mrd

I am doing some upgrades on my suspension. My rear shocks on my Carrera 3.0 are painfully stiff, they are yellow - could someone advise me what shocks I have, are they stock and should they be so uncomfortably stiff (sports). What is the best compromise and would you change them for something less tooth rattling - I won't be racing!!

Cheers

Damien

ulrichd

Yellow means you have Bilsteins. It is my understanding, someone correct me if I am wrong, that the backs can be switched out for any shock (Boge, Koni or Bilsteins). I believe the Boges are the softest choice.

But consider what a softer shock in the back will do to your handling. I have driven mostly FWD cars, and harder in front/softer in back will increase understeer.

Ulrich

BRB-83-911SC

I beleive yellow Bilsteins are the Sports, and green Bilsteins are HD. Sports are stiffer than HD's. Someone correct me if I have this wrong.

theiceman

Yes Yellow Bilsteins are the sports. Green are non sports. keep in mind however that Koni also makes a sport shock . The yellow sport konis are adjustable. pop the engine deck lid and look at the top of the shock. if it looks like you could put a **** on it and adust it , it is a koni , but i would imagine it is a bilstein sport. Any parts site should show you a pic. In fact I have a set of Green Bilstein Hds and I just ordered a set of sports... You can put bilstein boge or Koni on the rear it doesnt matter. It only matters for the front. While you are at it look under the front of the car and tell us what you have on the front. they will be struts , but the colour of the strut and the dust cap may give us a clue as to what you are running there.

mrd

Thanks Iceman, I will have a look in the morning and post later- I have got so much to do tomorrow I don't know where to start:

7 and 9 x16 Turbo Fuchs just back from polishers, getting new tyres on, my mechanic fitting turbo tie-rods and factory short shift kit and my Clarion SRV303 amped subwoofer has just arrived in post today out with the passenger seat - my car thinks its Christmas.

Just got to try and avoid the temptation of a Fabspeed cat bypass and muffler (someone take my credit card off me!!). I think it sounds great but may be too much for a daily driver that goes past the local police station twice a day!!

Cheers

Damien

theiceman

I am SURE you wont attract attention with that SUB

I jut did the turbo tie rods, but couldn't afford short shift AND shocks, so I went for the shocks and got new shift bushings, by the way if you are doing the short shift kit you should do the bushings also , cup, shift rod bushing and coupler ( see my thread on shift coupler )

Martin S.

God only knows what they may have been re-valved to. If you can, pull them off and send them to Bilstein for a shock dyno run. They will rebuild them to your specs for about $100 a shock, maybe less, can't quite remember.

mrd

I am in UK can I get them done by Bilstein over here - excuse my ignorance. Iceman the Clarion is a fairly sedate sub - just using it to re-inforce the bass that disappears through the Targa roof

autobonrun

I changed all four of my shocks to Bilstein sports a couple years ago. The rears are yellow with a blue stripe on the bottom. The front inserts and covers are green. I called Bilstein and checked the part numbers and confirmed both sets were sports. Maybe the color is a front/rear thing rather than a HD/Sport issue. Not sure now. You can always contact Bilstein with the part numbers.

http://www.bilstein.com/index1.php

theiceman

You are bang on . with the rears its a colour thing but with the front it is just a part number difference. Its a Bilstein if it has a blue ring around the yellow I think. By the way that is exactly what I just ordered. a sport set. yellow and green, for rear and front respectively. What do you think of them? I currently have Bilstein HDs on the back and the original Boges on the front so I am going to your set up . I have the rear HDs to play around with.

autobonrun

I love the sport setup. It is firm no doubt, but not uncomfortable. My car is also lowered with 21/27 hollow Weltmeister torsion bars. I think my ride height is around 24.5" in the front and 24.25" in the rear. I'm now running S03's and the cornering is very tight and predictable. You may want to consider HD's all around since you already have them on the rear. From my conversations with Bilstein, I don't recall there being a huge difference. If you have originals on your car, you will notice a substantial improvement in handling. I had originals on my car for nearly 20 years; Woodhead brand, a British made shock that was OEM on many of the SC's. I didn't think they were bad until I replaced them. The push down test doesn't really tell you much. Improvement in performance comes well before the shocks are totally shot. Here's a shot that shows how mine sits with the current suspension setup. It may be too low for some but it's a fair weather driver so I like the firm ride.

theiceman

That looks sharp , and guess what , we have the same car ... I have a 78sc Targa in Copper brown .. The only difference is the wheels.
Because I have Bilsteins on the back and Boge on the front I pretty well know the rears were replaced at some point . J st to start fresh I got sports all around and like yourself this is not my daily driver. I do need to get stone guards however.