measuring both to pass it on to the community.

Another thing I noticed is that the shorter M Tecnic springs seem to require a thicker upper spring pad (6mm thicker than the normal one). This may indicate that installing shorter springs on the regular pads would draw down the spring/strut by an additional 6mm (.236")...

[bwh13]

Didn't ask about the Sport travel, although if the strut is shorter then the shorter bump stop would indicate the travel would be the same...I'll have to ask them.

[E30_fiend]

I understand what coil binding is but other people have talked about binding because they hear a pop when they turn their steering wheel.

Eibachs have a lower spring rate than the stock springs on the car. the best thing to do would be to sell the eibachs and look for a spring with a higher rate or possible just a progressive spring rate.

Sounds like its one of two things. Either you got a bad batch of eibachs or your motor weighs too much. It very well may also be a combination of the two.

[Jean]

Did you ask Bilstein how much travel Sports have?

[bwh13]

If you look at the springs, there is only about 1" between the coils. If the suspension compresses 1" then the coils will contact each other and the spring rate now goes to infinity (or close), effectively making the strut a solid piece.

It's called coil bind.

I can't explain why it only has that much space between the coils, unless they have sagged.

I had another car that happed to with Eibachs, and they sent me out a set of replacement springs. They had a tempering issue at the plant so the steel the springs were made from was not as hard as it was supposed to be.

I'll have to check the free length when I take them off (spec is 295mm).