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My Cruze has been exhibiting symptoms of shock wear for about 10,000 miles now. Depending on your driving conditions, after about 40,000-50,000 miles, the OEM shocks don't do as good a job of damping shocks and the frequency of bottoming out increases. The suspension simply crashes through when you hit a pothole or large bump.
In our cars, we don't quite notice it when the suspension bottoms out because the rubber stop absorbs most of the force and transfers it into the cabin, but if you know what to watch out for, you can tell when this starts happening, and the end result is typically compromised road stability, especially while cornering over uneven roads.
Since we drive economy cars, the suspension is tuned accordingly for comfort, so it's not surprising that the shock damping is a bit on the soft side. It's also a reason I'm uncomfortable with the concept of lowered springs on already soft shock absorbers. Sure, you might have a lower center of gravity and less body roll, but that doesn't mean your car actually handles better over a wide range of road surfaces.
I debated Eibachs for a week but concluded there's no way I could use those without a stiffer shock absorber, and Bilstein B8s, designed for lowering springs, were simply out of my budget, as would be the Bilstein B12 kit. Anyone who knows how I modify my car knows I'll either do it right or not do it at all.
As a result, I ordered my Bilstein B6 HD shocks today from Jerry at BNR. The Bilstein B6 is a significantly firmer shock designed for an OEM ride height that will turn a loose comfort-tuned suspension into a taut performance-tuned one. They're 2x as expensive as OEM replacement shocks, but will significantly improve suspension and handling performance without sacrificing deflection capability.
A tutorial and review will come as soon as they're installed.
Understanding BILSTEIN's Product Line
Sent from my BlackBerry PRIV using Tapatalk
In our cars, we don't quite notice it when the suspension bottoms out because the rubber stop absorbs most of the force and transfers it into the cabin, but if you know what to watch out for, you can tell when this starts happening, and the end result is typically compromised road stability, especially while cornering over uneven roads.
Since we drive economy cars, the suspension is tuned accordingly for comfort, so it's not surprising that the shock damping is a bit on the soft side. It's also a reason I'm uncomfortable with the concept of lowered springs on already soft shock absorbers. Sure, you might have a lower center of gravity and less body roll, but that doesn't mean your car actually handles better over a wide range of road surfaces.
I debated Eibachs for a week but concluded there's no way I could use those without a stiffer shock absorber, and Bilstein B8s, designed for lowering springs, were simply out of my budget, as would be the Bilstein B12 kit. Anyone who knows how I modify my car knows I'll either do it right or not do it at all.
As a result, I ordered my Bilstein B6 HD shocks today from Jerry at BNR. The Bilstein B6 is a significantly firmer shock designed for an OEM ride height that will turn a loose comfort-tuned suspension into a taut performance-tuned one. They're 2x as expensive as OEM replacement shocks, but will significantly improve suspension and handling performance without sacrificing deflection capability.
A tutorial and review will come as soon as they're installed.
Understanding BILSTEIN's Product Line
Sent from my BlackBerry PRIV using Tapatalk
