Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted July 24, 2015 Anyone have experience with Bilstein B8's? I am tossing up between B8's and Koni StrT's. I like the B8 because it's a monotube gas shock and theory wise it should be better than the StrT which is a twin tube, although it is a very good twin tube. I want to run a slightly lowered set of Eibach springs and they are about 5mm lower than the recommended drop height for the B8's, I could run B6's but there are none in stock . Thoughts, experiences, opinions? BTW they are going on an E46 330ci non motorsport. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thorburn 121 Report post Posted July 24, 2015 Where do you find the recommended height for the b8's? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted July 25, 2015 After reading my notes it looks like I got it round the wrong way, they have B6's in stock and the guy from Autolign said they can take a spring that lowers the ride height by about 30mm but the Eibachs I have say they will drop the ride height by 35mm. Thats where the 5mm comes in. Putting a spacer in the rear is no issue but I am not sure about the front. The drop info was here the 22nd FAQ down. http://www.bilstein.de/en-uk/products/search-service/faqs/ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted July 26, 2015 If you go to the eibach website and do a seach on the springs via the application lookup they say drop is 1.4 inches for the pro kit spring # 2067.140 which are the street springs not the sportline springs which drop 1.7 F and 1.5 R. Ron I have read before you don't like the Bilstein as much as the adjustable Koni and that has given me pause to think. The Koni adjustables are quite a hit more but I do have B6's on the back of my E36 and am happy with the performance. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted July 27, 2015 Yup doing my homework researching the options and trying to make it work on a limited budget. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jin108 25 Report post Posted July 27, 2015 According to Bilstein the B8s work with Msport springs Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kiwi328i 118 Report post Posted July 28, 2015 On my E36 328i, I had lowered aftermarket springs, cant remember the make. I had some B6's HD's on there, nice, got some Sports B8's, tried those, and after a month, swapped them back. Online there are numerous arguments about valving etc between the two, and I for one can definitely say, all things being the same, the B8's are significantly harder on the ride of your car. Because of this, I went straight to B6's on my E34 and hell to whoever tells you, if you run lowered stiffer springs you need to run Sports B8's.. It just doesn't work that way in reality, not on a daily driver in any case. I only went Bilstein because I didn't want to spend much more, otherwise I was very tempted to go Koni. In the E34 world at least nearly everyone runs B6's on significantly shorter springs without issue, so I be damn if I know who those B8's are good for? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted July 28, 2015 Went to price Koni Yellows and there are none in country at present and the B6's are nearly the same price as the Koni Str T's, and I have read some negative reviews on the Str T's on the E46 but on my E 36 they work fine, so I am unsure. I have also read that the B6's are not as firm as the B8's and I am starting to sway back towards the B6's, as I agree with Ron that our rough roads need some compliance. I will look at fitting a 24 mm bar up front and a 20 mm at the back to control the roll. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted August 4, 2015 Ok my decision is being made by the fact there are no Koni Yellows in NZ nor Bilstein B8's , so I have to choose between Koni STR T's or Bilstein B6's to go with my Eibach Proline springs and Eibach 27mm and 21mm bars. I am in two minds at present what to do there is very little price wise between the two options. The Konis have are set up for lowered springs similar to the not available B8's where the B6's can take slightly lowered springs but are are supposedly not a shortened shock per se. The Koni B12 series uses Eibach springs either proline or sportline but I don't know what bilstein shock it uses although it would seem that the lower sportline would use the B8 but does the B12 proline use the B8 or B6, I just can't seem to find that out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4016 Report post Posted August 4, 2015 I tracked down all the part numbers for the various kits on the Bilstein site some time ago and it was possible to cross reference everything. I use B6's with Eibach red springs and bars on my E36. The springs are slightly lower than stock, 15 or 20 mm. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Herbmiester 925 Report post Posted August 6, 2015 Str.Ts are not rebuildable and the guy at stocks says they are not really that firm in the damping more like OEM and to top that off BNT have sold their last set of B6s. Well it looks like I have to shop overseas. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
