Quote:
Originally Posted by vip
I have finally had a chance of installing the Bilstein HD Shocks on my e90 335i. First off, I would like to thank e90post forum member 'SCCAForums.com' for selling and shipping the shocks to me. His level of service and responsiveness is awesome! I did not at any point feel negative about purchasing suspension parts from someone I had never met. Thanks a lot Dave!!! Now on to the review.
Background:
I think this review will help quite a lot of members here, in that there are many who have been in my position. I originally bought my car in October of 2009, used from a private dealer. The car did not have the sports package, meaning no ZSP springs or suspension. Immediately, the first thing I upgraded was the wheels(19" linea corse dynas). Thanks to zoeb at wheeldude for the new kicks. I also installed the H&R Sport Springs the same week as the wheels. This setup was great, because it was a good bang for buck and the car looked sweet. I ran this setup for about 14k miles. I know, I know, you must be thinking I am crazy. Well, I did run it for that long, on STOCK SHOCKS. The first couple thousand miles on the springs, the suspension seemed to do okay. I did not feel that the car was not controlling the dampening or rebound well. Things are great for just springs. But months later and fast forward to 14k miles later, things got worse. The shocks just could not handle the dampening and with 2 passengers in the back, the car was not smooth, bouncy, and dangerous at most. It also didn't help that I was rubbing on dips in the freeway as well.
Impressions on H&R Sport Springs with Bilstein HD Shocks
After months and months of reviews on different suspension setups (coilovers vs spring/shock combos), I decided to try my luck on the Bilstein HD Shocks. I saw that David (SCCAForums.com) was selling his set of Bilsteins with 10k miles on them, in the FS section. I just had the shocks installed last night. I only have about less than 10 miles on them and 20 minutes worth of a review to post. From what I can tell, they do feel a bit stiffer than the stock shocks, but are more controlled and the dampening is far improved. When I hit certain dips, previously on stock shocks, the car would bounce around, bottom out almost. Now, with the Bilsteins, the dampening level is controlled, no bounciness at all. So far things are great. The shocks really do soak all the bumps and dips on the road. The shocks absorb a lot better than the stock non ZSP shocks. I really wish I had done this sooner. For anyone that is still on stock shocks, with aftermarket springs, I highly suggest switching out your stock shocks to aftermarket ones.
For those of you looking into the Bilsteins, there is no attainable difference between the HD and Sport shocks. The shocks itself are identical. I think the sport ones fitment are a little different to accomodate lowering springs. But again, the HD work just fine.
Please feel to ask questions. I will post more updates as I put more miles on the shocks.
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I have the same setup but the front bottoms out at times. Could it be the bump stops?