Bilstein Club Sport Dampers

[UK Carrera]

I am looking to refresh the 20+ year old Bilsteins dampers on my 1988 3.2 Coupe. My car runs std torsion bars, which I am not looking to change.
Now I fitted the current dampers myself and am relatively happy with the performance/comfort compromise. I can't find in my records exactly which spec of front damper is fitted though, but I know the rears are 'fast road'. I have a vague recollection of being advised to go with a 'softer' option on the front, but unless I pull the damper insert (I have Boge legs) I can't find the part number.

I'm looking at replacing front & rear with the current 'Club Sport' option that Bilstein offers.

Question is - is anybody running these dampers on a stock 3.2 that can give me their thoughts on the performance/comfort compromise?

I'm in the UK so our road conditions are somewhat different than the US though!

Pic of my car for interest.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by UK Carrera

I am looking to refresh the 20+ year old Bilsteins dampers on my 1988 3.2 Coupe. My car runs std torsion bars, which I am not looking to change.
Now I fitted the current dampers myself and am relatively happy with the performance/comfort compromise. I can't find in my records exactly which spec of front damper is fitted though, but I know the rears are 'fast road'. I have a vague recollection of being advised to go with a 'softer' option on the front, but unless I pull the damper insert (I have Boge legs) I can't find the part number.

I'm looking at replacing front & rear with the current 'Club Sport' option that Bilstein offers.

Question is - is anybody running these dampers on a stock 3.2 that can give me their thoughts on the performance/comfort compromise?

I'm in the UK so our road conditions are somewhat different than the US though!

Pic of my car for interest.

Bilstein has a several different options for the valving in their struts and shocks

most common are the hd(green) and sport(yellow), both have linear valving and are the same except for valving

I've used hd/hd(this was the stock setup that my C3 came w/), sport/sport and currently have hd/sport. w/ both stock 19/23 and w/ 20/26 tbars in a 2500# ~300hp C3

happiest w/ hd/sport, 20/26, 225/45 on 8 and 255/40 on 9.5 x17

That said my 993 has custom digressive Bilstein Cups and a much stiffer suspension that rides and handle much better, part of the improvement is certainly the suspension design butt a large portion also comes from the digressive revalve

so i'd recommend hd/sport and to ice the cake custom digressive revalve

Another interesting possibility is the adjustable Billsteins that are just becoming available. If they follow the other 964 up adjustable design paradigm, they will be adjustable and digressive stock. But information has been very hard to come by.

If the car is lowered much you might also want to look into raising the spindles and/or raising the steering rack and possibly adding adjustable height steering knuckles.

and if money is no object MCS or JRZ are also desirable alternatives

KW uses a monotube design that sacrifices performance for comfort if that is your goal.

[UK Carrera]

Thanks Bill.
It's a confusing picture when I look at Bilstein suppliers here in the UK.
It seems that the B6 is only available in 3 flavours: Serie Turbo, Sportlich Strasse and Club Sport. This is from the Bilstein catalogue. These are all green, unless you buy the whole strut, which is yellow.
Which one equates to Hd, does that valving even exist? Sport is, I guess, Sportlich Strasse.
I've seen other suppliers listing a 'Standard' option.

I've also seen comments that the Club Sport option is a great road compromise - hence my asking for further input.

I don't have a lot of money to throw at this - I just want to refresh the dampers.
I am thinking that I need to pull one of the front inserts and check the part number to know what I really have in there.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by UK Carrera

Thanks Bill.
It's a confusing picture when I look at Bilstein suppliers here in the UK.
It seems that the B6 is only available in 3 flavours: Serie Turbo, Sportlich Strasse and Club Sport. This is from the Bilstein catalogue. These are all green, unless you buy the whole strut, which is yellow.
Which one equates to Hd, does that valving even exist? Sport is, I guess, Sportlich Strasse.
I've seen other suppliers listing a 'Standard' option.

I've also seen comments that the Club Sport option is a great road compromise - hence my asking for further input.

I don't have a lot of money to throw at this - I just want to refresh the dampers.
I am thinking that I need to pull one of the front inserts and check the part number to know what I really have in there.

The British Bilstein Catalog sure seems to be unnecessarily obtuse, multiple #s for the same purpose

If I understand you correctly you are looking for Bilstein insets for Boge struts? correct?

If so here are the relevant insert part # & stiffness, roughly CS, S, HD
part # setting
34-001158 225/112
34-001165 200/170
34-001141 150/110

Alternately have what's there rebuilt and while in there get digressive valving

[UK Carrera]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

The British Bilstein Catalog sure seems to be unnecessarily obtuse, multiple #s for the same purpose

If I understand you correctly you are looking for Bilstein insets for Boge struts? correct?

If so here are the relevant insert part # & stiffness, roughly CS, S, HD
part # setting
34-001158 225/112
34-001165 200/170
34-001141 150/110

Alternately have what's there rebuilt and while in there get digressive valving

Yes Bilstein inserts for Boge legs.
I don't really want to get mine rebuilt - I don't want the car off the road for that long right now.

I agree with those part numbers and re/comp values, but the supplier I am looking at here describes them as:
34-001158 225/112 = 'Street Sport' (not listed for my year)
34-001165 212/164 = 'Club Sport'
34-001141 148/108 = 'Std Sport'

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by UK Carrera

Yes Bilstein inserts for Boge legs.
I don't really want to get mine rebuilt - I don't want the car off the road for that long right now.

