Hi dudes

1) Does anyone know whether the SK Bilstein shocks are the same ones that are delivered from Bilstein Germany? I heard from people that they used to get revalved to SK specs when they arrived from Germany a couple of years back, but now Germany just sends all Bilsteins with SK specs by default to all Aussie suppliers?

2) What would be the difference in ride comfort (only concerned with comfort here) between the 2 options below:
- Bilstein shocks with stock springs lowered on the lowest circlip (so I think that makes 24mm lower)
- Bilstein shocks with Whiteline/King springs on the normal circlip

It seems like stock springs on lowest circlips may run out of travel perhaps and bottom out on big hits hence possibly resulting in a harsher bumpier ride especially since the springs and shocks arent matched. Is this true? or will the Bilsteins effectively control the stock springs?

Thanks for your help

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haha, u and ur quest for a comfortable sporty ride!

haha hey jeff

nah its more a comfy + lowered setup - not too concerned about performance as its a pure daily now - probs means i should sell it and get something more suitable haha

I ran the Stagea with the standard springs and the Bilsteins for several months and it was a nice handling/ride comfort balance. I ran it 3 circlip grooves (24 mm) lower than standard and it had no problems with travel after I trimmed the bump stops. That's 15 mm or so higher than with the Whiteline springs and the circlips in their "standard" position. To my feel it was more comfortable than it was with the standard 100,000 ks old shocks. On them it was floaty and bounced a couple of times after hitting a bump, very uncomfortable. Much more controlled and hence comfortable with the Bilsteins.

As I have mentioned previously the problem is not simply one of spring rates, the Whiteline spring rates are only a modest 20% to 25% higher than the standard rates. The issue is the complete suspension system design, R32/33/34 Skylines are designed to be "sporty", not harsh, but not limousine either.


Cheers
Gary

Thanks Gary

Does that mean that the whiteline springs lower the car 24+15mm = 39mm in total? but for a stagea which is different for a GTT? What would be the height difference between 24mm using the lowest circlip, or whiteline on the standard circlip on a R34 GTT?

To me, comfortable is the Toyota Camry type ride haha not necessarily one that bounces a couple of times after hitting a bump. It is more something that absorbs the bumps nicely, instead of hitting a small bump and having the car pushed around.

Unfortuantely comfort has a very personal interpretation and it seems that for you, comfortable = firm and not boaty. So comfortable to you = uncomfortable to others haha and vice versa of course. I think that just because something is floaty, doesnt mean its uncomfortable. It probably better takes the bad roads that a car that is not floaty, ie. has less shaking and rattling

** What I would ideally like to achieve is a lowered setup, with the same level of comfort as say 20,000km old stock shocks on stock springs. I dont mean for it to get any less "sportier" than the stock feel as I understand that the car is still a sports car, I dont intend to change this. However at the same time, do not want to go much "sportier" either.

Just trying to suss out what the options are and
whether the Bilsteins be better matched to the stock feel lowered with stock springs / or Whiteline springs? (both achieve a decent height change, but would of course drive very differently?)

the whiteline springs will give you a harsher ride due to less travel .. ie. car sits lower.

I have Bilsteins in my car with the std springs it is both good on the road and on the track
Poeple have driven my car and commented on how good it feels the shocks are alot better
than std nissan stuff but not over the top.Mate you would have no problem at all if you fitted
std springs with bilsteins shocks I think even later if you wanted to upgrade to whiteline
springs you would still have a comfy ride sporty but still smooth ride.I had jap coil overs in
my car and couldn't wait to get them out to hard and the car was dangerous to drive.Since I
fitted the bilsteins shocks I haven' looked back.I haven't lowered my car much from std
height only about 20mm so I can't give you any feed back on lowering any more than that.
Out of every mod I have done to my car, suspension is by far the most important and most
under looked by a lot of people and it doesn't has to be stiff to perform well like a lot of
people may think!

Thanks Grunter.

Anybody else with any opinions?

I hate talking about lowering amounts, because lowering from what? Not all R34GTT were the same height when new, not all have settled the same amount, some have even sagged, many are up to 10 mm lower on the RHS than the LHS. So I prefer to talk about absolutes, centre of wheel to guard, which you will find most suspension engineers do also.

Standard (new) height is 380 mm front and 370 mm rear (that's no limited editions, anniversary specials or others that can have different heights up to 10 mm)
Around 50,000 k's they are often at 375 mm front and 365 mm rear, with the RHS rear 360 and the LHS rear 370.
If the shocks haven't been changed and they have done 100,000 ks or so, they are usually 370 mm front and 360 mm rear, with the RHS rear 355 and the LHS rear 360.
The Whiteline springs will result in ~350/340, that's with the spring seats in their standard position. That's 30 mm lower from standard new, but might only be 20 mm lower in a car with stuffed shocks and sagged springs.
The Group Buy Bilsteins for the R34GTT have 7 circlip grooves, all 8 mm appart, 2 standard plus 3 lower + 2 higher.
So with the standard springs you can use the 1st, 2nd or 3rd of the lower grooves to get 8mm, 16mm or 24 mm lower than what the car is with the standard shocks in place.
But there is a problem, with the standard springs you can really only go down to 356 mm (380-24)/346 mm(370 -24) because the standard spring rate isn't able to absorb bumps with any less travel than that height allows.
So if you have a sagged car that is already 370/360 you can only lower it 16 mm (2 grooves) to 354/344.
The Whiteline springs have a slightly higher spring rate, that's why they can handle 350/340 (using the standard height groove).
So you could lower it using the 3 lower grooves available (ie; 326/316), but it is not something I would recommend, ever.

Simple isn't it?
Cheers
Gary

Yeap that all makes sense.

When lowering the car on stock springs and circlips and possibly achieving a height of 346/336mm (assuming the springs sit at 370/350mm already)...does that mean that the car will be hitting the bump stops very often even if trimmed due to the low spring rates?

And back to the original question...

Are the Bilsteins be better matched to the stock OEM feel lowered with
- stock springs
- or Whiteline springs? (both achieve a decent height change, but would of course drive very differently?)