Bilstein suspension upgrade

[jdas03]

Hi,
I was looking at upgrading the suspension on my facelift s3.
i saw the bilstein b8's and after a bit of hunting on the forums think these maybe the best.
I have seen them on DPM performance site for £539.
My s3 at present is totally standard 210bhp car. As far as the upgrade goes is this one that will make a great difference to the feel of the car, or is it one that i wont notice that much, because i have a list of upgrades i want to do to the car including remap, brakes etc and wondered how worthwhile this was as the first upgrade?
My other question is regarding the springs. can you swap standard s3 springs on to save cash or is this impossible and ill have to look at springs as well?

cheers in advance

 

[<tuffty/>]

B8's is one of the best things you can do next to a remap IMO... Use with either H&R 25mm lower springs for best results.

You can use the OEM springs but if you have the money and you are planning on getting springs anyway then just get it done.

Ride feels OEM but in the corners its totally different... doesn't pitch about or anything.

Get it done

<tuffty/>

 

[jdas03]

great sounds really good, find the OEM set up has a bit of roll in some corners! does it provide more feel and feedback as well?
also with regards to insurance does this normally up it quite a bit?

 

[DPM]

If you wanted to use the OEM springs then it's the Bilstein B6's you need.

Damian @ DPM Performance

 

[fingermouse]

B8`s and H&R work well don`t forget adjustable arms so your looking at up to £1000 with tracking etc depending if you can do the job yourself.

 

[Andy_S3]

I too was in the same situation as you a couple of months back, took the plunge and spent circa £1500 on B8s, H&R springs, adjustable tie arms for the rear, thicker ARBs front and rear, wheel spacers front and rear, fitting and a 4 wheel alignment. I cant recommend it enough and agree with Tuffty its the next best performance mod after a remap. Bought most of my parts from DPM who were very helpful.

And to answer your question yes IMO you get a lot more feel and feedback ONLY if you have the car aligned properly though. To be honest I was a little let down by the handling after having it all fitted. A month later after it had all settled I took it in for the wheel alignment and what a difference it made!

 

[stevehart]

I would even say it was the best mod you can make to the car.

It makes the car so much fun and engaging to drive and it becomes a really chuckable toy. It also means you can get the most out of your power and any extra comes as a real bonus.

 

[jdas03]

Brilliant, sounds great! i better get saving then! knew it was an expensive job but set aside around £800 for it, sounds like ill need another £800 to make the most of it! Would you say then that it is better to get the remap first? my car is a 210bhp and totally standard, but as a lot of you are saying suspensions set ups second to the remap i may go that route first then save for suspension till after christmas, what would you advise?

 

[Andy_S3]

If youre not planning on any other engine mods go for the remap. Ive fitted a Forge Split-R valve and a panel filter followed by the remap and left it at that - im currently getting 35mpg and I plan to keep it that way! lol The remap is probably the cheapest way to put a big grin on your face though!

 

[MintyS3]

Remap, brakes, chassis. Thats what I think anyway. You use accelleration and braking everyday. Your only going to put the chassis to test on the odd day really.

 

[stevehart]

Remap, brakes, chassis. Thats what I think anyway. You use accelleration and braking everyday. Your only going to put the chassis to test on the odd day really.

Horses for courses. Funny as I would say chassis, remap, brakes .

The chassis makes it just enjoyable to drive, then your extra power comes as a great bonus. Depends how you look at it i guess

 

[jdas03]

Thanks for all your advice on this was going to go ahead and look at the remap this weekend until i rang admiral and told them my plans...
i firstly stated suspension because i thought this wouldn't necessarily say im looking to drive my car fast to insurance guys, stated i wanted to replace dampers and springs, and the response after 10 mins on hold was no! i was suprised to say the least they wouldnt even give me a silly quote! they said i could only change the suspension with something similar to standard one and preferably the same!
I then tried my luck with a remap, the answer was again no... so now i am stumped! was dying to tinker with the car and play with performance and set ups...
i hate insurance companies!!

 

[<tuffty/>]

Give Adrian Flux a ring mate....

<tuffty/>

 

[jdas03]

problem is i've already paid the whole years insurance (10 months til renewel) worked out cheaper this way so i suppose they kinda got me! god knows what the cancellation price would b on my policy! :-(

 

[jdas03]

With regard to remapping, I was talking to a friend of mine last night about this and he owns a caterham 7. He was saying he uses a device on his car that he can put and and remove as he wants and when removed the car is set back to standard. He also said his particular one had various settings for different maps, some were made for economy and others for racing. I was wondering what this was and if there was one for s3? Even if it was only set for one map, just wanted one so that removing it would set the car back to standard. Is this possible for the s3?

 

[Andy_S3]

I think Revo can help you out mate, check out their website.

 

[jdas03]

Great, looked at revo select + looks good. What are the opinions of these? Are they as good as normal remaps? Give same performance? Do they work differently from a normal remap? I like them because I want to start using my car on the track, so as soon as I get back on the road I can switch to standard so as not to invalidate my insurance in a crash!

 

[MintyS3]

I have Revo and just used sps to change the map settings. There is a big difference between standard revo map and the aggressive settings. Was very impressed. It does have the option to set back to "standard" map.

 

[jdas03]

Just to clarify, are these sps devices standalone? Can I put it straight on my s3 and then alter the map without anything else? And then put it back to normal by removing the device?
I am only thinking as what would be ideal is something I can use on the track and it give me a big performance boost and then on the road remove so I don't face the wrath of my insurance company lol

 

[MintyS3]

You need to get revo put onto the car first and then you can use sps to change the map values or revert it back to standard. You can plug it straight into the cars OBD port.

 

[jdas03]

Ah ok so I need to get revo to do a normal remap then I use the select + device to set it back to normal or tweak what they have mapped. And I couldn't use this without revo mapping the car prior to this?
Is this in a way insurance friendly then? If I were to use it on a track then on way home put car back to standard map, the insurance guys wouldn't decline a claim because some one had changed the engine mapping at some point on the car?
Thanks for all your comments

Jonny

 

[jdas03]

after looking more i've come across tuning boxes such as this one :

http://www.tmcmotorsport.com/DieselRangeDieselTuningKits.aspx

This is more like what i meant, plug it in and have the extra power take it off and back to standard.
Whats the view of these? my only concern is knackering the engine. the figures seem good, im not sure how well it will be noticed though!
anybody heard or used one of these?
Are there better makes than this one? £350 seems alot, near as much as a normal remap!

 

[j4jon]

Also have a look at chippeduk and their ST3 device. They give you two maps and your standard one which you can switch between when you want.

 

[Fuzzy felt]

problem is i've already paid the whole years insurance (10 months til renewel) worked out cheaper this way so i suppose they kinda got me! god knows what the cancellation price would b on my policy! :-(

they would probably sting you for 30% of the total premium plus a cancellation fee on top, how much are you paying for your insurance out of interest ?
Best thing as mentioned above is get on to someone like Adrian Flux for a quote, you might be surprised, plus they are more than happy to take modifications.

 

[jdas03]

paying 2k so i dont really want to change! will ave to look at these removable like st3, just to keep insurance happy! dont wana risk it, i know some people say that mods like revo altering your map wont b easily detectable but dont really want to take that risk so i guess ill go down the route of something i can remove after track use :-( just hope its as good!