I agree with those part numbers and re/comp values, but the supplier I am looking at here describes them as:
34-001158 225/112 = 'Street Sport' (not listed for my year)
34-001165 212/164 = 'Club Sport'
34-001141 148/108 = 'Std Sport'

linguistics, the only difference is the damping values

911 from '73 -89 and all 930 use the same struts, you choose the damping characteristics all stock street 911/930 were the least damped 150/110 version

[mikedsilva]

Originally Posted by UK Carrera

Yes Bilstein inserts for Boge legs.
I don't really want to get mine rebuilt - I don't want the car off the road for that long right now.

I agree with those part numbers and re/comp values, but the supplier I am looking at here describes them as:
34-001158 225/112 = 'Street Sport' (not listed for my year)
34-001165 212/164 = 'Club Sport'
34-001141 148/108 = 'Std Sport'

I feel for you as I went through this exactly 2 years ago and I still don't understand the part numbering and naming... uk, usa and australia, all seem to have different labelling or market names.

Here is one of the threads I created as someone posted some useful info.
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1144651-79-sc-strut-insert-shock-absorber-confusion.html

[UK Carrera]

Originally Posted by mikedsilva

I feel for you as I went through this exactly 2 years ago and I still don't understand the part numbering and naming... uk, usa and australia, all seem to have different labelling or market names.

Here is one of the threads I created as someone posted some useful info.
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/1144651-79-sc-strut-insert-shock-absorber-confusion.html

Thanks Mike - I had found your thread.
Managed to find the number on my rear shocks - 2204B46 0975HO, which seems to confirm they are 'Street Sport'.

I still wish I could find someone who has the Club Sport option on an otherwise standard suspension set up to hear their thoughts.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by UK Carrera

Thanks Mike - I had found your thread.
Managed to find the number on my rear shocks - 2204B46 0975HO, which seems to confirm they are 'Street Sport'.

I still wish I could find someone who has the Club Sport option on an otherwise standard suspension set up to hear their thoughts.

An '87 M637 Club Sport option would have come w/ Boges w/ 34-001141 Bilstein inserts

Those are the closest match for the stock 18.8 mm front t-bars

[LukasM]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

Another interesting possibility is the adjustable Billsteins that are just becoming available. If they follow the other 964 up adjustable design paradigm, they will be adjustable and digressive stock. But information has been very hard to come by.

Hi Bill,

Where did you hear / read anything about adjustable Bilstein inserts? I didn't see anything yet on the Bilstein sites in the US or Europe.

Cheers,
Lukas

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by LukasM

Hi Bill,

Where did you hear / read anything about adjustable Bilstein inserts? I didn't see anything yet on the Bilstein sites in the US or Europe.

Cheers,
Lukas

Rose-Passion has them

[UK Carrera]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

Rose-Passion has them

It's really weird that Rose Passion seems to be the only company listing these. Bilstein itself doesn't seem to carry any information.

'Sigh', can't afford them anyway...

[Antomero]

Originally Posted by UK Carrera

Thanks Mike - I had found your thread.
Managed to find the number on my rear shocks - 2204B46 0975HO, which seems to confirm they are 'Street Sport'.

I still wish I could find someone who has the Club Sport option on an otherwise standard suspension set up to hear their thoughts.

UK Carrera - I went ahead and had my 84 carrera completely restored. And chose the option M474 suspension which is from the ClubSport. I chose the boge hd setup since my strut housing were boge. I absolutely love how it handles and how compliant it is on uneven surfaces. I would highly recommend the upgrade. I stuck with the stock torsion bars sizes but replaced them with new ones.

It sticks to the road! ))

[UK Carrera]

Originally Posted by Antomero

UK Carrera - I went ahead and had my 84 carrera completely restored. And chose the option M474 suspension which is from the ClubSport. I chose the boge hd setup since my strut housing were boge. I absolutely love how it handles and how compliant it is on uneven surfaces. I would highly recommend the upgrade. I stuck with the stock torsion bars sizes but replaced them with new ones.

It sticks to the road! ))

Interesting! I am still very much undecided. I think I am going to pull one of my front inserts to check the part number.

Digressive re-valve over winter on my existing units? Certainly an option I'm considering but I'm not aware of anyone in the UK that can do it.

[Ian Comerford]

I sense scope creep/slippery slope here Chris! Do you need more than you currently have (once you identify what that is.....)?

[UK Carrera]

Originally Posted by Ian Comerford

I sense scope creep/slippery slope here Chris! Do you need more than you currently have (once you identify what that is.....)?

Well my central thought is that the dampers are over 20 years old, so I'd like to refresh them. Arriving at that point it's only natural to look at options. Is there a 'better' combination of damping that I can achieve within my budgeted 'refresh'?

I can't afford a slippery slope. I certainly won't be changing torsion bars. So it's either buying a set of new Bilsteins in some Club Sport/Sport/HD combination, or delaying anything until the car is off road over the winter and looking at rebuild costs, perhaps with digressive damping if it doesn't substantially raise the cost (and the benefits are clear).

Right now, as I've just spent quite a bit on other more pressing maintenance parts, I'm tending towards leaving the dampers until winter. More time for research and consideration.

I'd like the car to be in top condition for my Sicily trip, hopefully next year.

[Alex66]

My Carrera is the same age as yours and some years ago I opted for the Bilstein Street Sport. I would not do so again as imho these dampers are too stiff even for the Coupe. I found different specs for the Club Sport (200/170 front), they should be a bit softer than the Street Sport. However, once I'll have to replace the inserts again I'll go with the Standard version (front 34-001141 / rear 24-001694).

[Mr. Merk]

My personal ’88 is running stock torsion bars with Bilstein Green inserts up front and Yellow shocks in the rear.

That said, we replaced the factory M474 (Sport), M491 (Supersport), and M637 (Clubsport) strut inserts and shocks on an ’87 last year, and the result was excellent—really well-balanced and composed. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that setup.

Front: 911 341 913 10

Rear: 911 333 051 18