Product Review: B+G springs for 5kTQ

[Robert Deis]

AFAIK, no one here has tried these yet- when I asked around a few months
ago everyone said that only H&R made springs for this car, and that they
were nice, but probably a bit harsh.  The tech told me that the new B+G
product was supposed to be a bit softer than the HR's, so I tried them.

My car is an 86 5kTQ wagon, but the part number is the same for
wagon/sedan.

Also, on my car these springs are mated with 4 Koni Sport (Yellow)
adjustable shocks/struts. Fronts are set 3/4 turn up from full soft, rears
are set 1 turn up from full soft as reccomended by Koni customer service.

B+G advertises a 1.4" drop front and rear, and that seems about right. No
rubbing over various rough roads yet, but tires that are wider than stock
would probably rub in the rear.

The verdict:  **WOW**!

Roll, squat, and brake dive are substantially reduced, and the car has an
extrtemely solid feel. "Firm," but not "Stiff," certainly not harsh.

As another data point, my wife is 7 months pregnant, and she prefers the
ride with the new shocks/springs to the original springs and BOGE turbo
gas structs that were at least on the front (not sure what was on the
rear before...)  She said that it "feels like the brand new A6 we drove
last month."

The car inspires incredible confidence on the curvy climb from Denver up
to Conifer, and sits nice and flat around the right turn from the highway
on to my street in Boulder.  For the first time, tire noise began to get
my attention before roll angle did. I slowed down- but ooooo. (-:  As
adjusted I think there's an ever-so-slight hint of understeer, which is
probably a good balance for the car to have as a daily family hauler.

I am extremely pleased.

Other notes:

I think the rear proportioning valve needs adjusted, because the
ABS kicked in during a hard decel over a railroad track. Not quite sure
what's going on there.

No alignment problems whatsoever- I don't know why.  Lots of people
told me to expect camber problems, and the camber was indeed off after the
install, but the alignment guy was able to adjust it back to spec without
anything special.  I recently rebuilt the front end as part of this
project, and the upper strut mounts are slotted for camber- but I didn't
order anything special to get that, just the regular part from Blau or
TPC (I can look up which if someone cares..)

The only con: Customer service from B+G stinks. It took two months to get
these things, partly due to problems on the vendors's end, and partly due
to problems at B+G.  But, I wasn't in a hurry, so it wasn't a big deal.

B+G website:
http://www.bg-suspension.com/

Vendor website:
http://www.stranoparts.com  (has server trouble periodicly..)

--
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  Rob Deis                  "Let the people know beforehand what the law
  MiB3347                      is and what they are to expect."
  rdeis at io.com                              -- 18th Congress, Rec. 75