The same situation really; buying outside of the EU is expensive for anyone in the EU. Regarding coilovers, this is a very strange situation to be fair, as the EU is home to some very well-respected suspension manufacturers. The real issue is that most of them lack platform-specific know-how.

 

I find it highly suspicious that you dont have anyone within driving distance that can re-valve bilistiens. I though there was a decently sized german tuning scene in Albania, not like Poland where all the cool German stuff comes from, but at least something.

 

Albania has nothing to do with Greece , also, sure we have few people that know how to revalve , problem is they are not experienced enough to do a proper job (this applies in so many things here in Greece).

I’ll probably just get the B8s and be limited with 205 tires. Hope I don’t die.

 

I'm sure the B8's will be fine.

And Leafy, having someone in a country that can do a thing is different than being able to easily find the person who can do the thing.

 

Question for you since I didn't see it in your 2x posts - what will you be using the car for? HPDE? 100% Track? Drifting? If you're using it for street with some canyon carving the DIY's and 205's with moderate springs and a stiffer front bar are damn near better than most everything except for xidas. If you're doing something a heck of a lot more serious then yeah, you need to plan accordingly.

 

@themiskard talk to JamSport. They revalve shocks all the time, and they do have a shock dyno, so if you do not trust their judgment you can give them target values and ask them to send you the dyno sheets for the shocks after done.

 

Canyon carving and DD , hear me out though.

I want my car to be around 200-230whp

Right now engine is stock , and although I run a set of brand new 195s Michelin Pilot Sport 3 paired with 15x8 rims , the rear end gets loose fairly easy. I can’t imagine what would happen with almost double the power . (Mind that the car came with a set of very stiff cheap coilovers)

Would you run sticky 205s on a 200whp car ? Cause as I see it , you need at least 225s.
That’s the main reason I hesitate buying the B8s , bigger/softer tires and thus stiffer spring rates (which the stock B8s can’t handle well).

Thanks Harry

 

If the back end is loose when cornering at stock power I would guess the rear spring rates are too high (very common for cheap aftermarket coilovers), you don't have enough front sway bar or too much rear bar, or you are contacting the bump stops in the rear causing the effective rear spring rate to go through the roof. This is assuming your alignment specs are good and similar to 949Racing's reccomended street or dual duty specs.

 

I am contacting the bump stops all the time. Daily driving like this is such a shitty experience.

 

This helps understand a lot more than before, thank you. What are the conditions of the roads you are daily driving on and how aggressive are you on them?

 

In two words , shitty , and random.
There are huge potholes everywhere and some roads are slippery even on foot. Yesterday I was trying to start of a hill and my rear end was loose for like 2 full seconds .

Where I want to be as aggressive as possible is in canyons , and the roads there are slightly better in terms of grip but there are potholes still.

The initial setup I am thinking of is:
Dual Duty alignment based of Supermiata
205/50/15 , 15x8
Front 1.125 sway , Rear MSM/14mm or even remove it completely.
DIY B8s , 450/300 8in with 180TW tires

If I don't post again , just know I died. lol

 

Your needs are very similar to mine (same roads, same car, same tire). You need all the travel you can get. This means running the car relatively high (I plan to be 10mm or so lower than stock). Spring rates seem ok, I have ended up in 6/4.5kg for mine. Stock valving on NB2 Sport Bilsteins should be ok for that spring rate, revalving would be nice. Extended top hats make a ton of difference, especially in the rear. That being said, I would probably wait for Tecnas, if you can justify the price (factoring in shipping and import taxes).

 

I have a question , since the NA B6s shock bodies are shorter and provide more shock travel and are better suited for lowered applications,
do I gain anything by running a set of NB B6s with extended top hats if I end up with the same 5.25" height I could have with the NA B6s on stock NB top hats ?

 

You're talking like the top hats affect ride height, they do not, the spring doesn't move. The extended top hats will trade some of your excess droop travel which we have way too much of for bump travel. You should easily gain enough travel to touch tire to metal allowing you to trim the bump stops for your setup. This is ideal, with no real downsides.

Also that ride height for a monster truck high.

 

Never said that , only reason I mentioned ride height was to specify the 'lowered application' , since the NA shocks can't achieve stock NB height everything else being equal.

Since the NA setup ended up with the same height as the NB setup , how can we say they have different droop travel ? Is the total height on both shocks the same ? I though the NA is shorter.

 

Just the way you worded your post sounded like the top hats affected ride height. Good we have that cleared up.

Why do you think the NA can't achieve NB ride height? Why are we even worrying about ride height with either shock, the whole idea of converting these to coil overs is so we can adjust the ride height.

Both the NA and the NB shocks have enough travel to rattle the springs loose at full droop. The NA is only 1/4" shorter so not drastic. With either shock body you need extended top hats in the rear so that you can run a bump stop of sufficient thickness and still maximize bump travel. I typically set these up with an inch of extended top hats, sometimes 1.5" if you're running narrow tires and can really tuck them. This allows for a 1/2" to 1" bump stop height typically. Bump stop length should be verified by installing the shock without a spring and cycling the suspension checking clearance.

 

Damn , I though the difference was way bigger. It all makes sense now.

Thanks for clearing things up.

 

@Bronson M Yes, I think it is true that the shock length difference is about 1/4". However, with my NA Bilstiens and Maruha top hats (about 20mm extended beyond NB hats); I would hit metal to metal (IIRC Upper control arms to subframe) with about 30mm bump stops. I went back to NB hats. I think I also had tire clearance to liners issues... 225 tires on 35mm offset wheels. Perhaps I did something wrong, but I don't think so. Jacked up the tire with no spring on the shock. Think I should try again?

DNM

 

So without the extended top hats you're bump stop would need up be 10-20mm long, the extended hats allowed you to have a bump stop of sufficient length. Sounds like all you needed was a longer bump stop or shims.

You're the narrow tire case I was referring to earlier, you can get more bump travel than say a 245 on a 10" wheel