Installation and Review of the Bilstein PSS9 Coilover System...

[bhvrdr]

I arrived at Auto Motion in Louisville Monday for the install and dyno testing. I wanted to make sure I dynod with these installed since when I get programming I would like to eliminate as many variables as possible.

The install was pretty straight forward in the expert hands of Brian of Auto motion.

Here we have the strut tower mounts being prepped for the new mounting plates of the liner rate springs and front dampers...



Now, the next thing to do with any coilover kit is to set up the ride height for proper driving with the coilovers not yet installed.

The proper ride height is available in a set range of preferrred height specified by the valving of the dampers. If you set the car to low, the car will get squirrely when pushed hard and can end up all over the road or track when pushing it hard. Set it too high, and you will not receive the full benefits of your new modified suspension. The optimal range of operation for your coilover can be obtained either in the instruction manual or by contacing the manufacturer.

The optimum range for setting the ride height can be determined by measuring from the lower damper bolt holes (in the lower perch) to the lower spring collar. The optimum range is not easily measured using "fender to floor" ride heights since the manufacturers do not specify these ranges often and also since changes in tire sizes, etc can change these variables. Here is a photo of the ranges of the PSS9 Coiliver kit...



With these coilovers set to the lower end of the optimal ranges for ride height, we then installed them on the car...

FRONT:


REAR:




Note that the dampening adjusters are facing forward for the front and rearward for the rear. The PSS9 kit is unique in that it allows full compression/rebound adjustability with the setup installed on the vehicle. This makes adjusting the damper firmness a less than 5 minute excercise for going from track to street or perhaps setting the car softer when family is in town.

Here are some before and after pics...

BEFORE HEAD ON...



AFTER HEAD ON...



BEFORE FRONT 3/4...



AFTER FRONT 3/4...



BEFORE REAR 3/4...



AFTER REAR 3/4...



The ride height stock was...

Front: 27 3/4"
Rear: 27 5/8"

The current ride heigh is...

Front: 25 1/2"
Rear: 25 1/2"

I will be contacting Steve at Bilstein to see if since we are using the upgraded springs and valving on a lighter car if we cant bring the front down 1/4" to creat the desired 1/4" positive rake for our cars.

IMPRESSIONS...

It has been nice testing this setup with the stock swaybars in place so I could remove that from the equation. All in all, this setup performs above my expectations.

The dampening is set to full siff on the rear (setting range from 1 to 9 with 1 being stiffest) and one setting from full stiff on the front. The ride is stable without any "bounce" I have found with many spring and coil type upgrades that are non-matched. The ride dampening is definitely stiff, but surprisingly very tolerable on Kentucky roads that are spotted with potholes.

Taking cornes at twice to three times the posted speeds is stable and sure with this system. The car rides with less understeer than previously however understeer is still the end of the spectrum this car leans towards when pushed to 10/10. The addition of a rear sway upgrade may be very helpful to neutralize or even shift this car towards mild oversteer. I'll let you know how that works out next month.

cheers! Mike

[DesertA4]

Damn Mike, that's nice!!

[gods_kitchen]

Wow mad Mike, another impressive write-up, and that's one clean drop~

[tachril]

wow!! thats it .. im going to model my car on yours mike .. any mode that you gonna do .. i will do ..

is that the PSS9 coil over kit for B6 A4 or S4 or for the B7??

mike is my man

[A4rce1]

wow! very nice

[bhvrdr]

Thanks fellas. The coilovers were originally developed for the B6 S4. Currently the coilover options for the B7 are the same setups for the B6 A4 even though they may be named for the B7 A4. This is fine since our cars only weigh about 150-200lbs more than the B6, but if you want more spring and valving the option is to go with the B6 S4 which is about 200lbs more than the B7 A4. cheers! mike

[Jwilliams]

Where and how much? :)

[bhvrdr]

Bilstein intended this to be a $2200+ setup, but Neuspeed buys a boatload of them and you can get them for $1599 from www.neuspeed.com . cheers! mike

[b7van]

wow!!! awesome! @_@;;

[ECA4]

Looks great bro, I wanted to go PSS9's too but I need to get chipped along with coilovers so I couldn't go all out. Honestly how much of a difference is the handling from stock non-sport, it's like night and day. Good luck with them

[Jwilliams]

Hum I wonder if the PSS9 are worth the extra 600 bucks over the StreetSports.. the ride adjustment would def be nice to have.. anyone know the range in lift/lowering with them?

[bhvrdr]

The kits you are mentioning are very different. The street sports are a street coilover using progressive springs and more conservative valving. Perfect for the person looking for something to lower the car and make the handling better for cruising. The PSS9 is a street/track coilover using linear springs and huge monotube dampers. It's more capable of limited track duty. It would compete more similarly with the Stasis Track Sport coilovers.

The adjustment range would be about 25"-26" or so for optimum range on the A4 kit and probably 25.5" to 26.5" for the S4 kit. Of course you could lower any kit more than that, but it is not in optimum range and would be for show only.

cheers! mike

[Saturnine]

Sooo nice..