Bilstein on 90q report

["Smith, Kirby A" <kirby.a.smith@lmco.com>]

Greetings fellow fanatics:
	I have recently installed Bilstein HDs on my 1988 90q, with
encouragement from Paul Royal who wrote me that I would love them.  They
replaced Boges of indeterminate heritage that were leaking.  The springs are
stock so far as I know, and the car was outfitted by a PO with a rear
anti-roll bar that was recently determined to have come from a 525i front.
(This bar is rather modest in diameter.)  

General impression:  slightly stiffer, but this is only obtrusive at low
speed over abrupt pavement transitions.  A little less dive, but not so
suppressed that headlight bobbing would be undetectable.  Cornering
performance in sharp smooth turns seems to be improved; I have insufficient
data for bumpy turns to determine whether there is a net loss of traction
due to the stiffness.  

In general, I would tentatively recommend them for this application.
However, I haven't yet decided if I will impose them on my wife's car, or go
with Boges for a softer ride, so my recommendation is tailored to those who
are more performance oriented.  Note that I have no comparative data on the
feel of Konis for this application, and they should also be considered.  I
use them on my Corvair, and have used both Bilstein and Koni on past
Sciroccos.  The character of the Konis is different, perhaps due to
hydraulic vs gas operation, and may be preferred.  Too bad it is so time
consuming to install shocks into struts; with wishbone independent
suspensions, one could try several easily in a day.

                .... Kirby   (Kirby A. Smith)
                              2 x 1988 90q
                          New Hampshire USA