Bilstein HD vs Sport with H&R springs

[bluebmw]

I just got some H&R springs and I was curious if Bilstein HDs or Sports would match better for a daily driver. I'd like it to be soft enough for longer drives, but stiff enough to be fun on spirited drives in the twisties.

I have Billstein Sports for the front, should I go ahead and get the rears or sell them and go with HDs.

While I decide what I'm going to do, would it be ok to install my H&R's with stock struts? If so, is anyone running this, and what do you think?

[bluedevils]

I just got some H&R springs and I was curious if Bilstein HDs or Sports would match better for a daily driver. I'd like it to be soft enough for longer drives, but stiff enough to be fun on spirited drives in the twisties.

I have Billstein Sports for the front, should I go ahead and get the rears or sell them and go with HDs.

While I decide what I'm going to do, would it be ok to install my H&R's with stock struts? If so, is anyone running this, and what do you think?

I think sports at front and HDs at rear matches perfectly with HR springs. Sports at rear makes the car too stiff for my taste but it is a subjective matter. You can try and decide later.

[AustrianVespaGuy]

My vote is HDs. I got my car with H&Rs and Sports on it and it was WAY WAY too hard. So hard in fact, that my rear end would 'skip' on road imperfections in corners since there wasn't enough give to let the wheels follow the smaller bumps. Anyway, I'm MUCH happier with HDs in the back now, and am currently shopping for a pair HDs to put in the front also. The front isn't near as bad as the rear was, but I prefer to have all 4 corners the same and then tweak with the stabilizer bars. In short, I would recommend Sports for a track car and HDs for a street car. Oh, and pay attention to your tire clearances with the H&Rs, ymmv, but on mine 195/60s on 14" BBS rims rubbed a little on the rear dampers so I went down to 185/60/14s instead.

-Carl

[Mike Self]

find them great for street and autocross both. I have pictures of my car autocrossing with stock springs/Bilstein HDs and then with the same HDs and H&R springs and there is noticably less body lean with the latter setup. Much better subjective feel too.

I presume you're using at least 19 mm sway bars vs stock, as they will also help with flatter cornering without making the ride any stiffer.

cheers

mike

[Tommy]

I'd say that if your wishes include word "soft" in any form then Sports are not for you. I sold mine after one summer.

Tommy

[c.d.iesel]

....i'd like to see you install " HD " front and rear.

As newer than your old tired shocks - the improvement

to excellent handling and absolutely creamy ride

will come from " HD " s , not 'Sport' spec Bilsteins.

Sports are really best left to a car that sees track use.

happy Neue year!

[02for2]

I've got the H&R w/ HDs all around. A very good setup, IMHO.

I cannot imagine going any more stiff for a car spending more than 30% on the street.

Stiff suspension setups feel 'cool' for the 1st thousand miles or so, after that, it can get pretty annoying very quickly.

Cheers!

[roadhog0]

Well. I've got Korman race springs on my car and I daily drive it (I HATE Seattle cobble stone, that could be a topic of it's own how much I hate it). I run Billy HD's with my springs. The rears ride on the bump stop a lot and the front if you hit an inch bump in the road slams the shocks very nicely... So I would say with H&R's you would be fine with HD's, much more I would say sports are in order. My car also use to shock slam when I had H&R's up front with HD's. So it's just a compromise I guess. Steer clear of potholes and bumps!

[sbarton]

If it makes the decision any easier for you, I'll buy your used Sports from you.

-Scott

[BiMiWi]

I've seen a couple of people running on that set-up. Read somewhere that the Bilstein HD is a factory height shock while the Sport variant is a lowered version which is recommended to use with the H&R sport springs.

[02TurboMI]

On 4/26/2018 at 12:21 AM, BiMiWi said:

I've seen a couple of people running on that set-up. Read somewhere that the Bilstein HD is a factory height shock while the Sport variant is a lowered version which is recommended to use with the H&R sport springs.

Shocks don't determine ride height - the springs do. Seems like this HD + H&R combo makes for a good daily driving combo.

