Bilstein B14 PSS Coilovers for Fiesta ST

[chalituna]

It was time to mod my Fiesta pretty soon and what better way than is to change out the suspension? I honestly like the stock suspension set up as is, but I wanted to lower the car without just swapping out the springs. There aren't that many choices for coilovers for the Fiesta ST yet but I narrowed down to 2 coilovers; ST X Coilovers or Bilstein B14 PSS.

They're similarly priced, ST being a bit cheaper from the $100 rebate, but the amount of pro's outweigh the Bilstein, making it the choice

1. Reputation: Bilstein has been making suspension products long before ST with excellent reputation
2. Lifetime warranty: ST suspension has 5 years which seems long enough, but I have heard some horror stories about their RMA process
3. Monotube inverted shocks: Versus twintube design on the ST X coilovers
4. Springs: Bilstein's springs are made by H&R, which are also very reputable company in suspension field. ST makes their own.
5. Corrosion proof: ST is made with galvanized steel versus Triple-C coating on Bilstein

Just picked it up from UPS ship center!

I think most Bilstein coilovers are drop shipped from the manufacturer and I appreciate their thorough packing!

Installation is very simple. I believe RallysportDirect has a DIY on Eibach lowering springs. It's almost the exact same step plus removal of the rear shocks (2-10mm bolts on top, accessable from rear wheel well)

The finished result! The front heights were factory spec and the rear's are about 15 turns down. The rear adjuster comes unassembled so I had to guess how much lower it should be.

The ride quality has definitely improved. The spring rate on the Bilstein's are about 100 lbs higher than the stock so it's not that harsh on my back even on uneven LA freeways. The ride is much less bouncy and highly responsive. With the stock wheels, on a very hard turn, the fronts will scrape. Depending on how heavy you are, result will vary. I weigh about 105 lbs and it does scrape very lightly on a harsh turn or on a bump. I am planning on raising the front just a bit to reduce the scrape and to even the drop with the rear.

Overall, I am very happy with the purchase and highly recommend this to other owners who want nice handling upgrade without breaking the bank. I got this set for about $770 shipped and I bet you can get cheaper one if you shop around. I have not taken over to a track or anything yet, but I will have my test day up at Angeles Crest Highway and I'll update this review.

 

[moshaholic2]

Im running the same set up. Love mine.

 

[SoCalST]

Is this the same coilover kit for the regular Fiesta?

 

[JP6spd]

Where'd you pick these up. I think this is the direction I'm going to go.

 

[MKVIIST]

Looks great! Interested to find out where you got these too. Thats a great price.

 

[chalituna]

Where'd you pick these up. I think this is the direction I'm going to go.

I bought these from summitracing. Had them price match it with some retailer that had it for a bit cheaper.

 

[chalituna]

Is this the same coilover kit for the regular Fiesta?

Yes. The one that's discontinued by Ford racing, but Bilstein still makes them

 

[rooSTer]

Looks great...now I wished I would have bought these when Ford Racing was selling them for $500 a few months back.

What paint did you use on the wheels?

 

[Matcannibal]

"Pos?e" we say in France.... Very nice low like this !

 

[chalituna]

Looks great...now I wished I would have bought these when Ford Racing was selling them for $500 a few months back.

What paint did you use on the wheels?

I should expect jumped in on that feal but people were skeptical about the fitment...

I painted the wheels with black plasti dip

 

[Blackbird]

Something to point out: ST Suspension (an American company) is owned by KW Automotive GmBH, as a lower-tier product line (vs KW's v1-v3 series of coilovers). Therefore the springs, etc, are made with iinput by KW. Just for future reference.

A few questions for you about the Bilstein B14 PSS coilovers:

1. How is it under acceleration and braking? If you could put a figure on it (%-wise) by how much would you say brake dive is reduced? Front-end lift under hard launch/acceleration? Do you have more stability under braking and less loss of grip/wheel hop on getting the hammer down?
2. How far down do you have the coilovers adjusted? About how much drop did you get (did you measure?)

 

[chalituna]

Something to point out: ST Suspension (an American company) is owned by KW Automotive GmBH, as a lower-tier product line (vs KW's v1-v3 series of coilovers). Therefore the springs, etc, are made with iinput by KW. Just for future reference.

A few questions for you about the Bilstein B14 PSS coilovers:

1. How is it under acceleration and braking? If you could put a figure on it (%-wise) by how much would you say brake dive is reduced? Front-end lift under hard launch/acceleration? Do you have more stability under braking and less loss of grip/wheel hop on getting the hammer down?
2. How far down do you have the coilovers adjusted? About how much drop did you get (did you measure?)

