The Best front shocks? And fitting advice?

[hazd31]

Hi guys need your oppinion on the best shocks i can buy.

The car has been lowered and i definatly need a pair of fronts, possibly rears too.

Whats the best i ca get, not to worried about comfort as i dont have a sore back just yet!

Also how do you get the fronts out the housing, is there a special tool?

[cee]

Popular and usual recommendations I've seen are Bilstein B4s on a budget, if not B6 or B8s

[E30BeemerLad]

Depends on how much you have dropped the car as to which shocks suit, also depends on how much you want to spend.

[lyricalnut02]

Popular and usual recommendations I've seen are Bilstein B4s on a budget, if not B6 or B8s

^ This

[cee]

When I get the money I'll be putting B6s all around

[E30BeemerLad]

I've got B6's on the front of mine and they are rock hard, I don't like them

[hazd31]

so b6 are stiffer than b4s?
Where do i get them and what sort of money are they, its pretty low probably 60-80mm lower than standard.

[cee]

80mm lower than standard would be touching the floor surely?!

[Simon13]

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say B4's with a quality 35mm drop set of springs or m-tech springs are best for UK roads.

B6/8's are great on smooth roads but the cars can get very skitty on bumpy roads when on a charge.

[hazd31]

great, i guess a fresh set is only gonna be better anyway.

Where do i get these magical shocks?

[hongkongfuey]

Give me a shout if u need help fitting them

[CHR1S1990]

I'm gonna stick my neck out and say B4's with a quality 35mm drop set of springs or m-tech springs are best for UK roads.

B6/8's are great on smooth roads but the cars can get very skitty on bumpy roads when on a charge.

^ this

I have B4's all around with eibach -35mm springs, and it handles brilliantly. Personal opinion here, but if you want to stiffen things up for the corners on UK roads, rather than lower it on its arse with stiff shocks, get some thicker ARBs on there.

[Morat]

Lee, what wheels/tyres are you running?

Arbs AND B8s I drive on bumpy roads nearly all the time - but I do have 205/55 tyres on 15" BBS. If you're on bigger wheels/lower profile tyres I can see why it would get too bumpy without the sidewall flex.

[hazd31]

Give me a shout if u need help fitting them

i need to find them first, will hapily remove the front corner and spring, just need a hand getting the shocker out....

Probably best i find a pair of top mounts too!!

[popey7676]

I had b4's with a 30mm drop on my last e30, Good handling with out compromising the ride too much. B4's are basically uprated oem shocks. I would recommend them.

[E30BeemerLad]

Lee, what wheels/tyres are you running?

Arbs AND B8s I drive on bumpy roads nearly all the time - but I do have 205/55 tyres on 15" BBS. If you're on bigger wheels/lower profile tyres I can see why it would get too bumpy without the sidewall flex.

Miles, I'm running 16" wheels with 205/50 profile Toyos. On a 35mm drop with eibach springs.

I'm going to swap in either some B4's or some Boge Mtec front inserts when I can be arsed. I'm running Racing Dynamics front & rear ARB's too.

I'm tempted to go for some standard 15" BBS with the 55 profile boots for maximum comfort compliance as my wilwoods (if I ever fit them) will fit under 15" BBS anyway.

[Morat]

Trouble is, those wheels look shexeh
Give me a shout next time you're going for a Chinese and we could try them back to back while you're waiting?

[sh55123]

Nobody has mentioned Boge turbos. I have them on both of my 325's (one on new genuine mtech springs, the other on eibachs) and they both handle beautifully. Still a very comfortable everyday ride, but sporty too.

Just my 2 cents...very affordable from GSF too now that ECP don't supply Bilstein any more.

[Kos]

boge/sachs are a quality shock

worth considering

[DanThe]

60mm drop, defo B6's
B8's will be too long to clamp the spring properly which is an MOT fail, im sure B4's are the same length.

[Kos]

60mm drop, defo B6's
B8's will be too long to clamp the spring properly which is an MOT fail, im sure B4's are the same length.

iirc B8's are the shorter shocks ?

[TouringMatt]

I've got B6's on the front of mine and they are rock hard, I don't like them

Are these the 45mm or 51mm insert B6's?

[Bristol_Jer]

My B4's I had on mine were too long for my -60mm front springs, spring went loose when you jacked the car up.

[E30BeemerLad]

I've got B6's on the front of mine and they are rock hard, I don't like them

Are these the 45mm or 51mm insert B6's?

51mm

[DanThe]

60mm drop, defo B6's
B8's will be too long to clamp the spring properly which is an MOT fail, im sure B4's are the same length.

iirc B8's are the shorter shocks ?

You remember wrongly

[TouringMatt]

I've got B6's on the front of mine and they are rock hard, I don't like them

Are these the 45mm or 51mm insert B6's?

51mm

Be interesting to see how i get on. Just fitted some Tech1 45mm inserts to my 51mm struts on the Touring thats on -40mm KW springs. Old shocks were standard and pretty shot

[Kos]

60mm drop, defo B6's
B8's will be too long to clamp the spring properly which is an MOT fail, im sure B4's are the same length.

iirc B8's are the shorter shocks ?

You remember wrongly

http://www.bilstein.de/en-uk/products/h ... in-b8.html

http://www.bilstein.de/en-uk/products/h ... in-b6.html

B8 is shorter according to bilsteins catalogue ....

[DanThe]

According to my tape measure its longer

B8 -



B6 -



No measure in the B6 pic but its quite obvious

[Kos]

its all very queer lol

their web catalogue lists the B6's as sport and the B8's as sprint. i remember the sprint line kits came with sport line eibachs which were lower than the pro line kits, which came with B4 shocks

anyway, we'll just say its the 45mm diameter ones that are required for council drops