Installed drop hats, now my suspension is bottoming out

[JGood]

I have very high mileage Bilstein Sports / H&R Sports. Probably 200k+

They've worked great over the past 8 years or so. The other week, I installed e90 drop hats, and removed the spring pads (front and rear). Now I think the car is bottoming out on bumps/potholes, I get a very hard jolt and you can just hear it... it doesn't sound or feel good at all.

So my question is, am I too low for the soft H&R sports? Or are my shocks worn and unable to provide enough dampening?

[xwill112x]

h&r sports and billys is said to be one of the worst combo's because of the fact they're to low and to soft. i would start by removing the drop hats and see how it handles then.

[JGood]

h&r sports and billys is said to be one of the worst combo's because of the fact they're to low and to soft. i would start by removing the drop hats and see how it handles then.

Why would I do that? That's the way it's been for the past 8 years, I know it would be fine. The front pads were about 1mm thick, so that variable is negligible.

[VacMan]

h&r sports and billys is said to be one of the worst combo's because of the fact they're to low and to soft. i would start by removing the drop hats and see how it handles then.

WTF are you talking about? 50% of the lowered e30 world probably runs that combo with excellent results. I'm blown away by the amount of BS you spew.

JGood, I ran into the same issue when I installed drop hats on my touring. I think taking away that last half inch of travel was enough to make it hit. I will say that after driving it for a few hundred miles the strut isn't as likely to bottom out, but I still cringe every time I drive over a big variation in the road.

Bottom line: If it's been a short time since you took all the load off of the strut, wait a while for things to settle.

[Vince30]

Send your stuff to me and I will see if I get the same results on my car.

[stumble_t]

h&r sports and billys is said to be one of the worst combo's because of the fact they're to low and to soft.

I have run this combo on 2 cars with no problem whatsoever(no drop hats though). Best street setup in the city IMO but to each his own...

[Fidhle007]

h&r sports and billys is said to be one of the worst combo's because of the fact they're to low and to soft. i would start by removing the drop hats and see how it handles then.

Please stop spreading your misinformed bullshit.

[ak-]

Drop hats: ~15mm
Pads: ~2mm
Stock drop hat washer: ~1cm

You've taken around .70 of an inch in shock travel to go lower which is a lot when you look at your shock think about it. I would say to cut a bump stop to gain another inch of travel, but H&R sports aren't the stiffest springs in the world either; so that would result in more risk of blowing a shock(though billies are super tough). As someone mentioned above, I really doubt it will 'settle' in and the dampening will go back to normal because I've been in your situation before and nothing really helped.

My suggestion is to either toughen it out and drive carefully, go with a stiffer spring up front(race/IE3) to prevent bottoming out, or just go back to your original setup.
If you decide to go with a stiffer rate up front, you can more safely remove a bumptstop to gain more travel.

GL!

[Fidhle007]

Bilstein Sports have internal bump stops.

[JGood]

JGood, I ran into the same issue when I installed drop hats on my touring. I think taking away that last half inch of travel was enough to make it hit. I will say that after driving it for a few hundred miles the strut isn't as likely to bottom out, but I still cringe every time I drive over a big variation in the road.

Bottom line: If it's been a short time since you took all the load off of the strut, wait a while for things to settle.

It's been about 3k hard miles.

Thanks for your input. It's nice to know someone else has the same issue - makes me think it's more a result of spring rate then it is of wear on the Bilsteins (Like I said, they have 200k+ miles). I didn't want to go out and spend $400 on new Bilsteins for no reason. Instead I'll probably spend $300 on H&R race springs. My track car has new H&R Races, I'll probably pull them off and throw them on this car just to get a feel for the ride height and quality before spending the money though.


Thanks guys!

[Jean]

Drop hats: ~15mm
Pads: ~2mm
Stock drop hat washer: ~1cm

You've taken around .70 of an inch in shock travel to go lower which is a lot when you look at your shock think about it. I would say to cut a bump stop to gain another inch of travel, but H&R sports aren't the stiffest springs in the world either; so that would result in more risk of blowing a shock(though billies are super tough). As someone mentioned above, I really doubt it will 'settle' in and the dampening will go back to normal because I've been in your situation before and nothing really helped.

My suggestion is to either toughen it out and drive carefully, go with a stiffer spring up front(race/IE3) to prevent bottoming out, or just go back to your original setup.
If you decide to go with a stiffer rate up front, you can more safely remove a bumptstop to gain more travel.

GL!

+1. I've ran the billy sports/hr sports on my car as well, it they felt good when the road was nice. I do have to say though since they were fairly soft shock would run out of suspension travel easy when you hit a bump or dip on the road. Honestly I like the ride of the stiffer spring rates, at least this way you aren't riding on bump stops everytime you hit a bump ;)

[xwill112x]

I'm not spewing bullshit. Everyone that uses the sports complains about body roll, bottoming out, them being to low for they're softness.
They bottom out like cut stockies up front when hitting a raised portion on the pavement. But it's fine, dont believe me, i'm just someone who has actually had sports and speaks from experience.

[ak-]

Bilstein Sports have internal bump stops.

Yes.
You hammer/chisel the bottom cap and the rod comes out showing 3 of them.

[ak-]

And oh look, I found your solution:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=178484

[JGood]

And oh look, I found your solution:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=178484

I have a Tirerack.com account, I can get them for $285 brand new

The money isn't the problem, I want to be sure the springs will fix the problem. I'll put my track cars H&R Race springs on this car and find out.