[Qfrank]

Will Bilstein HD's in the rear raise ride height?



In my MB 300e HD's raised my front ride height by 1", but not the rear.

The HD's on the MB made a massive difference in overall handling, made the car much flatter and predictable at higher speeds. I am very impressed with the overall feel over stock.



FQ

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[PhilG968]

I have Bilstein HDs on the rear of my 1992 Coupe. Probably had them 4 years, no ride height change.

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[flash]

shocks by themselves generally do not change ride height, though the gas preload of some can affect things a little bit. if you have really worn shocks, it might change things a bit more.



when you start talking about coils over the shocks, that is when you run into complications.

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[Qfrank]

Thanks, that what I figured. The shocks are soft currently, and I can get a good deal on a pair of used HD's. I have had HD' on a MB for 8 years, and they are still good. They ride height Increase was probably due to being on original struts for 140,000k.



Now I will have to pair up koni's for the front, not a big fan of that, but it will be fine.



PhilG968,

Insn't that what you did?



Thanks guys.

FQ

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[Ab54666]

For those putting or already having Bilstein HD's on the rear...... what are you running up front?



Cheers



Andy

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[gbarrier]

I do like the Bilsteins so I have modded front struts on several 968 and 944 cars by chopping orig. strut housings, dumping out the old guts, and adding the screw tops. Then the cartridges sold for 1985 944s work just fine. Unless you spend a fortune on the mod it's less expensive also. Someone once sold a kit for that and I was surprised to find that someone along the line had already accomplished this on my current car. Simplest way is to chop the top off a couple old Jetta struts from the Pull-a-Parts and press them in. Then a little weld tack and you're set. I like about a three inch overlap.

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[PhilG968]

I went to Pete RSBarn, and purchased Bilstein Turbo Cup struts for up front, 400lb main spring with a 200lb helper spring.

Wow, but not cheap!!!

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[Qfrank]

Will HD's help with "squat" in the rear. Or is this strictly a torsion bar, spring issue?

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[flash]

shocks do NOT stiffen suspensions. they only resist and control spring movement.



since there is a gas preload charge, depending on how hard you nail the throttle, the initial onset of squat can be reduced a bit. it will only last less than half of a second though. then, the springs will go back to doing the job.



if you want to control squat, then you need more spring rate in the rear, and likely more rebound on the struts in the front (which you can't adjust with the standard struts)



these cars are mushy by nature. that actually works well for them. sure, you can stiffen things up, but retaining some of that feel is key to actually going faster through the corners.



this is an incredibly common tale. many people think that shocks stiffen things up, because that's how it "feels" driving down the freeway. i see a lot of cars with koni yellows on them and cranked up WAY too stiff for the springs on the car. each and every one of the owners is blown away when i soften up the settings and the car suddenly starts handling properly.



this is a very slippery slope. once you start messing with spring rates and shock settings, you had better have a really good feel for how things work in suspensions, or a really good shop to tune them, because it is incredibly easy to make things worse by setting things wrong, and what "feels" good on the street often does not translate to improved handling and cornering, and very often results in unpredictable characteristics

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[Qfrank]

Thanks Flash.



That is a slope I do not want to go down, where one is always changing, adjusting, tuning basically nothing.

The expense and effort are not what I want to do with this car. Good Sway bars will be in order down the road as soon as someone lets a set go. As far a shocks and struts, I will just do normal upgrades from stock.

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[flash]

yeah. i would leave hydraulic shocks in the rear. gas makes the tail jittery. a fresh set of boges will work nicely.



as for the front, koni yellows aren't bad, and at that spring rate, would be manageable. the setting would be about 3/4 turn from full soft. still, the boges would ride better though.



much of this is personal preference and ability to tolerate bumps.

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[Qfrank]

On the rear of the car now are Sachs 301700105168, and below that it says 944.333.032.0, probably original. Are they hydraulic?



How to Boge stack up to these?

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[Qfrank]

Never mind.......they are one in the same....Sachs-Boge.



FQ

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[Ab54666]

Not sure if it's the same in the US but over here in the UK the standard Sachs rears are about £270 each, or in your money about $445 each or nearly $900 a pair! Probably dearer than any other shock.

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[Qfrank]

That is riduculous. Here stateside, you can find Boge's for about $110 USD/each on EBay all day long.

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[Ab54666]

Looking at eBay USA, they show the boge one with number 951 333 032 06 not so sure that is the right number, think it should be 944 333 032 04? Not a massive difference though and at $145 shipped to the UK may be worth it!

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[Qfrank]

Go for it, much better than you can do overseas.

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[DaveN]

Certainly not from a dealer. I called Zims and they wanted almost 300.00 each. Looked them up on WorldPac and they weren't much less. I was going to just replace them but for a little extra cash Pete can put something together for me that has at least been tested on a 968 and is a known/predictable working setup.

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[Qfrank]

That is true, Pete can do that, but why not just by from EBay USA?

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[DaveN]

I checked eBay yesterday for fun and most of the 968 front struts are 250+ each so not that far off retail. I would rather pay a little more and know it came from a reputable supplier that will help/exchange upon install and test. The cheap damper on eBay was only a rear and it was a different colour than the more expensive Porsche replacement found in places like Paragon which leads me to believe there are quality levels of Boge product?

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