[rosstin]

I had M Sport adaptive suspension from factory, but it's recently been caused me to fall out of love with my car. Around town it would make a sort of wooden clunking sound over broken tarmac. Then at speed it felt like the front just wasn't connected to the back.. sunken drains, expansion gaps and fast corners had become painful.

It was getting to the point where the lack of body control when pushing on was just draining my confidence. Maybe it was in my head, but at 2.5 yrs old the car felt very different to new. Something had to change..

So I settled on a solution - the Bilstein PSS10 B16 Komfort coilovers (part #48-229012)
From research the komfort kit had slightly softer springs and a smaller drop of between 0-30mm, rather than the normal B16's which are 30-50mm.

I didn't really want to go lower than factory, so the komfort kit sounded perfect and you can also manually adjust the damping. It was a bit of a leap of faith, but NISFAN 's 2014 thread was helpful and others seemed to have positive experiences.

Messing about with coding didn't appeal so I ordered an EDC delete kit, some 10mm/12mm spacers and the Bilstein B16 coilovers from Lorcan at Rossiters.

After being very well looked after by the Rossiters team (great service, highly recommended - thank you Lorcan) I had a two hour drive back to London. But first it was time for a bit of fun on whatever tarmac I could find near the workshop.
This being Norfolk it took me about 3 seconds to find a bumpy, uneven, winding, narrow B road. Perfect. Dampers set to 5/10 I set loose.

There is no two ways about this.. chassis control under these Bilsteins is absolutely phenomenal.

Immediately the car is planted and solid. Springs are firmer, but reassuringly so. Body roll is reduced and turn in sharper, although maybe not as sharp as I had hoped. Cornering stance is very much improved, with the car being flatter and feeling balanced with all four corners connected to the road. Similarly traction is significantly better and almost zero pitch under braking/throttle. At setting 5 the ride felt harder than my old Sport setting, but where that would skip across bumps, this is much more controlled with no thuds, crashing or skittishness.

All of this was very good, but maybe not great.. that was until I realised the speed I was carrying which was, lets say, >30% quicker than I might normally be on a similar road. That's what this does; it quietly gets on with the job, giving you so much confidence - you don't get the warning signs I was used to with the factory suspension. When I caught up with a white van I could see how unsettled and how much it was jumping up and down, while I soaked up the undulations behind it. This is a firm ride now, but an epic drive.

At town speeds the springs noticeably transmit small bumps and ridges much more than stock.. the dampers also settle themselves immediately - coming off speed bumps for example - which adds to the feeling of a harder ride. It's definitely a payoff I can live with but this upgrade isn't for anyone who likes to ferry their gran around town and it probably isn't for someone who uses as a family car.

I'm playing with the damping settings still. Felt a bit floaty at the rear with 1 on each corner. Notching the back corners to 2 solved that, so I'll probably keep the rear +1 over the front for now.

Getting the ride height nailed was trial and error with the spacers, but I'm really happy with the stance.. Let me know what you think!

[MattRST]

Brilliant , nothing better than good suspension

[RobUK]

The more I drive the car (36K miles now) the more I notice the times when the factory adaptive suspension gets it wrong and your setup sounds very interesting - thanks for an informative write-up. Unfortunately the fly in my ointment is that I do ferry around elderly relatives, not all the time but often enough. They already mention the exhaust, "Oooh isn't it loud, is it always like that?" so maybe a firm ride as well would get me disowned

[Watsey]

Good write-up Decent suspension is so important, and the improvement that you can feel reminds me of when I switched from Adaptive to Ohlins.

The stance of the car looks good.

[NISFAN]

You've brought back memories of when I fitted mine. Very similar remarks

[NISFAN]

Originally Posted by RobUK

The more I drive the car (36K miles now) the more I notice the times when the factory adaptive suspension gets it wrong and your setup sounds very interesting - thanks for an informative write-up. Unfortunately the fly in my ointment is that I do ferry around elderly relatives, not all the time but often enough. They already mention the exhaust, "Oooh isn't it loud, is it always like that?" so maybe a firm ride as well would get me disowned

Funnily enough, I found the stock suspension to be jarring in certain circumstances, usually ruts , manhole covers and potholes for example when taken at low speeds. The B16 kit in these scenarios is much better. Whilst the B16 springs are stiffer, as is the ride, you get the sensation that all four corners are working together, the car glides over bumps without that double thump-thump you get with standard stuff. The standard kit feels like each corner is on its own. Hard to describe, but the B16 in a soft-ish setting is both firmer and more compliant at certain speeds. There is definitely more depth to its abilities, so don't be put off by thinking it is a track only type upgrade, far from it.

[rosstin]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Unfortunately the fly in my ointment is that I do ferry around elderly relatives, not all the time but often enough.

Quick update here: I've taken 2psi out of my tires so they are now 36psi. It's helped the about-town jarring considerably. Still firm of course, but gramp's teeth will stay in

Originally Posted by NISFAN

Hard to describe, but the B16 in a soft-ish setting is both firmer and more compliant at certain speeds. There is definitely more depth to its abilities, so don't be put off by thinking it is a track only type upgrade, far from it.

Exactly this. This morning went for a early fast drive on a favourite route and confirmed my first observations. This felt like a completely different car and stamped its authority over the messy B roads in a way the old setup struggled to achieve on an average A road. I couldn't wipe the smile off my own face