Bilstein B14 - long term experiences?

[udi]

Done a lot of searching here on the topic, and reviews seem to be mixed.

I'm not looking for a track setup, just something noticeably firmer than stock that will still work well on the street and not be ridiculously stiff. From what I can gather, these fit the profile.

However I just read a thread where people were talking about play and creaking / knocking. Are there any (still) happy owners on here, and how many miles have you run them for?

Pricing and performance sounds right to me, just the longevity I am not sure of.

Appreciate advice

 

[udi]

Also - how did they affect the handling vs. stock - particularly in terms of understeer / oversteer balance?

I ask because every coilover manufacturer (including Bilstein) seems to spec a higher ratio of front vs. rear spring rate increase compared to the stock 172 setup. Might be safer, but the lift-off oversteer (that sometimes even happens on mid-throttle) is what makes the Clio so much fun. It's probably easier to make a comparison on tighter corners, where understeer (increased understeer) would be most obvious.

Comments appreciated. I'm hoping to be wrong but the numbers suggest otherwise.

 

[sprintcup]

I've got these fitted and did say they are to soft for track work, but mine were set to low initially as I'd asked for 10mm lower than stock, they were lower still by about 30-40mm which was the heights suggested by Bilstein according to the lad who fitted them for me.
I've since had the car geo set up correctly to what I want and raised the rear 20mm and the front 15mm, the car now turns in very well along with adding some toe out front and running neg camber front and rear, the rear is standard settings and needs some shims to run parrallel.
The ride is fine for UK rds and these do come into their own on fast high speed flowing bends after the above work, I've had no problems with noise/knocking but did have quite a bit of understeer on the tighter bends, I've also gone from T1R's to ADO8 tyres all round, I fitted new standard top mount kits as well but would suggest you fit the Pure MS kit if budget allows, the only negative for me is they are a little bouncey at the rear on uneven roads and I could do with stiffer spring rates for what I use the car for. I run a Whiteline rear ARB as well.

Regards Russ....

 

[udi]

Thanks Russ, very detailed and honest answer, can I ask how long you've used them for?
They are not for track work so don't need to be super stiff, actually sound like a decent balance to me.

The understeer on tighter bends part is putting me off though, in fairness I think most coilovers seem to have the same issue with spring rate bias so it's not a problem with the Bilsteins alone. However I don't want to change the stock handling bias as it's why I like the car, if anything I'd happily gamble with more tail out on tight bends, but not less.

I wonder if it'd be possible to fit them with different spring rates to bring the ratio closer to stock, however even then it'd add extra costs...

 

[sprintcup]

Sorry Udi I should have said the Understeer has gone in the lower speed bends since the ride height and geo set up has been done.
They have been on the car since June 2011 and do about 2-3000 road miles and the rest is driven hard at Sprint/hillclimbs.
If I can suggest just refresh the standard shocks and lower arms etc if it's a Cup and fit Either Eibach Sport or the Cooksport springs, it will handle just as well.
It may be worth spending £12-00 I think it is and have full forum access.
The place I use for the geo suggests I go to 400lb on the rears as they are currently 295lb from what he calculateded from the Bilstein spring rates on the rear.
You can get these shocks re-valved and stiffer springs and is something I may look at when these are ready for rebuild.

Regards Russ...........

 

[udi]

Thanks again Russ,
Do you think the amount of understeer is equal or less than what the stock car had, after you set it up? I'm happy to run the ride height higher

It sounds to me like the B14s would work great with a spring rate change - I've tried to find the stock rates and all I could find was that they are 70 N/mm F and 40 N/mm rear which is 400lb F, 228lb R. Do you know how your guy got the 295lb figure? Written on the spring or popped it in a rate tester? To me your number makes more sense, but would be good to know for sure.

Stock rates on 172 Cup are 139lb F, 282lb R... normal 172 has 112lb F, 282lb R. You can see how the balance is reversed on the B14 compared to those stock numbers.

I've also considered just replacing shocks with new stockers and putting in some Eibach Sportlines (like you suggested), particularly because those springs keep a similar F/R rate bias as stock. Will price it up and decide.

 

[sprintcup]

He worked it out from the numbers on the spring, he said theres a calc for coil wire width against number of coils and pulled up a spread sheet to show how many mm the coil moves for a given width from memory, I just said ok, I didn't take much notice and I could be wrong with the rate but I'm sure that's what he said.
Understeer is a lot less but I have to include the ADO8 tyres in that along with a Gripper diff, I also currently have the rear Whiteline ARB set on it's soft setting as he said leave as is for a season to see how the car performs.
With respect to standard I never had the back of the car come round even on heavy lift off except once in the wet which I must say suprised me as the Pug 205 GTi was the opposite but so controlable, I let a freind use my car at a sprint when his broke down last season and he said the same, it's a very understeerey car, as I'm getting on though probably safer for me tbh, hope this helps, one other thing to say is try your car on 15" wheels as this is the mod most go for, I'll be doing this next when funds allow, another lad with a Phase 1 who I compete with (Shiftspark) has a car that is like the 205 very oversteerey but he does run toe out on the rear with Mark Fish shocks and springs, but now runs the AST1 kit supplied by CookSport.



Regards Russ..........