[gary32]

Borrowed from a 2005 post by robspeed:

 

there are two types of springs: progressive and linear. progressives are wound closer to each other (softer) at one end than the other, whereas linears are wound the same throughout the coil. so the progressive spring has a "soft" end and a "stiff" end. the result of this is a certain amount of easy-riding softness (relative softness) until those closer-wound coils actually collapse entirely under load, then you are left with the "stiff" end to hold up the weight of the car. This is like a dual-use spring for street cars that will ride softly on small bumps but when they load up in a turn, start getting stiffer as the spring compresses. 

Linears are just linear. the rate is always the same. so a stiff linear will transmit all those little bumps more than a progressive, but control body roll more through turns because for a given amount that a car leans over, the overall resistance to this movement is higher since you dont have to go through a "soft" section before stiffening up. this would be best in a race car where you have a smooth track and dont care about feeling any little bumps.

Bilstien sports are a very stiff shock for the weight of an 02, far stiffer than other Bilstien sports are on other cars. shocks and springs obviously work together, so you want them matched (stiff spring, stiff shock) in general. You dont *NEED* them to be matched, but that is the conventional wisdom.

As always, it depends on what you are trying to do. If you want a nice riding, nice handling street car, get Bilstein HDs and H&R sport progressives. The H&Rs drop the car a good deal (1.5" or so) and "match" the Hds nicely.

If you want a track car, bils sports and stiff linear springs will hold the car more level through turns than a more-streety setup.

All that having been said, MY OWN PERSONAL PREFERENCE has always been to use stiffer shocks and softer springs (you would *NEVER* want much stiffer springs than shocks, i dont think, as shocks are meant to control the springs, which hold up the car, not the other way around) as a compromise between resisting bumps in turns (avoiding bottoming out) and a streetable ride. That along with the biggest, baddest sway bars keeps the car nice and level, a razor sharp turn-in, etc. 

Right now i dont *REALLY* follow this because i have Bils HDs and cut stock red-dots (the stiffest stock springs). This handles GREAT and feels great on the ride side (i am used to moderately stiff rides, others might call my car too stiff--wusses!). I have 22mm bars front and rear, but the rears are set to the softest setting (to help put the power down in turns)....

Edited April 30, 2020 by gary32

[02TurboMI]

6 hours ago, gary32 said:

Borrowed from a 2005 post by robspeed:

...

As always, it depends on what you are trying to do. If you want a nice riding, nice handling street car, get Bilstein HDs and H&R sport progressives. The H&Rs drop the car a good deal (1.5" or so) and "match" the Hds nicely.

...

 

Looks like there's only one PN for H&Rs available for the '02: #50401.

http://www.hrsprings.com/application/search/results/4/72/1974/

 

Is this the "sport spring" everyone using H&Rs is using?

[adawil2002]

This is my current setup: Bilstein HDs all around, H&Rs, fixed negative camber plates & IE Big swaybars. Tires are currently Kumho Solus TA11 185/70 13 which have limited traction & not great on damp roads. When I replace the tires I'm going with Pirelli CN36s.

 

 

[02fanatic]

This is a good discussion!  Ever since restoring Hugo back in 2004, when I installed the H&R springs with Bilstein Sport shocks (I bought the Bilsteins from Carl Nelson), the ride has simply been "jarring"!  Hugo also has beefy anti-roll bars, so it's set up stiff by design. I wanted the shorter springs to lower the ride height which is spot on now, and I had always heard that I must use the sport shocks with the shorter springs so that's what I did.  I still hear that from certain people, but I'm now of the opinion that they've got their story wrong!  If you run a shorter shock on a longer (standard) spring height that's not a good thing as the shocks might exceed their limits at the bump stops! 

 

I've asked my Independent BMW mechanic about using the HD shocks instead, and that is actually what he usually recommends.  So, unless I find out anything else to the contrary, I think I will swap in the Bilstein HD shocks, so I can come closer to a tolerable driving comfort situation.  I wish I had more experience in the matter back when I was doing all the work on Hugo myself!  Now, I'm not so sure I even want to tackle that myself.....I'd rather let my mechanic do it for me!

 

Live and learn!

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by 02fanatic