Hey team. I thought that title would get your attention. Presently, my IX is keeping me up at night.

Used Bilsteins + Robispec springs have brought fire and brimstone to Earth under my CT9A.

I bought my IX last month with JIC coilovers on it. It was too low, but actually rode decent. It had a rattle in the right rear and not quite enough travel for my deep driveway angle, so I thought: "I have two sets of used Bilsteins from MR's, I'll put some springs on those Bilsteins and experience world-beating handling, traction and stability!!!"

Good plan!, you say. Me too! It was my brightest. idea. evar. at the time.

In reality, it has been kind of a nightmare. I had choice of 55k-miles or 70k-miles on my used Bilsteins laying around the garage, so I went lower-mileage and installed the 55k'ers. 10 miles after mounting them, I got the "clunk" from the left front. No problemo, I have 2 more in the ga-rage. Swapped left front, no more clunk.

Oh, the good times my CT9A and I had tooling around town at 40mph! We pulled into the driveway with no scrubbing, tire unweighting or bogging. We danced in the streets like David Bowie and Mick ****ing Jagger. I finally had the perfect street car! Installed me blueberry-blacktooth radio for cruising and tinted dem windows to keep my knob cool poolside. The theory of Evolution finally made sense to me.

As great as the ol' girl was at low speed around town, she was the exact opposite at highway speeds. She wallowed more than a co-ed at Mardi Gras, swaying over every bump, undulating over every dip in the pavement, threatening to fistfight every innocent bystander that dared stray too close. Too bouncy, unpredictable flight-path swerviness, and did I mention bouncy?

So now I'm at a crossroads and the car is handling badly IMO.

From reading, I think that the problem is that my stiffer springs (or any spring) are overpowering the damping on my worn-out factory struts and shocks, causing it to be highly unstable over large dips and bumps. As metaphorical as my story was, the car *LITERALLY* picks the front tires up off the ground when rebounding from a paved over sink-area near work. Not figuratively, literally, bounces out of the dip. It is downright scary at speeds of 60+mph over large freeway or backroad dips.

I have on the car:
3x ~55k mile Bilsteins and 1x ~70k mile Bilstein with Robispec springs.

I have in the garage:
1x 55k mile Bilstein and 3x 70k mile Bilsteins, left front mount clunks.
4x JIC coilovers in the garage, left rear has a small rattling thump.

So my questions are:

1. Should I bother to have the 4 Bilsteins rebuilt and revalved for the Robispec springs and add new top mounts + my Perrin sway on soft?
2. Or should I just send the JIC's off to be rebuilt (JIC, Muellerized, whoever) because my bounciness is a characteristic of the Bilsteins or if rebuilt they will never be as good as everyone says they are?

I have a third car, so time is not an issue (it seriously feels 5x more dangerous to drive than my bouncy, 130k-mile mkiv Jetta beater), but I'm not a bottomless pit of money so I'd like to make the right choice the first time.

 

I must say, one of the best reads I've had in a while.

Bouncy - struts are done. Mileage varies on when to rebuild. Never know if the old struts had been jumped more times than Bo and Luke Duke. So...its rebuild time.

1: $75 ea to rebuild the Bilsteins (and shipping). Add $150-200 for used RSB. $500-600 total.
2: Need to contact a JIC rebuilder. But while at that, you could re-spring the car too. And match the valving to your new rates.

1a: spring swap. Robi took a different approach than other companies did. They are good. But everyone as different feel/tastes.

 

OP... are you certain, check/recheck camber and toe at all 4 corners, seems to scream of excessive toe out I think. Agree/Disagree Mr. Smike?

 

What worries me is the jumping off the ground part. Thats going to make camber/toe changes all over the place too. Making the car unstable for sure.

 

Thanks. I have to laugh to keep from crying, ya know? I was hoping you would chime in. I would have PM'ed ya, but I figured this info may help someone else if they ever search.

1. Sounds good, hopefully I won't spend the money and be disappointed. If they "get right" then I'll be happy, I love the ride height of the Robispec and the travel of the Bilsteins (as little as it is). As far as the RSB is concerned, I have a new-in-the-box Perrin rear sway and stout mount kit in my garage. Planning on starting it at full soft for the street.

2. Who rebuilds JIC besides JIC-USA and Mueller?

1a. I know you've had great success with Swift and I believe GTWorx at one point. The issue for me is front ride height, and more specifically, rake. I dislike raked springs appearance, a lot. The GTWorx sit level AFAIK, but since I already have the Robispec, is there a good reason to spend the money? This will be a pure street car for the next 3 years, with maybe 2 local autocrosses, if I'm being honest.

What I love about the idea of Robispec springs, having never used the products, is that they lower 1", which is enough to reduce some fender gap but not enough to put the Bilsteins out of their stroke, and they do not rake. Add that to the killer deal I feel I received, and it sounds on paper like a recipe for success.

I've searched, read (a lot of Smike advice, ) and put together what I feel will be a great combo -Advan RGII's, 17x9, 255/40-17 Star Specs mounted on the wheels last week but still off the car, plus the Robispec/Bilstein- so it's disappointing to feel that I'm going backwards. I'm in pursuit of a ~330whp, great handling, perfect-to-me dry-street Evo with decent rain manners.

Any idea what rate to have the Bilsteins revalved for on those Robispecs? or should I scrap those springs as part of my build. I need to get on the right track.

 

No, alignment has not been done since struts and shocks. I know... I know. I was waiting to mount my wider wheels and tires and wanted to get a test drive in to make sure I would be ok with the component feel. Poor handling I would be ok with, but when it compresses, then rebounds OFF THE GROUND, I think I have a major component problem. Your advice is correct and well received though.

