Bilstein PSS9

[JackS4]

I headed over to MRC last Thursday and had this fitted along with lowering the car slightly (not slammed !) using the same system - previously had standard DRC which was knackered at the rear TBH.

The look of the car lowered is fantastic and over the weekend drew plenty of admirers and thumbs up (amazing what a clean car in some sunshine will do).

Anyway, not sure I have found the right level of adjustment on the shocks yet as it wallows a bit compared to DRC (probably too soft a setting) and and feels overall less planted or Icertainly have less confidence pushing. At the same time the sytem seems to find road imperfections I didn't know existed previously which means you are moving round in the car a lot more - don't get me wrong its comfortable but for the moment on the (rubbish) roads I use day to day it seems to have lost 'something' or I haven't worked out how to find it. I should point out I didn't have time to test run/refine with Doug due to impending blizzard and a ferry to catch from Holyhead.

Any one else on running PSS9's on day to day cr@p roads and what settings are you using ? Also, for someone who doesn't have a car lift what is the best way to access the adjustment dials and where are they exactly ?

Cheers,

J

[approved]

take it back to mrc and tell them of your concerns, and tell them what you would ideally like to change with the set up...

they'll know what to do bud.

you can adjust height and comfort, so the solution is easy to acheive in the right hands..

i suspect you diffling underneath may just end up being a frustrating experience when they can sort it in about 30 mins flat.

an adjustment should be free, seeing as you'll have paid a grand odd?

[JackS4]

I am based in Ireland so nipping down to MRC isn't my preferred option. Am happy to have a go myself as there are only 9 settings but don't know where to adjust.

Cheers,

J

[RS6Steve]

I have mine set to 4 on my six, any higher it get a bit bouncy.

Put the front wheels on full lock, you should then be able to rotate the dial which is at the bottom of the strut. The rears may well need the wheels off.

well that's how you do it on a 6, I'd imagine it's almost the same.

[dace]

Its easy to adjust the settings. As Steve says the fronts can be adjusted on full lock.

Just jack up one side on the rears and you can get under to adjust.

I have mine on 9 for everyday and 1 for track. That way it is just a complete turn either way rather than looking for the exact setting.

[ollys]

I headed over to MRC last Thursday and had this fitted along with lowering the car slightly (not slammed !) using the same system - previously had standard DRC which was knackered at the rear TBH.

The look of the car lowered is fantastic and over the weekend drew plenty of admirers and thumbs up (amazing what a clean car in some sunshine will do).

Anyway, not sure I have found the right level of adjustment on the shocks yet as it wallows a bit compared to DRC (probably too soft a setting) and and feels overall less planted or Icertainly have less confidence pushing. At the same time the sytem seems to find road imperfections I didn't know existed previously which means you are moving round in the car a lot more - don't get me wrong its comfortable but for the moment on the (rubbish) roads I use day to day it seems to have lost 'something' or I haven't worked out how to find it. I should point out I didn't have time to test run/refine with Doug due to impending blizzard and a ferry to catch from Holyhead.

Any one else on running PSS9's on day to day cr@p roads and what settings are you using ? Also, for someone who doesn't have a car lift what is the best way to access the adjustment dials and where are they exactly ?

Cheers,

J

I'm not going to be popular as you are in Ireland but you need to get it all set up properly by a geo specialist otherwise you are just guessing how it's going to feel and handle (and it's not just a matter of twiddling the PSS9 dial). Different people have different opinions on what it should it cost / who should do it, but Wheels in Motion and Centre Gravity both know what they are doing.

That's the next step if I were you to get the best out of the set up.

Olly

[RS04EDD]

Did you have bigger anti rollbars fitted?

If not this will be your problem, the drc applys roll resistance, by removing this the standard factory ARB's are just too small.

[ollys]

I headed over to MRC last Thursday and had this fitted along with lowering the car slightly (not slammed !) using the same system - previously had standard DRC which was knackered at the rear TBH.

The look of the car lowered is fantastic and over the weekend drew plenty of admirers and thumbs up (amazing what a clean car in some sunshine will do).

Anyway, not sure I have found the right level of adjustment on the shocks yet as it wallows a bit compared to DRC (probably too soft a setting) and and feels overall less planted or Icertainly have less confidence pushing. At the same time the sytem seems to find road imperfections I didn't know existed previously which means you are moving round in the car a lot more - don't get me wrong its comfortable but for the moment on the (rubbish) roads I use day to day it seems to have lost 'something' or I haven't worked out how to find it. I should point out I didn't have time to test run/refine with Doug due to impending blizzard and a ferry to catch from Holyhead.

Any one else on running PSS9's on day to day cr@p roads and what settings are you using ? Also, for someone who doesn't have a car lift what is the best way to access the adjustment dials and where are they exactly ?

Cheers,

J

I'm not going to be popular as you are in Ireland but you need to get it all set up properly by a geo specialist otherwise you are just guessing how it's going to feel and handle (and it's not just a matter of twiddling the PSS9 dial). Different people have different opinions on what it should it cost / who should do it, but Wheels in Motion and Centre Gravity both know what they are doing.

That's the next step if I were you to get the best out of the set up.

Olly

[N11LS_J]

When I had the PSS9s on my B5, I experienced the same issues as you, played with settings etc, which corrected the problems slightly, however I eventually realised that the sketchy behaviour was due to the geometry being out.

You will find that with the car lowered, even slightly, will throw the optimum geo setting way out, these need to be corrected before you can play with the PSS9 settings.

Once i'd had the geometry sorted, I was then able to have the dampers on the softest and have 100% confidence in the car when taking on corners and high speeds

[JackS4]

Cheers for the replies.

I didn't have ARB's fitted as I wasn't told I needed them.

What is involved with a geometry specialist ? Is this the same as getting laser alignment etc or is there more to it ? Again I wasn't aware this was potentially required.

J

[ollys]

Cheers for the replies.

I didn't have ARB's fitted as I wasn't told I needed them.

What is involved with a geometry specialist ? Is this the same as getting laser alignment etc or is there more to it ? Again I wasn't aware this was potentially required.

J

Essentially yes - it is the same as laser alignment, but I wouldn't get that done by a Kwick Fit type outfit. Go to someone who really understands what needs adjusting and how the adjustments made will translate to the car's behaviour. For example it's good practice to slacken all the suspension linkages off when fitting new suspension and before adjusting so that bushes don't get pinched. It'll cost more but you've already shelled out on £££ on suspension so I would spend the extra and make it work the best it can.

Some places offer extra services such as corner weighting, which is getting the weight of the car over opposite diagonals near enough equal (by adjusting ride heights) so that it behaves consistently turning left or right, but that is probably OTT for road driving.

Olly