R33 - Bilstein Shock & Whiteline Spring Users

[copycutter]

Hi guys,

I managed to find a set of the much loved Bilstein/Whiteline spring and shock combo and had them fitted to my r33.

I had the ride height set not extremely low, but I noticed that my front wheels were hitting my guard liners on even medium bumps and sounded terrible.

I took it back to the suspension shop that fitted them and asked for the front to be raised and now it's mostly all good. I can still get the front wheels to scrape when I corner hard at speed (big weight transfer) and so I'm still not completely satisfied.

Initially the distance from middle of rim to guard straight up was 335mm I think. After the raise they are now like 355mm, even though I asked them to go up just one 10mm "notch" on the shock. And now the car has this stupid "leant back" look to it becuase the suspension shop said the whole unit had to be removed to change the height, so if I had all four done along with the cost of buying them first time around, fitting and doing balance and align would mean they cost more than top dollar new tein super streets.

I was at another suspension shop and they noticed this scrape during weight transfer and said something about changing where the bump stops activate on the shocks should fix it.

Bottom line is I do not know enough to know how to solve this problem. All I know is that there must be plenty of people running this suspension set up happily without needing to go stock ride height surely?

Anyone know what I should do?

Edited January 5, 2012 by copycutter

[The Bogan]

355 front and 345 rear is the recommended ride height for handling and correct suspension geometry if I remember correctly.

Have a look in the old group buy thread by Sydneykid.

[MrStabby]

355 front and 345 rear is the recommended ride height for handling and correct suspension geometry if I remember correctly.

Have a look in the old group buy thread by Sydneykid.

Yep, or 350fr 340rr. IIRC stock ride hight is a lot higher than 355.

OP are you sure the notches are only 10mm? Sounds too low to me. How much did they charge to raise the front?

[blind_elk]

I was at another suspension shop and they noticed this scrape during weight transfer and said something about changing where the bump stops activate on the shocks should fix it.

I hope they aren't suggesting that the suspension loads up on the bump stops before maximum weight transfer. That would result in an infinite strength spring, and we all know that increasing the front spring rate induces understeer.

Maybe something simple like new polyurethane link post rubbers and D-bushes in the front swaybar might help. Maybe a slightly heavier rear bar to control weight transfer.

[The Bogan]

Stock Skyline ride heights.

[MrStabby]

Stock Skyline ride heights.

SK reckons brand new stock for gts-t is 380fr 370rr (to 375 365 after 1000kms), which is a lot more than the 360/360 in that chart. No idea which is right...

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/118993-r33-gts-t-stock-ride-heights/

[copycutter]

Ok just measured and there's 350mm at front currently with 40mm between Tyre and guard. I have to line up centre of rim with the measuring tape with one eye shut as the wheel and guard aren't flat.

Rear appears to be 340mm with the same eye shut scientific method.

[copycutter]

To answer the stock ride heights thing; that was perhaps a bit of exaggeration on my part. What I meant was I didn't think it was extremely low to begin with for after market.

The car did have stock suspension when I got it.

I'm interested to know what heights others with this gear are running.

[The Bogan]

345 f and 335 r ATM, it has sagged 5mm from when it was last set, though I do have adjustable whiteline sway bars which may help, their set on the second hardest setting on the front and the hardest setting on the rear.

Daily rims are R34 GTT and the tyres are 245/45 17, tyre slightly hits the plastic left inner guard on full lock, Ive put on 245/40 17 and they clear by about 5 mm.

What size/offset rims and tyres you using ?

[copycutter]

CR kai 18 x 9.5 +20 front and +38 rear with 245/35 tyres

Front obviously sticks out but the 38's wouldn't clear the front calipers, so what are you going to do?

[The Bogan]

Nothing for a while, it doesnt bother me as it only happens on full lock, although my next set of tyres for the daily rims will be 245/40 17.

[copycutter]

Does yours bottom out anywhere at the front when you hit a harsh bump at that ride height?

I hit one this morning and heard it scuff inside the arch somewhere. I thought I had solved that particular problem with the increased front height. This means that buying whiteline swaybars might help side to side weight transfer scraping but still means I'll scuff over real harsh bumps. This means there's no way I would be able to really drive the car hard with the setup as is.

So is the answer more stroke again is needed?

Are these springs so much softer than a japanese coilover spring like HKS/Cusco etc that they need to be 355-360mm off the deck up front? That is actually getting pretty close to stock height if stock is around 370's.

I appreciate this combo is more meant for ride quality, and this is why I got them. They aren't bone breakingly stiff like super low coilovers which is great, but I thought they were closer to a happy medium between soft/high stock ones and low/hard jap coilovers than this.

Does the +20 9.5 rim offset that is making the rim and tyre stick out past the guard diminish my clearance over other users of the Bilstein/Whiteline? Would that be closest point of contact between car and wheel as opposed to a stock GTR wheel for example which would sit more inside the guard?