Bilstein B14 PSS Regret

[unspankable]

Installed couple of days ago on a 2018 with less than 7k and I'm overall pretty underwhelmed. Rebound seems alright but damping seems very weak. Rear springs feel like butter till I hit a bump or pothole then my spine is getting dislodged by the bump stops. Stock just felt better. What gives?
I torqued everything correctly under load, made sure the rubber mounting tension of all bushings in the system were released.
Just sad. Lots of effort for blah results. At least it looks better.

 

[PunkST]

Is there a chance you got a bad set of rear shocks??

 

[Bretley]

Not sure how your rear springs are supposed to be but mine are flipped the other way. Mountune Clubsport

 

[dabeats9]

Same here with swift springs my coiled up part faces upwards while the springs with more space between them went downwards. Yours may be backwards bud

 

[FJ16]

Please buy some ramps that looks crazy unsafe!

I definitely sympathize, I went through 3 sets of springs personally and still wonder if others would feel like what I truly want (kicking myself for not at least trying swift spec r).

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

Idk about lots of effort. I could swap coils on this car in 30 minutes. Easily a hour from rolling to not to rolling. Also I ran Super Sport springs for 25k miles and went to B14 kit. Night and day difference

 

[HBEcoBeaST]

Are you experiencing the 'softness' in both front and rear? I recently put on b14s and can attest they are much less dampened than stock so the shock feels softer. Mine felt softer the first few hundred miles but feel better now. I am not bottoming out at all but I do ocassionaly rub my 205/50r16s if I'm not careful over big bumps.

Not sure if they changed the model but I'm also less than 100% satisfied. Ordered mine from the UK too.

Also your rear springs do look upside down. The instructions suck so I don't blame you.

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[HardBoiledEgg]

Less dampening is what I wanted. Stock is the worst riding car I've had in my life.

 

[CSM]

For the ones that are disapointed, are you using the Non ST or the ST specific SKU? I believe the shocks are the same but maybe we need to revisit that?

I have the ST versions. They are more firm than OEM but the overall ride is WAAAYYY less jarring.

 

[HBEcoBeaST]

For the ones that are disapointed, are you using the Non ST or the ST specific SKU? I believe the shocks are the same but maybe we need to revisit that?

I have the ST versions. They are more firm than OEM but the overall ride is WAAAYYY less jarring.

I have the regular Fiesta kit. Bilstein USA told me they were identical kits minus how the springs were mounted which only affects ride height. However I ordered these from the UK so maybe the European models are different? They have the same USA part #

Body control is much improved, steering feel and turn in are improved as well as traction. 99% of the time they are much better than OEM. Ride is also greatly improved.

However going over bumps on the freeway over 80mph or driving quickly around town over bumps I've still scraped/rubbed even at Max height. I'm not bottoming out but it feels like the shock depresses much farther on the initial bump, then stiffens up for consecutive bumps. Very similar feeling to a desert pre-renner truck suspension with zero pre-load. I find myself wincing before every bump or dip. Not sure what my solution will be. I've even rubbed the liner in back.

I run 205/50r16s on 16x8 dekagrams but I've seen others run these sizes with reportedly zero issues.

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[CSM]

I have the regular Fiesta kit. Bilstein USA told me they were identical kits minus how the springs were mounted which only affects ride height. However I ordered these from the UK so maybe the European models are different? They have the same USA part #

Body control is much improved, steering feel and turn in are improved as well as traction. 99% of the time they are much better than OEM. Ride is also greatly improved.

However going over bumps on the freeway over 80mph or driving quickly around town over bumps I've still scraped/rubbed even at Max height. I'm not bottoming out but it feels like the shock depresses much farther on the initial bump, then stiffens up for consecutive bumps. Very similar feeling to a desert pre-renner truck suspension with zero pre-load. I find myself wincing before every bump or dip. Not sure what my solution will be. I've even rubbed the liner in back.

I run 205/50r16s on 16x8 dekagrams but I've seen others run these sizes with reportedly zero issues.

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I've got mine set at max height and my 215/40/17 ZIIIs on 17x7.5 Sparcos would rub in the front liner on REALLY bad bumps. But it was rare. Haven't had rubbing yet on my 17x8 w/ 215/40/17 Pirellis yet, but I just put them on.

My 225/45/16 ZIII on 16x8 Dekagrams rub pretty bad in the front on both the liner and the fender tab. I need to trim the fender tab before autocross season.

Whats your fender to center hub distance?

 

[M-Sport fan]

I've got mine set at max height and my 215/40/17 ZIIIs on 17x7.5 Sparcos would rub in the front liner on REALLY bad bumps. But it was rare. Haven't had rubbing yet on my 17x8 w/ 215/40/17 Pirellis yet, but I just put them on.

My 225/45/16 ZIII on 16x8 Dekagrams rub pretty bad in the front on both the liner and the fender tab. I need to trim the fender tab before autocross season.

Whats your fender to center hub distance?

Are these at MAX height still a bit lower than factory ride height??

I ask because I also want to put some 225/45-16s on another set of Dekagrams, but at about factory ride height.

 

[CSM]

Are these at MAX height still a bit lower than factory ride height??

I ask because I also want to put some 225/45-16s on another set of Dekagrams, but at about factory ride height.

yeah I'm maxed out on the perches on the B14s. Its about a .75" drop from stock. modest

 

[unspankable]

Thanks for all the feedback people.
First up those sand bags are just to load the suspension while I second torqued fasteners. There are jack stands under there set a little lower to stop this face getting any uglier than it already is.
As far as spring orientation I was trying to figure this out also but the included instructions explicitly stated that the correct spring orientation is achieved by having the Bilstein logo printed on the spring facing up, so that's what I did. It does look wrong though so I dunno. Can someone else with these take a look under theirs for me?
Edit- orientation doesn't matter. See attached screenshot.

The extra effort came from sourcing the extra parts a couple of times. I bought some camber plates from the UK that had shock nuts with the wrong thread pitch so I sent them back then got new plates that ended up not fitting anyway so I went back to stock topmounts added to the bilstein 'torque everything under load then loosen all rubber to metal attachments to relieve tension' just a pita for it not to be better than stock.
Might switch to adjustable KWs.

 

[unspankable]

Less dampening is what I wanted. Stock is the worst riding car I've had in my life.

What year is your Fist? 2016 on they changed the damping to be less harsh.

 

[unspankable]

https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/bilstein-b14-pss-springs.10655/

The guy on this thread has them installed the same way I do.

 

[ToastAutoX]

Woah this is fascinating. I have mine installed in reverse of you guys. I was going off of this install:

http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-...-to-make-a-ford-fiesta-st-an-autocross-animal

Honestly, I did find the install less than straightforward, and cut out the lower bushings.

 

[unspankable]

Woah this is fascinating. I have mine installed in reverse of you guys. I was going off of this install:

http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-...-to-make-a-ford-fiesta-st-an-autocross-animal

Honestly, I did find the install less than straightforward, and cut out the lower bushings.

Hey I made a post about this also in another thread Here

 

[ToastAutoX]

Hey I made a post about this also in another thread Here

Welp, time to bust out the jack and get at it. Thankfully I put less than 400 miles on it in this configuration, but still... wish Bilstein's instructions had been a tad clearer.

 

[medgingt]

https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/bilstein-b14-pss-springs.10655/

The guy on this thread has them installed the same way I do.

Did you install the rear bump stops? Bilsteins only have internal bump stops on struts, not shocks like the rear.