I have followed the GE coilover thread but wanted to attack this issue in its own thread. I have the groupbuy 450/650 kit with KYB gas-a-just camaro shocks in the rear and short IX billies in the front with 2 inches shaved off of the housing. I find the rear is very tough and perfect. It doesnt bottom out and all the new bushings I had put in etc feel amazing in the rear. The front however, feels overly bouncy and active. I think it bounces and travels way too much in the front. Are my front inserts too soft? Do I need to upgrade to MR2 inserts in the front? And if so, am I going to have to change my current GE camber caster plates if I do that?
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What's the ride height in the front like?
Where is your adjuster?
And how tall are your front springs?
1991 325iS turbo
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Did you cut the bumpstops in half?Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.
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Front height is quite high because I dont have a skid plate yet, but I dont know if that matters as far as the bounciness. My front fender is prbably about 1.3-1.5 inches over the 15 inch wheel.
The adjuster is about 4 threads down from the top setting, quite on the high end. The front springs are 6 inches right? The 450 lb front springs from GE. But the inserts have been cut 2 inches.
No, I dont think the bumpstops were cut. Where are they? I dont think I even have bumpstops installed in the front.Comment
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They have internal bumpstops.
His and my guess were that you slammed the car to the point where you would be bottoming out, again, on the bump stops.
The shock probably isn't oscillating the spring efficiently due to the 450# rate.
I would of thought it'd be just fine though. Interesting!
Your best bet is to get them revalved for the rate, not get Mr2's, if you want it done properly.
Since your car is at a very high setting, is it possible that you can run out of shock expansion when it rebounds up? Not sure if that's a silly question, but that's the other thing that just came to mind.
1991 325iS turbo
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cutting internal bump stops:
Going to run exact same setup as you are but without adjuster in rear. Wondering why your front is so 'bouncy.' Currently running unmodified front struts and oem shocks w/ gc on lowest setting. so really running on bump stops. haha. This is defenitely bouncy on rough/uneven roads.
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How old were the billies? Also abbie is right. You don't want to be at the far end of shock travel on compression or rebound.Your signature picture has been removed since it contained the Photobucket "upgrade your account" image.
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The billies are BRAND NEW! They literally have less than 3k miles on them. I bought them new for the coilovers. My hypotheses is that they are way too soft for the 450 springs. My rear camaro shocks I have found are wayyyyyy stiffer then the front billies. So I thought the stiff rear and soft front were creating the bouncy tendency.
Just to make clear... I have the billy IX front strut inserts. I dont think these IX inserts came with the Billy sport valving which may be tougher. I think the iX inserts only came as HDs. I would be willing for a local to ride or drive the car to have a sense of the bounciness to help me out on this.Comment
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We understand. Like Nigel is supporting, lower your car some more and report back how it feels please. I'm curious about "topping out" a shock too considering you have it at such a high setting.
And yes iX's Bills only come in HD's. GC proved to us in a thread that valving is the same between Sports and HD's, though I'm still skeptical.
Not sure if that applies to iX stuff though.
1991 325iS turbo
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Hmmmm... okay. I will lower it and report back. However, it may take some time since I would want to have a skidplate first before I do that. I will keep you all updated.Comment
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Im running the same setup in the front, and im not having any issues with bounciness.
Car is now 10mm lower in the front than that image, sitting about mid point on the threads.90 318i M62B44 OBD1
02 530i Touring (Airlift 3P)Comment
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Whats in the rear of your car? My car seems quite bouncy for sure.Comment
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Forget the skid plate :)
Just take a known street!
1991 325iS turbo
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New update. I took the car to Bavarian Motorsport in milpitas and Ramon found that my shock is completely dead on the passenger front. I spoke to some people who know suspensions and I gathered the info that the billies IX cannot handle being lowered, especially on 450 lb springs. A stronger insert is necessary. Zygmunt Motorsports is kind enough to send me a new shock to try it again; but I might get the same result after another 5k miles. I think I just have to find another stronger insert that will work with these 450lb springs that will also apply to the GE camber plates I'm using.Comment
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