I just finished installing my Bilstein BTS suspension on my Outback. After fastening the top of the strut assembly to the body, I had to push the eyelet at the bottom of the assembly towards the front of the car to align it with the hole in the suspension arm. Is this normal?
Are the rear struts directional in that there is an inside facing side and an outside facing side? I installed the rears with the Bilstein sticker facing out.
Thanks,
David
I ended up paying close to $2300 for my BTS kit and all the related parts and shipping costs. It arrived last month after 5 months of waiting. I had the spring rates measured by a spring company: 171 lb/in for the fronts and 255 lb/in for the rear spring. I don't know how to measure the dampening of the struts themselves.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the post. I am still waiting for Japanparts to ship me the kit as they are having problems sourcing the kit. Aaargh, it's been 3 months already and I am losing patience.
It may be faster to re-engineer a kit that is already stateside. Ahem.
In the meanwhile, I was directed to Pedders who makes a gas strut replacement for the self-leveling rear struts of the overseas Outbacks. I am working with RallySportDirect (official distributor) to bring a full set (front and rear Pedders designed struts, and rear Pedders matched springs) to the US to test. This may be a viable option to the Bilstein BTS kits.
Best regards,
David
I have a BTS 5056J kit on order from Japanparts. Hopefully, it should get here in a month or two. My plan is to reverse engineer the springs and struts and see if I can put together a comparable kit using locally sourced parts.