pgt89

Lexus NewB here. I have Bilstein sport shocks coming in on Monday.... Will they work with the oem springs? I don't want to lower the car. Thanks in advance.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

hi and welcome to the forum. personally i dont' see why it wouldn't work with stock springs. someone correct me?

gserep1

Hello,
I guess I am part of the older crowd that owns a GS4 (53), but I do not want tolower my car. I have 6 year old struts and springs, and I want original stiffness (maybe a little more, but NOT rough).

I got a wheel alignment yesterday, and the tech recommended that I lok into some struts. None are leaking, so it is not mandatory right now. I can get a set of Bilstein sports for about $470.0 for all 4. I also have a choice of the regular Bilsteins. I am trying to decide which to go with.
THANKS

pgt89

I talked to the Bilstein people in the east coast and from what they say the only difference between the Heavy-Duty and Sport is that the Sport's shaft is 1" shorter than that of the Heavy-Duty shock. Thats it. Both shocks have the same identical valving, dampning, etc. The sport will work fine with the OEM springs. I will post soon on the ride quality after I do the install on Tuesday.

pgt89

I got the Bilsteins Sports from SHOX.COM for $427 shipped. Get here tomorrow.

pgt89

I installed the Bilstein sports yesterday. It took longer than I thought, four hours. The car is less bouncy at highways speeds but not enough for me. The rear makes that clunking noise that I have heard about so I decided to get the L-tuned springs to go with the Bilstein sports. Will the ride be to harsh??? Some have any experience with this?

mooretorque

pgt, I don't have the Bilsteins (see my sig) but I can tell you that the L-Tuned setup is not significantly more stifflegged than stock. I did the L-Tuned before I added the stiffer TRD bars and the STBs. The ride was almost as comfortable as stock but without that floaty, queasy feeling that the stock setup has esp over whoop-de-do type bumps. There were times when it felt as if the body were moving around independently on top of the suspension. L-Tuned solved that problem very nicely w/o compromising comfort, as determined by the final arbiter: SHE felt that the car rode just as well.

gserep1, I'm 50 and had/have no interest in pursuing handling changes that leave the ride sufficient only for the young ironbutts here. But lowering the 1.25" that L-Tuned provides plus the more controlled damping of better struts did not markely affect ride comfort. Even adding the TRD bars (which are more than 100% stiffer than stock) didn't really make much difference in that regard. Having recently changed my Bridgestone S-03s to Pirelli P Zero Neros, I can say that the sidewall stiffness of the tires actually made more difference in ride quality than the suspension changes. (And as good as the Pirellis are, I doubt that I'll ever go back to an ultra high performance summer tire; I don't track my car and the slightly sharper handling, esp on turn in, isn't worth the marked difference in comfort. Plus the Pirellis don't tramline AT ALL!!)

cliffud

iTrader: (3)

So does that mean you get an automatic 1" drop?

narfy

no, the full stroke at full extension is 1" shorter, therefore, the strut when fully compressed is also 1" shorter...

shocks do NOT effect ride height of the car unless they are at full extension when your car is at rest...

e-man

Subscribing. If the original poster (PGT89) checks back in, I'd love to hear his impressions of how Bilstein sport shocks on stock springs rides.

e

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

E-man. I had that exact set up.
However, it was recommended that bilsteins hd (silver) should be used with stock springs.

First off, I have to say that the stock gs has such horrible body rolls that I don't feel confident with it all.

I'm no speed demons at all since I do transport my old father around. On any freeway exits/entrances that loop almost in a full circle, I have to slow down to 30 maybe even 40mph-quite embarassing when you have 3 passengers in the back and they're all leaning and squishing the poor middle guy. Heck my 93 previa and my sister's 01 civic has less body roll-not exaggerating.

Initially, it was the bilstein sp (yellow) on stock springs with 16's, daizen sway bar bushings($30) and stock sways. It rode well/firm and not harsh considering I was still on 215/60's

I loved the firmness of the new shocks with the rebound of the stock springs.

I changed out wheels with 245/40/18's and still love it. You feel the road more due to the 40 sidewalls.

One of the front leaked and since I was going to change it, it would be best to change in pairs. That was the cheapest route.

I changed to teins cs (1st version) since it was the mod craze at that time and it got to me. When I had it on full stiff, I didn't like it b/c it was too bouncy. I now have it on full soft

I gauge the "harshness" by the rebound b/c if you're on a long stretch of freeway where it's choppy, it beat me up.

It's a great upgrade esp. if you don't want to lower the car...again, firm ride with the bilstein sports with the rebound of the stock springs.

I have no regrets with the teins, but I felt that the bilsteins with the stock springs were good enough. The installation $$$ will add up should you decide to change to different springs again in the future.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have other questions.

e-man

Thanks for the nice write-up. So I take it that you never had the Bilstein HD on the stock shocks? You only had the sports, right?

natnut

e-man,

I had Bilstein Sports on lowered springs.Currently I'm on Bilstein HD on stock springs. Believe me when I tell you my current set up handles as well as my old setup, except the rough uncomfortable ride is gone and I no longer scrape over speed bumps and multilevel car-park ramps.

In fact, on rough roads, I can go even faster as the greater suspension travel ensures that more rubber stays glued to the ground ensuring greater grip.

My only regret is I wasted so much money on trial and error before settling on the ideal solution. I would not want a fellow CL member go the same time consuming and expensive route that I went.

1 further suggestion : get the Daizen sways and steering rack bushings

chuckb

e-do it right the first time and buy the new tein cs and be done with it.
if they ride anywhere like the V1 CS that I have, I promise you will love it. then you can set your height wherever you like & start by lowering your car just .5 an inch if want.

I have about 6-7 clicks from full stiff and the car rides great and rebound feels very controlled and not bouncy at all.

e-man

Thanks for the info Natnut. Just curious, what other suspension set-ups did you try before finally finding the Bilstein HDs?

But I already installed new OEM shocks, so I guess I didn't do it right the first time?

Speaking of first, I really need to tackle my 90k before I do anything to the suspension. Unfortunately, the money tree has shed its leaves for the winter.