This is on the 83, so early car.

I remembered I had a set of rear shocks from the 474 option sitting in my attic. They are Koni yellows too, but not gas charged. The compression is a little bit softer so I put them on last night. The ride to work was a little more tolerable, at least in the rear.

So I'm thinking if I just put on less aggressive shocks it will be so much better. I'm not changing out the springs. The balance in the car is just beautiful.

What I haven't heard yet is if the Bilstein HD are that much softer than the Koni's.

 

The dampers are not your problem.


The springs are your problem.

 

Oh, you must of missed post number 8 then..?




R

 

I love my Bilstein HD's and have had them in the car a long time (Since 2004). My car is an 87 924s with the Weltmeister 250lb progressive rate springs in the front, and 28mm torsion bars in the rear. Everyone always compliments the way the car drives, fun and firm, but not harsh over the bumps. I am running 205/55R16 up front with 225/50R16 in the rear.

I had 350lb ground control coil-overs in the front for a while, and the ride was much worse (although great on the track). Just my opinion....if you are swapping the shocks/strut inserts get some Weltmeister 200lb or 250lb progressive rate lowering springs for the front and install them at the same time. You will be happy with the performance.

Another question is....What are you running for suspension bushings and Strut Mounts?

 

No I didn't miss that post. It just wasn't quantitative enough.

So I looked up a few dyno graphs for Koni vs Bilstein HD. It definitely looks like the Bilsteins are "softer" than the Koni's. But you don't know the exact shocks they used in the tests. Or how those graphs translate to street driving.

 

Thanks Squidy. Finally someone that has a similar setup to mine. It's encouraging to see that you don't find them harsh with 250lb springs. I never viewed those springs anywhere near extreme.

I'm running rubber bushings for everything but the torsion spring plate. I'm planning on changing them to Elephant rubber bushings soon. My strut mount is the Racer's Edge camber plates.

I think what I'll do is order up some Bilsteins for the rear and try them out. If they feel what I'm looking for, then I'll get the front matching struts as well.

 

Oh, and I am already lowered. My avatar shows the car before the suspension change. Here's what it looks like now. Not extreme.

 

I have the 250# Weltmeister lowering springs in front. No change to the torsion bars yet. I have a 26.8mm sway bar up front and the stock 14mm in the back (I really need to install the bigger one I have.) I too am running 205/16 fronts and 225/16 rears. A couple years ago I put in the KYB's all around because it was better than the 30 year old stock units. The ride is still too soft for me. And of course I can break the rear end free easier than it should be. And I think I've blown one of the rears. After all my reading, I still really want yellow Koni's.

 

I have Bilstein HD's in the back of my '84 with 30mm torsion bars and they work. I had them with the stock bars too.

It was unreal soft with stock bars. Pair well (in my opinion) with 30mm bars. But I have solid everything mounts and 350lb GC coilovers in the front. Soft is not currently in the vocabulary.

 

I purchased the Bilstein shocks for the rear to try them out. When I got them, I tried compressing them by putting them on the floor and pushing down. They were VERY hard to squoosh compared to my other shocks. I was worried that they might be even harsher than the Koni's, but I decided to try them out anyway.

I put them on yesterday and drove to work today. My initial impressions are very good. Sharp bumps feel better than the Koni's. The initial attack of the bump is smoothed out and is much more tolerable. Going over humps are well controlled. I'll drive them around for another week or so and if I still like them, I'll order up the corresponding struts for the front.

Thanks to Jason @ Paragon for taking time to talk to me about the shocks. Much appreciated.

Here's a picture of the new Bilsteins, the Koni Sports, and the original M474 shocks.

 

How many miles are on the Koni's? If you keep the Bilstien's, what are your plans for the Koni's?

 

Yeah... What he said^..

 

I have Koni Yellows on my race car and went with Bilsteins HDs on the new car I am building. Most of the guys I race with are ditching the Koni's in favor of the Bilsteins mostly due to build quality, reliability, and consistency. Konis dont seem to be as consistent new and across the adjustment setting as one would hope. When compared on a shock dyno, the Bilsteins are much more consistent. I also had the Koni adjust loose half its range in the first session on track. Many others have experience quick failures as well, granted we are racing so its some what understandable when using a street shock in those conditions. Most of us are running 350-450# front springs with 28-30 mm torsion bars so the spring rates are certainly higher than you are.

One other observation from out west is that the Koni tends to heat up quicker and loose performance faster over the course of a race. Another reason some prefer the Bilstein over the Koni. I am working with a shock shop to develop a solution for using Bilsteins in the late, non rebuildable struts since they dont offer the cut a strut solution. This would open up all model years to using Bilsteins on the front without expensive aftermarket strut solutions.

 

I have about 90k miles on them. Not sure what I will do with them yet. Considering that I still have the original M474's, there's not much luck in getting rid of them.

 

What do you mean by "lose" half its range? You mean it didn't behave like a shock for half its travel? Was this the front or rear?

We may know each other from the 3 days of driver's meeting with Jay Andrew at the Glen Eastern States championships.