Listen to this man (Andrew). He knows his stuff.


My ridiculously high spring rates are still daily driveable on my PSS9's, a true testament to their uberness. Personally, I wouldn't go with any other besides an Ohlin or better. I am considering moving to a DFV for more adjustability, but really, it wouldn't be money well spent in my opinion, giving that these PSS9's rule so hard and cost so much less.

 

I have just purchased a set of the pss9's for my car, and after having researched this to death, I think for an all around shock you can't beat Bilsteins, I am sure there are better track only shocks and street only shocks, but since mine is a daily driver and sees some track use I can live with some short comings on both ends. I will post with my impressions after installation, and thanks for all the honest input from everyone.

 

Thanks, glad you like yours.

We've been doing a lot of work with Bilstein lately.

Custom valved fixed perch GTWORX/Bilstein dampers with matched springs are almost done.....for 08+ Impreza only. Sorry guys.

- Andrew

 

You won't be disappointed. I've had my PSS9's for about a year now and after talking to GTWorx and doing my own research I believe these are best coilovers for a daily driver.

 

Nice. Good info to know everyone. Thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure we have these in stock by the way.

- Andrew

 

So how do these compare to the OE MR bilsteins for ride and spring rate?

While I'm not concerned with daily drive ride I do get it up in the mountains. That means 6 or so hours in the seat on sometimes less than ideal roads. The autox facilities in the great northeast are also less than ideal at times. I have few complaints with the OE bilsteins other than they are under sprung for track and autox.
So my unanswered question is are the pss9's with supplied springs an upgrade to the bilstien struts? Or should I be looking at Ohlins. Or for that matter just get springs and revalve the OE units.

Thanks
Shoe

 

crap! lol you just helped me out haha

I j/had my pss9's installed 2 days ago, and i was pretty dissapointed in the ride. I had them set to 7 or 8 all around, thinking they would be fairly stiffer. It rode super soft. I didn't know the higher the number, the softer it was lol

 

Ok, so my question has been asked too above. For mostly spirited city driving, with non-competitive auto-x thrown in, and one or two trackdays a year what is better:

1. Custom Valved Bilstein HD's and GTWorks Springs
2. Bilstein PSS9
3. Ohlin's fixed perch shocks/struts

Number 2 and 3 allow for adjustments in dampening which would be helpful going from street to auto-x. Number 2 allows for a corner balanced car, which isn't that big of a benifit to me at my level. Number 2 allows for adjustments in ride height...but that's of no benefit at all to me. I'll set my ride height and leave it be if I had them. So the real benefit is the money, and the performance.

That leads me to believe that Number 1 would be best for me. Are the Ohlin's fixed perch struts/shocks a lot better than Bilstein's? I'm so confused and don't want to waste my money.

 

Sadly, the Ohlins are more available than the Bilstein HDs.

But number 1 is your best fit in my opinion (Bilstein MRs work get too).

 

For the money, #1 is hard to beat. There really is no need to adjust them if you have them valved well. The adjustability of the Ohlins IS nice to have, just to know that it's there so when your wife/gf/whatever is having a bad day and in one of her "moods" you can say "look babe, i'm gonna soften the ride....just for you." And this way she won't catch you pretending to turn a knob on a non-adjustable shock....

All three options are very good. The Ohlins are better than standard Bilsteins IMO, but revalved to our specs the Bilsteins are pretty great.

- Andrew

 

(I was going to PM this but decided to allow other people to hear the answer's and benefit from the questions)

I'm leaning towards getting a set of Bilstein's and your GTWorks springs and having the shocks custom valved for your springs. Do you guys perform this service? Do I go to Bilstein to have them revalve them? Would Bilstein know the specifics of valving to your springs?