Another Bilstein HD question...

[AE86]

I've read the posts on Bilstein HD's and all of them state that HD's are best suited for stock ride height, and I also read somewhere that they can handle up to 1.5" drop; but I have yet to find any significant posts with someone actually running HD's and lowering springs.

Anyhow I just scored some Bilstein HD's on a trade and was hoping to solicit some experience people have running HD's on lowering springs. Has anyone ever had there HD's become defective while using them with lowering springs, if so what springs where you using and for how long? My car is dropped about 1.35" and I'm wondering if was worthwhile to install them. I appreciate the input, cheers!

For those of you who like to read the end of a book first here's a summary of posts (thus far) of people's first hand experience with Bilstein HD's and lowering springs:

I run HDs in my daily driver... I have about 80k on mine .... and they are still firm as hell. The drop was about 1-1.5" on a 3300lb car.

I'm lowered about 1.5" on Eibach Pro Kit springs with Bilstein HD dampers and I wouldn't say the combo is problematic in any way. Every day I drive over a twisty country hill with lots of dips and bumps and have never had a problem with bump steer or bottoming out. I drive the tits out of my car on that drive, too, so I'd say it's tested pretty thoroughly :)

I have the HD's with HR sports and its a decent ride. I would much prefer stiffer springs.

ive been told my car looks different absorbing bumps, it floats and leaning in turns is also a noticeable difference. ive has this setup since may. holds up great

I was on them for a while with IE3's , pretty slammed for using HD's

Never bottomed out. Also did autocross with them , handled fine. When i pulled them. They were exactly the same as when I put the, in.

[Jaxx_]

I run HDs in my daily driver, and it has a drop, but it is not significant. If you want to look at getting low, don't go with HDs, but if it's the only option, HDs are fine.

they are going to be about as stiff as the sports. I have about 80k on mine on the daily and they are still firm as hell. The drop was about 1-1.5" on a 3300lb car.

[bmoores]

sub'd curious to know the answer to this as well.

[AE86]

I have about 80k on mine on the daily and they are still firm as hell. The drop was about 1-1.5" on a 3300lb car.

Sweet! Thanks for the info Jaxx. BTW what springs are you running. Anyone else got some experience they wanna share?

[Killacortes]

H&R sport springs are pretty close to stock and I think the drop is around that are 1"-1.5"

[MR 325]

A good friend is running HDs with H&R Sports and they do well. Great ride and no bottoming out or any issues like that. I'd say you wouldn't want to run them on any springs lower than that though, it may reduce their longevity.

[lostbeachbum]

Some of the information that I can recall from speaking to the Techs at Bilstein was that the HD and sport shocks are externally and internally the same.

The difference is in the valvings "length of travel" and also the internal bump stops. Since the HD shock is not technically meant for lowered cars the shaft is about 1.5 inches longer then the shaft of the sport. So this can mean that on a lowered car that you may bottom out. I mean if this is just for the casual driver there probably would not see a difference. But if you are looking into doing some autox I would recommend the following.

I sent a set of HDs and had them rebuilt to sport spec with a race setting and a 10% initial bypass to allow for some street driving and comfort. that 10% initial bypass means that the first 10% compression of the valve will be forgiving and then the remaining 90% of the compression will be a true race valved shock. Cost for all 4 was 320 shipped

[Jaxx_]

Sweet! Thanks for the info Jaxx. BTW what springs are you running. Anyone else got some experience they wanna share?

it is not an e30. ;) but they're IPD springs for my volvo s70.

[E30_fiend]

you could always help yourself by trimming an inch or so off of the bumpstops for the front inserts. That will help from bottoming out. The rears though, youre kind of SOL


Taylor

[AE86]

A good friend is running HDs with H&R Sports and they do well. Great ride and no bottoming out or any issues like that.

Great keep the info coming, by chance do you know how long he has been running this set-up for?

[AE86]

it is not an e30. ;) but they're IPD springs for my volvo s70.

Say what? Volvo Springs? Do you have a build thread on this... It's always interesting when you find "interchangeable" parts for cars. Whenever I hit up the junkyards I'm always looking for new ideas and testing things out.

You still auto crossing? No roll overs I hope :up:

[Jaxx_]

Say what? Volvo Springs? Do you have a build thread on this... It's always interesting when you find "interchangeable" parts for cars. Whenever I hit up the junkyards I'm always looking for new ideas and testing things out.

You still auto crossing? No roll overs I hope :up:

no no no... my DD is a volvo. it has volvo lowering springs and HDs. hence the 3300lb car comment.

my E30 is bilstein sports and H&R race.

and yes, still autocrossing... no roll overs yet. ;)

[Cliche Guevara]

I'm lowered about 1.5" on Eibach Pro Kit springs with Bilstein HD dampers and I wouldn't say the combo is problematic in any way. Every day I drive over a twisty country hill with lots of dips and bumps and have never had a problem with bump steer or bottoming out. I drive the tits out of my car on that drive, too, so I'd say it's tested pretty thoroughly :)

[AE86]

LOL, tits are fun, thanks for input.

[Cliche Guevara]

LOL, tits are fun, thanks for input.

heh, boobies.

lol