bigs

Dave and Garrity at Motorsport just finished some work on the shark:

New 30 lb injectors and a RRFPR.

New (rebuilt) CV axles and rear wheel bearings.

New ignition coils

And new Bilsteins all around. The suspension is otherwise completely stock, including stock wheels and tires.

Previously, I thought that new motor mounts were the best ride-enhancing step I'd ever taken. The new Bilsteins may be even better. The old shocks were the originals - now 12-13 years old.

Straight line ride quality - i.e. comfort - has actually improved dramatically with the stiffer Bilsteins. The old shocks were so tired that every time I hit a small pothole or bump in the road it caused a pretty good jar. Now it's nothing more than a tight, quick little blip - barely noticeable. It's almost as if the new Bilsteins actually... absorb the shock!

Cornering has always been great, but now it feels more, I dunno... "effortless" springs to mind. The seat-of-the-pants difference seems to be that before, it felt like the tires were doing a lot of the work in high-speed cornering. Now it feels like the suspension is doing most of the work and the tires are taking it easy.

So, for anyone who has some old, tired shocks and has been thinking of replacing them, I'd certainly endorse it.

Also, the new injectors have completely resolved my starting issue. When completely cold, the car used to start perfectly. If you then turned it off and immediately restarted it, it would again start perfectly. But if you let it sit for about 10 minutes or more, it wouldn't start unless you floored the pedal. I've learned that's the classic picture of leaky injectors. Now, you can reach in through the window, turn the key with no throttle input whatever, and it fires up and purrs immediately every time.

Still need to have the details of the fuel mixture properly dyno-tuned. Couldn't quite fit that in the budget this time. But it drives great as is with simple "ketchmi-o-tune."

Bill Ball

bigs

Bill...

How long you gonna have that, "...top speed unknown" in your sig?

cobalt

Bigs, is the ride height the same after the Bilstein's? I have them in my turbo and the improvement over the stock Boges was tremendous. Although I used a progressive rate spring with it, which makes the ride almost soft until you push it in the turns. I have the Boge sport shocks now and I find the back end has a tendency to wiggle and can be harsh over the bumps. The front end darts more than I would like also. The same thing my turbo did before the change over. I also noticed that the power transfer to the road was much better after the change. Are you experiancing these same transformations?

morganabowen

OOOOOooo I like that color

bigs

Anthony -

Yes, it seems like I'm indeed getting a little better power transfer... But that might also be due to the new CV joints and/or the injectors. Or I suppose it might be just good old placebo effect! (You know, like when the car's full of gas, washed up and polished, it just seems to go faster!)

I believe the ride height is the same. Springs are unchanged.

Yeah, in all respects, the ride is more smooth and less harsh - but still bites nicely in the corners and feels very solid and planted. It's pretty much the ideal setup for me - and almost feels like what I imagine a brand new showroom car would feel like now.

cobalt

Good to know. I was toying with the idea of the Bilstein Eibach setup but the car is the right ride height for me stock. I hear the Eibach springs lower the car even more which is too much for street driving. I may just do the same as you did. My Boge's are still good. I think I will throw them in storage and try the Bilsteins when I change the rubber. I never was a fan of Boge and never understood why Porsche went with them over the Bilsteins. I am sure it had something to do with $$, but the performance cost is to high in my book.

Enjoy the new ride. Nothing like a performance upgrade to spark the romance all over again

bigs

That's exactly what I keep telling my wife!!!

She just rolls her eyes.

cobalt

I hear you.

Steve 88

Every time I read an account of ride improvement following strut replacement I get jazzed to do it. Then I get some estimates for the work (DC metro/No VA area) and lose my enthusiasm. A local shop with a great shark rep quoted $2500+ for all four and a dealer quoted $1800 for just the front two - no alignment included. In both cases they said that it was a tough/expensive job and they didn't recommend I proceed unless the struts were actually failing. This makes me think that they weren't trying to rob me in any way. Do these prices seem correct? Meanwhile, I wll have to be satisfied with the improvement from the motor mount replacement.

Jfrahm

I read that the fronts can be changed without the disassembly most people think is needed. Something about putting spring compressors on with the suspension compressed and then disconnecting the shock mounts and uncompressing the suspension, then angling the spring/shock assembly out with some finesse. Any comments?

-Joel.

bigs

That's significantly higher than what I paid. I'm not home, so I don't have access to the bill to break things down for you, but I can give you the total amount of work done and the total bill as I recall:

Install rebuilt CV axles
New rear wheel bearings
All new fuel injectors and RRFPR - with appropriate tuning
Install four new Bilstein shocks

Total bill: $3500 parts and labor.

Edit: This is in reply to Steve 88

BC

This is not a hard job. You just need a place to work and some simple tools - you can rent the spring compressors and stuff from Autozone or similar parts stores.

I hate when dealers decide to give crap info and advice just to get out of a job they don't want.

Even my acura dealer said "no, your MDX will not need shocks way past 100k" What? A 5k lb car not need shocks at 60k? Gimme a break - and they would have even made money because I promised the wife not to tinker with her car.

Steve 88

Thanks for the info, Bigs. Brendan, I did wonder if the pricing was for a job they don't want to do.

BC

The front is a bit tricky with the fact that when you take enough off to make it simple, it seems like a good time to do balljoints, tie rods, wheel bearings, brake rotors and pads are all staring you in the face.