General > Product Reviews

Bilstein B12 and Eibach Pro Street kit for the Mk5

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PDT:
I am in the fortunate position of fitting, setting up and testing various types of suspension from the £199 'Ebay coloivers' right through to £3.5K pilbeam and rosejointed race spec kits. I have sold Bilstein products for years for all makes and models and never had any problems with them, the quality and support they offer is second to none.

When I got my first Mk5 I deceided to get the Bilstein PSS9 coilover kit but I then changed the car for an ED30 and never got round to fitting it and it was eventually sold through the shop, then a local member on here had an Eibach Pro-street coilover kit going cheap so I snapped it up and fitted it. It is a fantastic kit but a little soft for my liking and with the plan of a few trackdays planned I wasnt overly confident in the kits abilities under heavy braking, it seemed to lurch a little and not control the weight over the front end all that well. However for every day road use it was brilliant, stupidly comfy and a big improvement over standard handling and looks as it would go lower than you would ever need it to.

This week I ordered a Bilstein B12 kit and fitted it, as always the fit was perfect, the struts use an inverted damper design (much like a motorbike damper) which gives the apperance of a much bigger damper rod as pictuerd below:

PDT:
Continued....

The ride height is pretty much perfect lowering 33mm front and 35mm rear and ride quality is excellent, not as soft as the Eibachs but not as hard as the KW/weitec kits I have tested. Damping and rebound rates seem perfectly matched to the springs (which are specially made for this kit by H&R) with no bounce occuring after hitting a dip or bump in the road, the kit feels extremely well balanced in all conditions.

Cornering is nice and flat with just enough give in the springs so that it isnt to 'skittish' in the wet and no feeling of diving or understeer when the weight is shifted over the front wheels in a corner. Overall I couldnt be happier with the kit.

In summary, if you want a coilover kit for looks and comfort with a fair improvement in handling the Eibach pro-street kit is excellent, if you want something a little more functional and not worried about getting involved in the hype that surround coilver kits, and want something that you can fit, enjoy and forget about then the Bilstein B12 is a perfect product.


RRP of the Eibach kit is around £ 795.00  (I will have my old Eibach kit up for sale soon, PM me for info)
RRP of the Bilstein kit is £ 645.00

Top Cat:
Nice sales pitch. could have been a good review but we will never know.  :smiley:

gobbleplease:
Got to say ive had the Bilstein kit on a previous car and loved it, very comfortable and the damping is superb id say the pefect set up for road and a little track use !
the only reason i didnt go for it is that ive heard off rubbing on some cars that are this low not sure if they have spacers or bad set up, but i didnt want to risk it otherwise i would of had them over the KWs, as said fit and forget !

PDT:

--- Quote from: Top Cat on August 12, 2010, 10:25:18 pm ---Nice sales pitch. could have been a good review but we will never know.  :smiley:

--- End quote ---


You could look at it that way, we also sell Spax suspension which has 4x more profit in it that Bilstein but it wouldnt go anywhere near my own car, make of that what you like! The Bistein B12 kit is often overlooked in favour of cheap coilover kits that fall into the same price bracket, yes they have the function of adjusting the ride height but often leave a lot to be desired in actual on the road performance in comfort and handling.

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