Me too. It's disheartening at the least, and scary as hell at the worst. I hit a huge dip with my commuter Jetta this morning and it was nothing compared to the Evo. Maybe 1/5th the bounce.

 

People use the Search button still?

How did you get the RobiSpec springs? Just making sure they are not clones.

1. Good. Just cost of rebuild then.

2. Ah...might be it. Contacted JIC?

1a. GTWorx have the mildest lowering to retain stroke. Have slight rake. But if the springs are real; no real need to change.

If stock are: 180lbs front / 225lbs rear. Then his are ~ 216 lb/in / 225 lb/in. Those are the numbers Bilstein will need. I'd call Robi to be 100% on max rates.



Alignment is set at the hub. Not the wheel/tire contact. Major changes to the suspension will eat up those tires right quick.

Tire size of 255/40R17. Wont really feel the ultimate grip on the street. However, it is a heavier tire package. Takes HP to turn those rollers Just something to think about.

Recent tire change on my Mustang to tires that are ~2.5 lbs lighter ea. Thats ~2.5lbs my engine has to work less to move. Also less my steering has to overcome. Its like digging you're hand into an old coat pocket to find a $20 bill. Freed up a few ponies, hell, pun intended. And a little quicker steering response.

 

If I were in your shoes, of course knowing what I know now, I would rebuild the bilsteins and get a set of GTworx springs. Then work on a front and rear sway bar and front lower control arm and rear trailing arm bushings.

After all the combinations Ive tried, I'm convinced the Bilstein/GTworx is the best combination. It had enough rate but not too much, almost no rake, and sits high enough to get in and out of my driveway which is probably worse than anyone's on here. I'll definitely be switching back to that setup for winters.

Sell the JIC's to offset the cost and end up with a better balanced car.

 

Yeah, 255/40-17 was more facilitated by the fact that I had a spare set of 17x9 RGII's in the garage. I like the wheels, so why not use them? I figured. Still... 17"s are better weight wise than 18"s so I feel like I'm coming out ahead from most people with aftermarket wheels.

Robispec springs are the famous eBay deal from The Suspension Source, which was supposedly surplus from some place that went out of business. I'm not sure how to tell they are authentic, but they look right from my pics in that thread.

 

Yeah, if they are lighter overall than OE, still good.

Oh, right. I remember that thread now. Humm...well, thats a tough call in my book.

Take struts apart. Check for piston pressure / looseness in them. If you have OEM springs. I'd throw them on there and test on the road. Of the coils are not to...lets say..."spec"...then they could be a big factor here.

 

Sorry to hijack this but assuming one wants to start with just a RSB and then maybe add a FSB down the road, which of these makes more sense?

Whiteline - 26mm FSB, 24mm RSB
Works - 26mm FSB, 24mm RSB (same as Whiteline)
Robi - 25mm FSB, 26mm RSB

Either I'm not getting something or it seems one of the combos has to make more sense in terms of size. Should the bigger swaybar be in front or back? I definitely want to have the same brand's RSB and FSB eventually.

 

I've driven a number of Evos and the best (street) handling one is my own - factory Bilstein suspension, Whiteline F/R anti-swaybars, and 40lbs less rotational mass via lighter rotors, wheels, and tires. Take it FWIW. Good luck.

 

This sounds like a good plan, and GTworx springs have crossed my mind. Maybe Andrew will see this, PM me and offer me an incredible deal.

I'd probably rather rebuild than take them apart and re-try them, yes? I have a spare set and I was considering this anyway. I guess I need to figure out my spring rate and rebuild around that whether it be Robispec or GTworx.

Good to know! I plan on something similar... but I really want to reduce the fender gap slightly, so aftermarket springs with very little drop and no rake would be preferred. BTW, answer my question in your audio system thread!

 

My one "complaint" on the Swift bars that I ran - adjustability for event surface.

Whiteline FSB - non-adjustable ; RSB 22/24 3-way adjustable.
Works FSB - non-adjustable ; RSB adjustable
Robi FSB - 2-way (95%/130%) ; RSB 24 4-way adjustable.

Pretty basic:


I have the mathematical calculations for how to read stiffness based on the adjustment point changes. I don't have any measurements of OEM bars.

 

Hmm... Your pic here doesn't look excessively raked... But it looks like I can expect 1.2 front drop and .66 rear drop... which is RAKED!


I like the look of your car a lot, I just think that if I put those on my MR it would be terribly raked. Btw, also in that thread I saw you played FM2. That's where I got my forum name is from my gamertag iNFERNO FCF.

Anywho. I'm so unsure of how to proceed right now it's not funny.

On one hand, I like the ride-height and price of the Robispec I bought. I'd love to identify them as true Robispec. Right now, I believe they are, but if I'm revalving my shocks, is it really worth it to guess and hope for the best?

On the other hand, I want to do this ONE time since I'm having my shocks rebuilt and revalved, so I'm considering GTworx springs.

On the third hand I don't have, I think the GTworx don't reduce ride height enough for me, so I'm considering Swift Spec R from GTworx, and matching my Bilsteins to those. If it is too raked, I know I will unconditionally hate the appearance of my car to the point of wanting to get rid of it or completely change setups.

Crap like this is what makes me HATE suspension. I swapped the blown factory crap out of my BMW ZHP and installed Koni Yellows and Eibach pro-kit, which supposedly had no rake compared to H&R race that everyone on e46fanatics loves. I ended up with rake that made the car look tail high and HIDEOUS. I stopped driving the car and sold it in less than 600 miles after dropping $1500 on suspension including new sways.

I feel like I am in the same battle with my Evo.