Daily Drive - Bilstein B16 Coilovers or OEM Springs

[Linus27]

My DC5 has Spoon Springs and a fast road setup and to be honest, its pretty horrible. The handling is great but the springs crash, bang, rattle and clonk all the time and its just getting too annoying now. Tom at TGM warned me they would do it but as the car is possibly going back to being a daily if I keep it (maybe) then I might as well enjoy it.

Those who run the Bilstein coilovers, what are they like for use daily? Do they crash and bang or very compliant? I have Bilsteins on my Elise and they are amazing. No bangs, crashes and are amazing compared to what I currently have on my DC5.

The other option is to go back to OEM springs but it would probably mean I would do no more track days whereas if the Bilsteins are useable daily then I could sneak in the odd track day still

 

[spooke]

Coilovers

I use MeisterR daily without problems, from what people say the Bilsteins are "soft" so you should be fine tbh.

 

[MilanoChris]

Mine are brilliant mate. What are you going to use on track? May as well keep up using the DC5 and get some Billie's on it.

Wouldn't get cheap Meister R, same as all the other Taiwanese brands and the cars I've been in with them fitted are far from fine, but that my experience of being in cars with KW, Ohlins, Eibach, Bilstein's etc.

 

[Linus27]

Thanks guys

Chris - I'm going to move back over to my Elise and start tracking that again. However, it would be nice to be able to do the odd track day in the DC5 still. As it currently stands though, it is horrible to drive daily purely from the Spoon Springs rattling and crashing all the time.

 

[MilanoChris]

I've got a set of Eibach springs you can try out if you like? Come visit, then go out with the B16's on?

I can't comment on daily as my car rarely moves, but there's no noises and they're very compliant and comfortable with the damping turned down.

 

[Reggie91]

So I had a half hour long chat with Tom at TGM last night about this exact topic. He basically said what Chris did above.

He said all these cheap coilovers (meister, yellow speed, bc racing etc) should be avoided as they drive like crap on the road. Tend to be crashy and are often worse than Oem dampers n springs. They tend to be hard which everyone thinks must be good and 'racecar,' but it's not the case. As spooke said bilsteins seem soft but that's just due to better build quality. Getting coilovers doesn't mean you have to comprise all comfort. Plus b16's are dampening adjustable.

Plus the fact they are sold by all these sales people shows that it exchanges a fair few hands after the factory and everyone takes a little cut. Ultimately the coilovers are probably 2/300 worth of kit.

He said if you want the additional performance on track and still intend on using your car daily then he said b14/b16's are the way forward. Unless you've go big money for ohlins which he had one in the office to show me the dampening control.

 

[Linus27]

Cheers Chris, I might take you up on that. You are Gloucester way???

 

[MilanoChris]

Cheers Chris, I might take you up on that. You are Gloucester way???

I am indeed.

 

[MilanoChris]

I dread to think what they actually cost to manufacture. You can get them completely unbranded for £350 off eBay, that's less than £90 a corner which includes profit, shipping, shipping from Taiwan, import taxes, VAT etc etc. I bet you're left with something that's less than £40 a corner in terms of materials and development.

But they're great, because stiff/racecar.

 

[spooke]

This always comes up, I'm genuinely curious to see some actual track time comparisons with a car on "taiwan coilovers" and Bilstein B14/16's or "non-taiwan coilovers". As I said mine are fine on the road so the people who's you've been out in problem have them cranked up lol...

Not trying to continue derailing this thread though

 

[MilanoChris]

This always comes up, I'm genuinely curious to see some actual track time comparisons with a car on "taiwan coilovers" and Bilstein B14/16's or "non-taiwan coilovers". As I said mine are fine on the road so the people who's you've been out in problem have them cranked up lol...

Aye, it comes up and I'll listen to those who strip suspension and track their cars or those with motorsport heritage. If you go to track days you can see which cars have good suspension with just your eyes, it's quite amazing actually. Lap times mean very little, there's far too many considerations to take into account when you're taking about that.

I owned a car with D2 coilovers for about a year, maybe more, which are basically the same, and no they were not cranked up. I put Eibach springs on OEM dampers because the D2's ended up leaking everywhere and the ride was immeasurably improved.

 

[spooke]

Aye, it comes up and I'll listen to those who strip suspension and track their cars or those with motorsport heritage. If you go to track days you can see which cars have good suspension with just your eyes, it's quite amazing actually. Lap times mean very little, there's far too many considerations to take into account when you're taking about that.

I owned a car with D2 coilovers for about a year, maybe more, which are basically the same, and no they were not cranked up. I put Eibach springs on OEM dampers because the D2's ended up leaking everywhere and the ride was immeasurably improved.

Fair point, everyone has a different view point on these kinda things anyway. Tbh I wasn't even recommending that Linus didn't go for Bilstein, I was just saying that I drive my car daily with coilovers.

 

[Linus27]

Thanks for your help guys, appreciate it.

 

[adam.]

I have Bilstein B16, my last car had B14, my next car will have B16.

For our roads, they are incredible. Firm yes, but never crashy. Compliance is on another level compared to standard shocks with springs. I do get a few noises with the R888Rs on, as they're quite a bit to turn. With road tyres on I get zero noises, no knocks, no bangs, etc unless the car has been sat for a while. They've been on for about 16 months / 3000 miles now.

They are infinitely more composed than any shock/spring combination. Let's be honest: springs are springs; it doesn't matter what brand you go for, they're all excrement. Would avoid Taiwanese excremente like the plague too.

Linus, you're Watford way aren't you? Or have I made that up?


Edit. I run mine on Max stiffness all year round, anything less is a little bouncy for me.

 

[Alexander0628]

Mine is at Tgm atm having bilsteins fitted lol , went for the b14s not the 16s.

 

[Reggie91]

I'm in the process of getting some. is there any advantage to getting the b16's over the b14's?

I doubt I'll be adjusting the dampers much? I might want to run quite a bit of camper as i want to go for a 17x9 245 square set up. Can that we achieved with b14's with my camber arms and bolts?

 

[MilanoChris]

Not if you don't want to adjust damping. I like to be able to play with the settings as I like a harder rear end (ooh err) to promote the back coming round under cornering on track.

 

[RichA]

I had a set of KW V2, they were brilliant, worked well on track when wound up and were super comfortable on the road when wound down, they also have no issues with rusting or difficulty to adjust height just another option

 

[Linus27]

I have Bilstein B16, my last car had B14, my next car will have B16.

For our roads, they are incredible. Firm yes, but never crashy. Compliance is on another level compared to standard shocks with springs. I do get a few noises with the R888Rs on, as they're quite a bit to turn. With road tyres on I get zero noises, no knocks, no bangs, etc unless the car has been sat for a while. They've been on for about 16 months / 3000 miles now.

They are infinitely more composed than any shock/spring combination. Let's be honest: springs are springs; it doesn't matter what brand you go for, they're all excrement. Would avoid Taiwanese excremente like the plague too.

Linus, you're Watford way aren't you? Or have I made that up?


Edit. I run mine on Max stiffness all year round, anything less is a little bouncy for me.

Hi Adam,

No, I am in Camberley in Surrey and about 10 mins away from TGM.

 

[tricker_luke]

I also have Bilstein B14 and they are on a much higher level than the previous BC Racing I had on before for 7 years. Fitted them in March and already done 10k on them!
I recently did Oulton trackday on them and they felt fine, maybe damping adjustment would help slightly but I liked the preset damping as it was and was getting the rear end sliding out slightly on lift off oversteer.
I will probably go for a larger diameter rear anti roll bar at some point to help things but out of the box they are perfect for me.