#H&R #Bilstein #compression #rebound #damping #FCMElite
It's always awesome to find yet another reason to like a non-adjustable Bilstein (or H&R) shaft for our FCM Elite customer builds. Now I've found that the non-adjustable versions (Bilstein HD or PSS, or H&R Street Performance coil-over) have advantages over the adjustable PSS9 or PSS10! We can get reduced high speed compression force slopes with the former. Read on to find out why...
By choosing a narrower high speed compression shim on the 8mm stem for a non-adjustable shaft , something we can't do with the adjustable Bilstein PSS9 or PSS10 (they have to use a wider minimum shim diameter due to the 12mm stem of the adjustable shaft)., we can reduce the rate of high speed force build-up, or simply put, keep the slope lower. This difference in the stem diameter translating to narrower high speed shim will allow more compliance over curbing and bumps than the wider high speed shim required when using the Bilstein PSS9 or Bilstein PSS10 as the starting point. We can use the adjustable versions and have done so for many builds, but I'm finding another reason to stick to the non-adjustable shafts. So never fear if you can't 'afford' a PSS adjustable! You won't miss the knob anyway when we're done with the setup...
This realization also brought a technical perspective to why I haven't been that impressed with the Ohlins dampers in terms of their high speed compression force levels. They seemed no better than a standard valved Bilstein. I've been asked over the years fairly often how the Ohlins compares to the Bilstein. This is one area I don't see any advantage to the 'DFV' (Dual Flow Valve) technology in reducing high speed slope compared to what even a non-KBO Bilstein is capable of doing. Even if the valve is working, the high speed force build-up doesn't look any better than a Bilstein.
So yes, you can easily see why I say Bilstein is better - you can get less high speed compression slope with the non-adjustable Bilstein because a narrower high speed shim can be used for compression! And by adding our KBO technology you see even LESS high speed slope for amazing 'cannonball' run capabilities with curbs, speed bumps, and road hazards. Caution and reason still apply, but the things we can do with our KBO Elite setups are pretty amazing!
Here's a graph showing the difference between the previous KBO v1.8 high speed slope and our new KBO v1.9 with targeted changes to improve high speed force blow-off and allow a higher threshold force (if needed for the application, such as a heavier vehicle). KBO v1.9 sells for an extra $75 a corner ($475) when required for those applications that would need more compression than we can generate with KBO v1.8 ($400 a corner).
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