I feel like i'm making a mistake with my suspension setup

[Schwarz325]

Alright so, my original plan was to run ground control and koni's. 450f/700r spring rates, since the car see's autox and mountain driving. Well i had a hard time finding koni's and the ones i found were like 200 per shock on the front ( i know gotta pay to play), but i went and tried to find some tokico illuminas ..that failed too. So i settled with those blue tokico hp and those coilovers.

Well now that i read and think more i feel like i'm making a mistake. I'm afraid i'll bounce out of the car with those shitty shocks, but if they could last me 6 months to a year i'd be happy because then i'll have money for koni's.

So, what say you? Sell all this and get a spring/shock setup or run this, take the bounciness like a man til i can get better shocks/struts?

Car is a 91 318is that's getting an m50 swapped in it.

My brother's car came with those shocks and tokico springs and it does great. I just don't wanna track car feel on a street car.

Just trying to get opinions, thanks!

[JoeyBones]

if you got em cheap enough run em, but those are some hefty rates there for the car as it sits.

Personally since i was low on funds to start my project i bought kyb cheap as hell, and some cheap suspension techniques springs just to get me on the road while I save for a full coil-over kit.

Another thing....if you've already purchased everything, you're only going to lose money re-selling as nobody is gonig to pay full price from an individual, so again just go with it.

[psyber_0ptix]

buy used bilstein sports off the forums.

just return the things and wait. Why make an investment on something that you are already planning on replacing down the line. Just suck it up on what you can and get the good stuff sooner.

There's no bandaid for garbage suspension.

That being said...if you wait, deals will pop up.

I scored TC Kline Dual adjustable fronts for 255 shipped (normally $900/pair for the fronts)...and reused the bilstein sports that came on my car in the rear.

450/650 with an s50 swap in progress.



edit: if there's no way to return them, then like JoeyBones mentioned, run them for now. Better than blown stock (but not by much). impulse buying is a bitch.

[Schwarz325]

Yeah, i agree with both of you guys. I was gonna run bilstein sports, but i talked to g/c and they said that with those spring rates, i will be riding on bumpstops alot, so i didn't want to make an even bigger investment and ruin them in 6 months so i went for the el cheapo.

I dunno i may just run them and buy koni's after new year.

[psyber_0ptix]

picking up some blown/old bilsteins and having them rebuilt for 60 a pop would be cheaper and hassle free alternative. You can get them revalved while you are at it.
Koni's are awesome, but how often are you changing springrates around? The Bilsteins revalved will handle a range of rates, and can be had used fairly cheap.

That being said, my fronts are glorified Koni's and rear is probably at the limit of "off the shelf" Bilstein sport valving.

[Schwarz325]

Somebody gave me some like 3 yr old bilstein, they're yellow and they're for the back. But i don't know if they're sports or what.

So, if i revalve the bilstein, they won't sit on bumpstops with my spring rates? and won't ride on bump stops?

Edit: They've never been used.

[psyber_0ptix]

well... how low are you going? If you are worried about the shock bottoming out and the suspension being under-dampened, then the re-valve will help. If you are slizzaming the car then you'd really be worried about 'riding' on bump stops.

what springs are you using? because you defined custom rates, i'm ~assuming~ race springs of some sort on an adjustable perch.

[Schwarz325]

the engine is not in yet, so it's not low or anything, i still have to bolt the suspension up. Car won't be slammed or anything, it'll be auto-x/daily so i wanna be able to go over speed bumps and shit, so it'll be at a reasonable height.

I'm running the ground control sleeves with eibach springs, 450f/700rear

[Jean]

Send bilsteins to bilstein, they can cut the bumpstops and revalve the shocks for your spring rates... I got my car corner weighted, then sent my set with the weight of the car on each corner to have them revalved for my 550/675rates.... it's only 65 per shock to do.

I've ran brand new off the shelf bilstein sports with 500/650 rates before for about a season and half, and they performed well but not great... you could feel the front/rear valving was not ideal with how the car was riding over bumps.

[Schwarz325]

I'm gonna start looking for some front billies and send them off

[M-technik-3]

if not save the money do it once not twice.

[Schwarz325]

That was my plan, i was gonna buy the koni's even tho they were so expensive, but a couple of things came up where i had to spend money on something other than cars and it put me back a little

[M-technik-3]

Just gives you more to look forward to when it's completed. Besides a better setup might come along as well.

[JoeyBones]

being on the road and driving is the best thing...haha I hate having project cars sit too long...lose interest...

[Schwarz325]

Very true, that's why i'm probably just gonna toss those cheap ones in and later on get koni's or rebuild the bilsteins, because i'm already starting to lose my motivation. After i experience those crappy shocks it'll get me working harder for a new suspension