REPORT: Suspension upgrades with Bilstein + GMG
10-03-2008, 01:51 PM
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REPORT: Suspension upgrades with Bilstein + GMG
For those of you that haven't seen my threads over on Rennteam or Teamspeed...
I dropped my Turbo off at Center Gravity last weekend here in the UK for some (much needed) suspension upgrades.
Chris/Jayne kindly emailed me photos as Chris worked; so I thought I'd post them
This is what I have had done:
* Bilstein B16 Damptronics (ClubSport version)
* GMG WC Sport sway bar set
* GMG WC rear toe steer kit
* GMG Dog bone kit
Then...
* Ride height check and adjust
* Corner weight check and adjust
* Geometry check and adjust
* Test drive
I decided to go with a 20mm drop (to make the same ride height as a GT2) and middle stiffness settings on the front and rear GMG sways.
Also, as my rear Bridestones were nearly worn down (7500 miles) I thought I'd take the opportunity and get myself some Michelin PS2's too.
Report is at the end of the pics...
[NOTE: click on any of the thumbnails below to see the full image]
I dropped my Turbo off at Center Gravity last weekend here in the UK for some (much needed) suspension upgrades.
Chris/Jayne kindly emailed me photos as Chris worked; so I thought I'd post them
This is what I have had done:
* Bilstein B16 Damptronics (ClubSport version)
* GMG WC Sport sway bar set
* GMG WC rear toe steer kit
* GMG Dog bone kit
Then...
* Ride height check and adjust
* Corner weight check and adjust
* Geometry check and adjust
* Test drive
I decided to go with a 20mm drop (to make the same ride height as a GT2) and middle stiffness settings on the front and rear GMG sways.
Also, as my rear Bridestones were nearly worn down (7500 miles) I thought I'd take the opportunity and get myself some Michelin PS2's too.
Report is at the end of the pics...
[NOTE: click on any of the thumbnails below to see the full image]
Last edited by Alex (UK); 12-14-2009 at 05:46 AM.
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10-03-2008, 01:54 PM
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Interestingly, my original ride heights had obviously dropped since factory over 7500 miles:
Front: 134 (factory is 138)
Rear: 140 (factory is 153)
I am aiming for GT2 heights so:
Front: 118 (drop of 16mm)
Rear: 133 (drop of 7mm)
My car has been weighed at 1562.5kg (no driver and 1/2 tank fuel).
Front: 134 (factory is 138)
Rear: 140 (factory is 153)
I am aiming for GT2 heights so:
Front: 118 (drop of 16mm)
Rear: 133 (drop of 7mm)
My car has been weighed at 1562.5kg (no driver and 1/2 tank fuel).
10-03-2008, 01:57 PM
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OK so initial report. Please note that I need to do a lot more driving before I can give a more balanced perspective.
Bilstein's are the only aftermarket dampeners that I know which work with PASM (given the OEM ones are bottom of the range Bilstein anyway). That means the sport button still switches between soft and hard options.
If 0-10 is the range for a stock Turbo with normal mode being 0 and 10 being sport, then with the new Bilstein's normal is about 6 and sport is about 8 of 10. So normal is stiffer and sport is softer than stock - with the difference between the two much less apparent.
Now the big difference is how those bumps feel. So in normal mode you now feel more bumps in the road but instead of feeling all sharp and jagged (like stock Sport mode) the bumps now feel smoothed out. Chris likened this to stock feeling 'acidic' and the Damptronics feeling 'creamy'.
The whole car feels very much stiffer, flatter under acceleration (no squatting) and braking, and generally much more tight.
On the test drive me and Chris did, we couldn't invoke any over or under-steer going fast around (and around!) very small roundabouts. And on hard acceleration out of corners the car just grips into the tarmac and powers off!
Chris has done a great job with the geometry too, steering is very sharp and precise and as I mentioned the car just feels very balanced through corners now. We basically started of with GT3RS targets and then modified them slightly based on Chris' experience.
I will post later some pics of the alignment and corner balancing sheets Chris printed off for me.
That's all for now (as I have lots of work to get back to) but sufficed to say, I am extremely happy with my now near 'perfect Turbo'!
Bilstein's are the only aftermarket dampeners that I know which work with PASM (given the OEM ones are bottom of the range Bilstein anyway). That means the sport button still switches between soft and hard options.
If 0-10 is the range for a stock Turbo with normal mode being 0 and 10 being sport, then with the new Bilstein's normal is about 6 and sport is about 8 of 10. So normal is stiffer and sport is softer than stock - with the difference between the two much less apparent.
Now the big difference is how those bumps feel. So in normal mode you now feel more bumps in the road but instead of feeling all sharp and jagged (like stock Sport mode) the bumps now feel smoothed out. Chris likened this to stock feeling 'acidic' and the Damptronics feeling 'creamy'.
The whole car feels very much stiffer, flatter under acceleration (no squatting) and braking, and generally much more tight.
On the test drive me and Chris did, we couldn't invoke any over or under-steer going fast around (and around!) very small roundabouts. And on hard acceleration out of corners the car just grips into the tarmac and powers off!
Chris has done a great job with the geometry too, steering is very sharp and precise and as I mentioned the car just feels very balanced through corners now. We basically started of with GT3RS targets and then modified them slightly based on Chris' experience.
I will post later some pics of the alignment and corner balancing sheets Chris printed off for me.
That's all for now (as I have lots of work to get back to) but sufficed to say, I am extremely happy with my now near 'perfect Turbo'!
10-03-2008, 02:06 PM
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Chris said there were no complications at all and everything fitted perfectly.
The only slow part was removing the Bose sound system at the back for the Bilsteins to plug in.
The only slow part was removing the Bose sound system at the back for the Bilsteins to plug in.
10-04-2008, 02:51 PM
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I went out for an hour on some back roads this morning. The car feels extremely tight and agile. The new tyres need wearing in a little but even in the wet it's hard to reach the car's grip limits on quiet public roads.
The only thing that I am a little concerned with is the stiffness of the car over rough terrain, especially when going slow.
I am rethinking my 0-10 initial assessment. I would now say normal and sport are closer to 7 and 8 with an empty fuel gauge and 5 and 7 with a full tank.
Also you have to creep over any kind of crest in the road surface otherwise you scrape your underside as you come back down again!
So I would say that my configuration is probably at the limit of daily driver usage but take it on some flat twisties and you won't stop smiling for hours!
The only thing that I am a little concerned with is the stiffness of the car over rough terrain, especially when going slow.
I am rethinking my 0-10 initial assessment. I would now say normal and sport are closer to 7 and 8 with an empty fuel gauge and 5 and 7 with a full tank.
Also you have to creep over any kind of crest in the road surface otherwise you scrape your underside as you come back down again!
So I would say that my configuration is probably at the limit of daily driver usage but take it on some flat twisties and you won't stop smiling for hours!
