[s-cars] More suspension info (Bilstien)

[Daniel Hussey]

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OK, I just got off the phone with Jack French in Bilstien's San Diego offic=
e, whom is the main guy who does custom valving for Bilstien.

As I've always heard, Jack confirmed that the Bilstien Heavy Duty shock and=
 the Sport shock have identical valving, just one is designed for a lowerin=
g spring (shorter piston shaft) and thus is in the "sweet spot" in the corr=
ect range.  If you lower your car by an inch or more, you should run the Sp=
ort, if you are not, use the HD...  again, everything I had heard previousl=
y, but was just re-confirmed.

According to Jack, the Bilstien shock is really designed for a stock spring=
 and if you go with an aftermarket spring that is much stiffer, custom-valv=
ing may be a good thing to do as it won't be able to handle the rebound.  H=
e says, they usually leave the compression side alone, however they would g=
o anywhere from 20-30% stiffer on the rebound side, depending on how much s=
tiffer than stock your springs are.  He says that re-valving is very common=
 and he does it all the time for people in the BMW, Porsche, Alfa, Audi clu=
b=2E  Very common and something he thinks is really almost a requirement if=
 your going to run a stiff aftermarket spring.

Current rate for re-valving shocks is about $55 per shock, plus shipping.

You can reach Jack French at Bilstien at (800) 537-1085.

I'm going to wait until I drive a friend's car with '92 springs and Bilstie=
n HD's again to make an evaluation.  My springs will probably be a little b=
it stiffer than these, but if it's pretty close, I'll probably opt against =
going the custom-valving route.  If it feels underdampened to me, I'll prob=
ably send them in.  At this point, I'm on the fence.

Later,
Dan
'95 S6 Avant (Europa/ecru)...  suspension woes
'87 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 (aka "ski bitch")
Seattle, WA

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