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Legacy Bilstein Spec B Suspensions question


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Hi, everyone i have a quick question about 2008 Legacy Bilstein Spec B Suspensions. I want to know if it will fit my 2009 LGT and will i gain any difference in driving just from the struts and springs ?
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best mod I ever did to my car was fit it with Bilstein HD's and Eibach springs... but I had to shove a 1" saggy butt spacer on the rear to pick the car back up... otherwise it all went as expected for the install, really makes the driving crisper and not too harsh at all.
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How much different would be the experience on stock spec b Bilstein and springs ? I'm guessing doing the mounts is a must with the Bilstein to get the maximum spec b suspension feeling .
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How much different would be the experience on stock spec b Bilstein and springs ? I'm guessing doing the mounts is a must with the Bilstein to get the maximum spec b suspension feeling .

The difference is minimal but the oem bilsteins aren't worth it unless you can find a member selling a used set at a good price and low miles. You can get a set of 4 Bilstein HDs for about $650 shipped or you can get oem bilsteins through Subaru for $500 per corner. The HDs are a bit firmer and offer a better ride IMO. I'm not sure what mounts you're talking about but the 'saggy but shims' are for asthetics. They can also help eliminate rubbing if you have 8.5"+ wide wheels.

lol
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Im actually looking at a set that is for sell now here at the org . My car has 30,000 miles on it , the set of used bilsteins have 60,000 on them so I'm debating on if this would be a upgrade or a downgrade on my side ,
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The saggy butt spacer was more than just for looks but yes, the car was very saggy after the HD installs... the real need for me was the huge BANG when it bottomed out... 1" spacer was perfect for my car... not cheap for the part from Subtle but worth it and the car is also now level... as for top hats... if that's what you mean by mounts? You have to have the SpecB hats or the top of the bilstein just bangs around in the mount and won't work at all... there's some good pictures of the install and top hats in this thread here:

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/05-lgt-bilstein-hd-strut-install-issues-165228.html?p=3452492#post3452492

 

I was a noob. figured it out in the end though...

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saggy butt spacers have nothing to do with whether or not you bottom out. They do not affect the rear suspension travel in any way. Like I said, they are used for aesthetics or to prevent wheel rub, nothing more.
lol
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not my experience Dr Sharp. The car was bottoming out and the spacers created space between the components that were banging together because they were too close - having the 1" space put the whole strut assembly 1" further down from the body of the car - it does all the other things you talk about too but it also stopped my car going BANG over bumps.
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no. lets just agree to disagree... it was stuff banging together, could have been the sway bar on whatever too. Sorry I mentioned it or said bottomed out, perhaps that was the wrong term. I'm done now.
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Brilliant Dr Sharp! You sure put this n00b in his place! That PHD of yours has really paid off today. I am of course compunctious with my terrible sin and having now been thoroughly ashamed in public will of course amend my ways most precipitately and am in complete deference to your superior post count. Clearly the term Sharp in your name refers most reverentially to your rapier personality.

 

When or if you do come off your high horse, I would beg you to consider the body of the car is actually attached to other static components, all of which have a relevant position to the part of the suspension which moves. If the overall strut length is increased by shoving a shim on the

top (in my case a whole 1") it will of course as you have so succinctly already hammered clear to me cause the body of the car to rise up and show a visible increase in the gap between the top of the wheel and the wheel arch itself. However surely this only demonstrates the increased

strut length must be moving the static and non static components of the suspension further apart, are you suggesting this doesn't happen? Would the the upper control arm and bump stop not also exhibit the same increased gap or perhaps the lower control arm and the stabilizer bar

which depending on the end link could be damn close indeed without the shim up top? No, of course not... my own actual personal experience wouldn't matter a jot, not important when dealing with someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Silly me.

 

Perhaps as a doctor you are simply annoyed by the misuse of something intended for one function being discovered to have other benefits, maybe you need to write to the journal of medicine when you're done giving me a tongue lashing and explain to them how the misuse of Sildenafil citrate has really upset you, not just because nothing has solved that particular problem of yours but because it was only labeled for one thing in the first place. If you've already done that, kick a kitten through an electric fan or something, whatever makes you happy.

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the shims just raise the car. You cannot effect travel on the suspension unless you block the piston from moving. IE: bumpstops would be an example of restricting the suspension travel because they block or prohibit the piston to travel all the way down or up the strut body. people getting all butt hurt on "saggy butt spacers"
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well you're local... I can even show you what was happening on the car and how the shim fixed it for me... Yes, it raises the car but car body is attached to rest of car, there's a bit that moves and bit that doesn't, bit that doesn't is attached to the body that gets raised! It makes the overall length of the strut longer, in the same sense that the spring compresses, the overall length of strut gets shorter and when it's very very short it would hit the bump stop fixed to the car. In my case it wasn't hitting the bump stop but I think it was banging the lower control arm into the stabilizer bar or something there because it was a loud metal on metal bang. But really whatever it was banging on was solved by putting in the shim, it was not just an aesthetic change with the droopy bum for me...
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I had time yesterday to take my rear wheel off. First picture shows the 1" shim at the top of the rear strut and the bump stop which is fixed to the body of the car. If I was to remove the 1" shim the bump stop and upper control arm would end up resting 1" closer together making them more likely to collide.

 

http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/bumpstopfixedtocar.jpg

 

And this is where the problem was for me, fixed by the insertion of the 1" shim. The short endlinks seem to cause the stabilizer bar to end up too close to the lower control arm. As shown on the left as the travel increases upwards the bar starts to hang lower over the arm as you can see by another 1" taken out of the travel the bar is now right over the lower control arm and you can see where the bar and control arm have impacted in the past.

 

http://www.sigmafour.net/lgt/stabilizertravel.jpg

 

Putting in the 1" shim solved this banging by adding the additional length to the strut and moving these components out of the way from each other. The shim is not just for aesthetics in every case.

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let me put this nonsense to rest. saggy butt spacers are for the people stupid enough to buy the wrong springs for the car. buy the right spring set, and the car wont bottom out. end of story.

 

Also stock spec b bilsteins aren't worth the money. either get HD's or konis which are much better then any of the bilstein offerings.

 

 

to the OP, get konis.

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now that's a fair enough comment...

 

my set are HD's with the Eibach springs - I think they are the right springs but the endlinks were a bad combination with them. I said bottomed out but I never hit the actual bump stop, it was the lower control arm banging into the stabilizer bar.

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