ast coilovers or bilstein and falkners

7th January 2009, 09:01

posted in the kam racing section but no such luck, what would be the better bet for fast road use and track use later this year?

ast coilovers and billstien rears or
billstien dampners with falkner springs?

7th January 2009, 09:36

i would say the billies tbh.

7th January 2009, 11:17

Dont ast use pugsport dampers for there top end coilies?
Not heard a bad thing about ast as of yet!Billies is always the safe option really, known to be reliable and well built dampers!

Depends what ast coilies you would go for, can spend upto 1k on just the front suspension with ast!

7th January 2009, 12:46

AST coilovers look porn tbh.

Depends on your budget and what the car is used for, as each of your options have massive variables on spec.

7th January 2009, 12:48

the ones kam racing are bringing in....

7th January 2009, 12:51

Are you on about billies or ast?

I dont know what kam is bringing in tbh.

Can you link to what your looking at?

7th January 2009, 12:53

ast coilies that kam are bringing in are http://www.kamracing.co.uk/manufactu...geot-1283.html

7th January 2009, 13:58

They will be good, but i dont know how nm compares to lb/ft when talking about spring rates.

Plus the ast is front only, so will have to buy rear dampers and poss torsion bars if you go much harder on the front.

I have some billie sprints and the faulkner kam springs. I think it is very good and would recommend it for the price.

7th January 2009, 14:02

depending on spring rate of the coilovers more than likely need uprated torsion bars on the rear.

for what you need i would just get billies imo

will you not need different top mounts for those coilovers? as well as re enforcing your strut tops?

7th January 2009, 14:21

Spring rate road 30n/mm
Spring rate track 50n/mm
Spring rate slicks 70n/mm

Converting that to Ibs/inch (Nx5.7082)
road - 170Ib
track - 285Ib
slicks - 400Ib

7th January 2009, 14:22

So basically if you are running road coilies the standard torsion bars should be fine, but race will need 22 or 23mm torsion bars and slicks, well i guess 23mm or get some custom bars made to suit the front spring rate!

7th January 2009, 14:59

when you are running slicks you can use very hard springs. Weight transfer is needed on road tyres to squash the tread into the road.

AST was started by a chap who used to work at Koni. Kinda like the was Gaz started by an ex Leda and Catcams by an ex Piper employee. Its an incestuous world

7th January 2009, 17:19

pic of the ASTs/ Due to the design they don't require welding.

I've got an order coming in so can post up more pics then (stole that one from elsewhere)

7th January 2009, 17:55

asnwers a question in your section

very interested in a set about april may time (maybe 2 sets)

8th January 2009, 10:14

dont mean to sound like an idiot do you get that black bit too?

8th January 2009, 11:50

I doubt it mate, you get all the coilover bits and then just requires fitting, its not too difficult at all!

8th January 2009, 11:52

how does the "coilover" bit attatch to you strut do you ahve to cut off the standard platform for the standard spring and how does the threaded section attach to the strut?

sorry i dont know eanythign about coilovers

8th January 2009, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtr-richie

how does the "coilover" bit attatch to you strut do you ahve to cut off the standard platform for the standard spring and how does the threaded section attach to the strut?

sorry i dont know eanythign about coilovers

the spring pan pulls off the standard strut and you weld te coil on normally
as far as i have seen most ast stuff come as in that pic
the lower struts are assembled like (i think anyway)

best to wait for kam to comment

8th January 2009, 12:07

how do the raceland ones go on they arent weld are they....

8th January 2009, 12:09

they thread on in place of the origonal damper cap
its quite a clever idea

shame the rest of the kit is shite

8th January 2009, 12:14

oh right yer clever..... these ast ones which dampners do they come with? like "home brand" ones?

8th January 2009, 12:19

ast use ast dampers
which are adjustable to suit a lot of springs

theres a good thread in kams section about them

8th January 2009, 12:40

yer well a couple people here said use billies but the coilovers sem a better choice now...

8th January 2009, 12:48

Billies are good no doubt, they have a good reputation etc, but ive not heard a bad thing about the ast coilies and if the owner of ast once worked for koni, piper and a few others im sure hes made a real decent kit!

8th January 2009, 12:52

yer true..... maybe worth investing and trying them out

8th January 2009, 14:37

Are you ever going to adjust the ride height and damping though?

And remember the rear will need doing each time too.

A good set of springs with billies will give as good performance and ride as coilovers if you ge what you want 1st time.

8th January 2009, 14:56

onyl thing i would liek to adjust is the ride hieght as i 'think' my saxo is 45mm and its to high for my licking

9th January 2009, 08:00

back to this kam? and also would you need to put billi inserts in these eanyway?

30th January 2009, 13:22

Just noticed this thread again. The AST units are complete replacement units, you will not need any other parts (other than a topmount) to fit.

30th January 2009, 13:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick_106

Dont ast use pugsport dampers for there top end coilies?

AST make their own dampers

30th January 2009, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtr-richie

onyl thing i would liek to adjust is the ride hieght as i 'think' my saxo is 45mm and its to high for my licking

This is James ('Mario')'s VTW down 45 on Eibachs mate, and it def not high;

30th January 2009, 14:19

that picture could be misleading. Looks like approaching a left hander and there is some weight transfer to the offside front wheel

30th January 2009, 14:23

True point mate but It is very low, much lower than mine and Ive got the same springs, as the VTrs got a heavy lump it should be lower on 45 springs than in his avitar