12/01/06
After doing some research and determining that the STaSIS Motorsport
coilovers were the best available on the market, I checked my wallet and
went with the Bilstein PSS9's instead. They were fairly new on the market in
the US for the B5S4 and their ride height adjustability along with
compression and rebound adjustment (one 'dial' for both) seemed like a good
alternative given the easier to swallow price.
Researching on AW tech section I used the coilover install instructions (I
believe for H&R?) to do this myself...my most daring DIY to date ;). Install
went off without a hitch, but was a bit of a pain doing it in my garage with
just jackstands.
These coilovers are 9-way adjustable (although some shock dyno testing by
Tomasz @ Startupracing revealed just two true settings...search AW for
details) and I played around with the adjustments for a while. They're
fairly easy to adjust: the fronts you can get to no problem...better if
wheels are turned. For the backs, the easiest is to jack the frame up to the
point just before the back wheel would lift off the ground, then reach over
the tire (under the wheel well) down to where the adjustment is. It's
'blind' adjustment, but the clicks of the adjustment wheel are very
distinct, so it's easy to track how much you turned them.
The result: I loved them. What a HUGE difference from
stock! No more body roll..zero...and just awesome handling in the corners
overall. I ended up having them set very stiff (5-9 all around, 1 is
softest, 9 stiffest) and although you could feel the bumps quite a bit more
over stock at these settings the performance made up for it in my eyes. It
was like glue on the roads.