How much stiffer are the Eibach pro springs than the stock springs? I'm looking for less body roll, but I don't want to chatter my teeth loose either.

Is a sway bar a better option?

Here's my situation. I need to replace my front struts, and I'm looking at the Bilsteins. Since I'm doing that, I may as well do some other suspension mods, but don't want to break the bank.

To control body roll, is it better to get larger sway bars, or stiffer springs? I kind of of like the ride of the stock springs. Can I get rid of more body roll with just the sway bars? If so, do I need to do the front and back, or is just the front acceptable.

Either way, the shocks are getting changed.

Would this setup be all unbalanced?
Bilstein HD struts up front.
32 or 35 mm sway bar up front.
Stock springs all the way around.
Could I keep the stock rear shocks, or do I need to change all 4 at the same time?

Thanks.

Dan

 

No that setup wuld not be unbalanced but I would change the rear shocks at the same time.

I highly recommend the Suspension Techniques 35mm front bar. You will notice a huge difference in body roll with it and it is not necessary to change out the rear bar at the same time.

 

Thanks Jeff,

Does the Suspension Techniques Sway bar bolt right on, or do I need a special install for it?

Thanks,
Dan

 

It bolts right up and is a very easy install. When you are changing out front struts you will need to remove the sway bar end links so at that point it is just four more bolts to swap out the bar.

 

Stock spring specs are:
Front: 292 #/in
Rear: 112 #/in

There are two Pro-kits offerered for fourthgens.
LT1 Pro-kit specs:
Front: 377-600 #/in
Rear: 94-160 #/in

LS1 Pro-kit specs:
Front: 400 #/in
Rear: 80-137 #/in

Another good setup if you can find 1LE springs for the front would be:
1LE front springs
Stock rear springs with isolator removed
35mm ST front and stock 19mm rear, or 21mm 1LE rear and 32mm 1LE front bars
Koni SA front shocks on lower perch
Bilstein HD rear shocks

 

Thanks for the replys.

Do you know the spring rates of the 1LE springs?

Keep in mind that I don't autox the car, and just want to make sure my handling doesn't go out of balance. So the final question is, will this setup work for the street. Jeff, you think it will, how about you Chuck?

Bilstein HD's on all four corners
Stock Springs
35mm sway bar up front.

What are the advantages to the Koni's up front. Keep in mind that the car is for the street only. I want good handling, but not anything teeth chattering.

Thanks,
Dan

 

There are two settings for the spring perch on the Koni's so you can lower the car some with the stock springs. They come from the factory on the upper setting and you can move them to the lower position and drop the car probably 1/2". They are a good bit more money than the Bilsteins and for your application probably not worth it. Just my $0.02 though.

 

Thanks again Jeff.

Good advice.

Dan

 

Go here -> http://www.socal-fbodies.org/resource/susp4a.html

 

Great link Steve! Thanks.

Dan

 

That should work great.

The Koni's bring 2 things to the table, and have one huge drawback. They are adjustable (I also like the valving better), and they have the lower perch if you want to use it, but they do not seem to last nearly as long as other shocks. For your application, the Bilsteins should be perfect.

 

Thanks Chuck. Much appreciated.

Dan

 

Stock springs
Bilstein HD's 297 shipped from some bmw dealership
Have Sam Strano revalve them for you if u want alittle better performance out of them
32mm front sway bar
19mm stock rear sway bar..

I have a subframe connectors, strut tower brace, poly bushing panhard rod and 17x9 SS rims with good rubber.

The sway bar made a big difference. Thinking of going 35mm but i dont want to hurt my launches.
Bilstein HD's made a big dfference.
Then the 17x9 rim with good tires made a big difference too..

Most important to me are the tires, and the sway bar, Bilsteins are icying on the cake, and the other stuff are the candles.

 

Just as an FYI. A set of Bilstein's with the revalving is $480. That's $329 for HD's plus the valving work. We no longer accept shocks back for revalving. But saying we did; You'd incur two freights to get them from that dealer and to send them back to Bilstein and back to you. Where if you purchase them directly from me, you only have one shipping cost. And you will have at least an extra weeks wait while the shocks were on the way back to Bilstein.

Using a flat $20 for shipping (not realistic to all locations, just for argument). Buying from that BMW dealer would cost you about $490 for revalves. Buying from me would cost $500. I'm not sure all that is worth the $10. Certainly the extra time spent shipping parts out isn't. And most places like Mailboxes Etc. will charge you a lot more than $20 to ship them out. Which means in the end, you'd be saving more just getting them directly.

All of it's a moot point anyway since I can no longer revalve shocks that haven't come from Bilstein. I've had too much trouble with wrong parts being sent in, not knowing the original valving, broken parts, what have you.....

 

I noticed on that chart that the Edelbrock springs have a very high rating. Does anybody know anything about their spring/shock package or have one?