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So I have searched and found a fair amount of info on these dampers, but I'd like to check in and see if anyone has more to offer.

What I am looking for is (in my opinion) what honda should have done with the suspension. (a controlled/firm ride that doesn't wallow and bounce)

Springs seem fine, ride hight/travel seems fine, but I have always felt the dampers were too weak, especially in the rear.

I've had an RSX anti roll bar in the rear for some time and love it, adds some stability and reduces understeer at the limit.

More recently I put Tokico blues in the rear hoping to eliminate the bouncyness. It is better than stock, the rear is a bit better matched to the front now in terms of how quickly it subdues excess body motions, but honestly I thought they would be stiffer.

I'm getting more and more tired of the car wallowing and floating in odd ways at cruising speed over undulations on the road. And I hate the when there is an unseen dip or bump around a clover leaf which causes one of those "oh ****!" moments as the suspension listfully lobs the body of the car up into a weightless second of "gosh that feels unsettling".

The quesiton at hand,

Bilstein monotube dampers?
Seems they should be high quality, and react quickly, but they are pricy and I really have no way of knowing if they will be stiff enough for me.

Or

Tokico D-Spec, cheaper, maybe not as killer quality, but adjustibilty will give a whole world of satisfying whatever balance I want.
I found less firsthand info searching on these, and more *dude get the D-specs, but I won't say what they are like* type postings. I'd like to know things like do they last, and how do they compare to the blues.


So if you skipped to the end that is ok,
My questions are:
1. How stiff are the Bilstein dampers? (explain in any way you see fit)
2. Are there any disadvantages to the D-Specs?


Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 352

get koni yellows.

 
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I have the d-spec and I love them I think with proper tuning they are the best on the market in terms of suspension. the only down fall to them is you have to take your time and be patient with them in order to get the dampening tuned in perfect. when you really get down to fine tuning them a 1/4 of a turn can make a big difference. out of the box they are not going to kill you but if you try to push the car hard while tuning if it is not balanced right you can either oversteer and spin out or understeer and slide into something. Once I got mine dialed in perfect you could throw the car as hard as you wanted to and it would just grip and i tuned it with very minimal understeer but I could comfortably hand the keys over to anyone and not worry about them hurting anything because they couldn't handle the suspension.

As for stiffness you can make the d-spec as soft or as firm as you want if I wanted to I could make it so if you attempted to press down on the car it wouldn't budge

 
Rep Power: 260

my HTS (aka dspec) is the best setup!

the ride is nice on the street and highway(just don't go over the medium setting) but if you wanna ride like a go-kart then turn the **** to stiffest setting then you're good to go!

 
Rep Power: 380

Bilstein, no questions asked. Those dampers are near works of art, as their street dampers have the same internals as their race dampers.


For feel, they are firmer then OEM, and the car will be much more controlled over uneven roads.

If you want something with a **** to fiddle with, buy Koni.


BTW, Stiff doesn't mean better handling.... in fact tuning theory dictates that you should be aiming to run the softest suspension you can get away with.

 
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Does anyone know how low of a drop the Bilstein's can handle?!

 
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ditto. and how low can the dspecs go?

 
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^i don't know the exact answer but im drop almost 2' on four corners

 
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i think i read the blistens shouldnt be used with a drop more than 1.5". definitely the blistens over the tokicos. blistens are worth the money if you can afford them. dspecs are good but to assume they are good because of the dampening adjustability is a major misassumption. if you feel you need the adjustable setting get koni inserts. but truth be told, most shocks with adjustable settings do not make significant changes and are not interval synchronized. so just because you adjust one side doesnt mean you need to adjust the opposing side the same amount. konis are the best at this but no where near perfect

 
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Koni's are only REBOUND adjustable fyi. I never knew this until I bought them.

 
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Which is a good thing as far as tuning the cars handling is concerned.

 
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Thanks everyone for the responces!

I feel swayed towards the Bilsteins at this point. I'm drawn towards things which well built and down right work, just like how I was drawn to my civic...oh... but I can't complain too much, it has never failed me, just annoyed me with its "quirks"

The suggestion of variability between shocks in a set might make getting them adjusted to proportional settings a hassle/annoyance. so that is a knock against the dspecs.

I'm actually tempted to first try swapping only the rear tokico blues for Bilsteins as the rear of the car seems to be the biggest culprit of excess body motions.
Rear bounce was improved when I went from stock rears to blues, so maybe blues to Bilsteins is the extra step neccessary?
Depends on how stiff they really are I guess.

What do you think?

 
Rep Power: 299

well all I can say is that I have the bilsteins and I absolutly LOVE them. Trust me when I say that the dampening is amazing. My car has no bounce at all front or rear. Over uneven roads the ride feels much more solid and refined. Also when I go over speed bumps and dips I dont have to crawl anymore since the car doesnt wallow all over the place.

 
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Yup!
I've been in his car and it rides very nicely.
The ride quality is comparable to the Acura TSX.
Its feels firm and sporty to give the driver some feedback yet still comfortable.
If there was one word to describe the Bilsteins, its confidence.
Well worth the money.

 
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what springs would go best with bilsteins? eibach? h&r? tanabe?

 
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dopes6070 has them on stock springs and trust me it feels more capable than when I had my car lowered to 1 fingergap on full coilovers.

 
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I love my Bilstein. i had koni yellows and stepped it up with the Bilsteins, it was the best invest ever...love them babies. car rides awesome, and im also on nuespeed springs. the neuspeed site they went well with that type of drop.

 
Rep Power: 299

I called bilstein a while ago and they said the dampers are suited for Almost any progressive rate spring. I asked about the H&R ones because if I ever drop this car those are what I would go with. They said H&Rs are fine and will not damage them. Bilstein did say you don’t want the car super low anyway since it does hurt handling after a certain point. You dont want the rear LCAs Inverted which will happen after im guessing 2"

$750 for just dampers was a hard purchase to make but once I put them in I forgot all about the price.

Setups Ive had

Tein S.tech / Stock Struts
Tein S.tech / Kyb AGX
Megan Coils
Stock Springs / Tokico HPs
Stock Springs / Bilsteins

 
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Well I finally got a set of Bilsteins from TireRack. and they are going in on thursday.
Does anyone know if the front stock dust covers can be reused on the those massive bilstein shafts?

 
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Yes.

 
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So they are on! and I must say I am completely satisfied with the ride!
Stability and Control are the words to describe it. Stiffer isn't the right word, because they also have a crazy ability to take the edge off of even a rumble strip and less shock is transmitted to the body of the car.
An added benefit is that the steering is tighter now, much more connected on center. Alignment specs are the same before and after the install.

The only bad thing is that the front dust covers do not fit on the bilsteins at all. The bump stop is built into the dust cover and the bilsteins have an internal bump stop allready. So the hole in the bump stop is nowhere near big enough to allow it to fit on the new shaft.

So now I have two questions,

1, How important are the dust covers to the well being of the shock?

2, where can I get a dust cover that I can install on the shock while it is on the car.

Thanks.

 
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hey i see your in md!

 
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I'm just gonna do shocks and springs at the same time. rims tomorrow. yipee.