1. There's definitely a reduce in a dive. I couldn't really give you a percentage but maybe with a video comparison with a stock FiST, I can find out. The car doesn't hop as much now as the shock rebound is really quick. The car feels like it's stuck to the ground.
2. The fronts were left at a factory setting. However, the rear adjuster came disassembled so I had to set it up manually. I set up by turning the adjuster down about 15 revolutions and the results are what you see there on the photo. However, I didn't like the unevenness of the drop so I went ahead and raised the fronts by 4 revolutions and now the drop looks more even.

 

[justinsane]

Bumping this old thread from the dead, seems like there is a new part # for ST specific applications which is around $200 more

ST specific = #47-242043 (http://cart.bilsteinus.com/product/47-242043/409261/FWD)
Fiesta/Mazda 2 = #47-167490 (http://cart.bilsteinus.com/product/47-167490/417099/FWD)

As far as I can tell the product description for the two part #'s are the same other than the rear shocks supposedly being yellow on the Non-ST ones and Zinc all around on the ST ones although this might just be oversight.

There's phone numbers for ThyssenKrupp on the Bilstein website which I might call tomorrow so I wonder if they'll have an answer on what the difference is. No e-mail

As far as I know Tirerack is the only online company listing the ST specific part # right now

I'm kinda doubting the ST specific ones are worth the extra $200 or so but yeah..

 

[chalituna]

Bumping this old thread from the dead, seems like there is a new part # for ST specific applications which is around $200 more

ST specific = #47-242043 (http://cart.bilsteinus.com/product/47-242043/409261/FWD)
Fiesta/Mazda 2 = #47-167490 (http://cart.bilsteinus.com/product/47-167490/417099/FWD)

As far as I can tell the product description for the two part #'s are the same other than the rear shocks supposedly being yellow on the Non-ST ones and Zinc all around on the ST ones although this might just be oversight.

There's phone numbers for ThyssenKrupp on the Bilstein website which I might call tomorrow so I wonder if they'll have an answer on what the difference is. No e-mail

As far as I know Tirerack is the only online company listing the ST specific part # right now

I'm kinda doubting the ST specific ones are worth the extra $200 or so but yeah..

Thanks for the info. I'm still running on my Bilstein (Mazda2 spec) for over 15k miles and no problems.

 

[Young L]

Modbargins is selling them also for $780

 

[justinsane]

I ended up installing the non-ST coils, right rear squeaked like a bitch so I took it out, graphite lubed it and filed the hole slightly and it's all good.
Damping is noticeably better, based on the few rough roads/train tracks I drive on every day.
The spring rate is also noticeably stiffer as when you shift the car doesn't pitch fore and aft as much as before.

Haven't had a chance to really push it in the turns but so far for daily use I'm happy.

 

[chalituna]

I ended up installing the non-ST coils, right rear squeaked like a bitch so I took it out, graphite lubed it and filed the hole slightly and it's all good.
Damping is noticeably better, based on the few rough roads/train tracks I drive on every day.
The spring rate is also noticeably stiffer as when you shift the car doesn't pitch fore and aft as much as before.

Haven't had a chance to really push it in the turns but so far for daily use I'm happy.

If you experience some of those 'clunking' noises from using these coilovers, try rotating the spring. This got rid of the clucking noise I got from the rears whenever I went over bumps.

 

[xskynetx]

stock height ?

It was time to mod my Fiesta pretty soon and what better way than is to change out the suspension? I honestly like the stock suspension set up as is, but I wanted to lower the car without just swapping out the springs. There aren't that many choices for coilovers for the Fiesta ST yet but I narrowed down to 2 coilovers; ST X Coilovers or Bilstein B14 PSS.

They're similarly priced, ST being a bit cheaper from the $100 rebate, but the amount of pro's outweigh the Bilstein, making it the choice

1. Reputation: Bilstein has been making suspension products long before ST with excellent reputation
2. Lifetime warranty: ST suspension has 5 years which seems long enough, but I have heard some horror stories about their RMA process
3. Monotube inverted shocks: Versus twintube design on the ST X coilovers
4. Springs: Bilstein's springs are made by H&R, which are also very reputable company in suspension field. ST makes their own.
5. Corrosion proof: ST is made with galvanized steel versus Triple-C coating on Bilstein

Just picked it up from UPS ship center!

I think most Bilstein coilovers are drop shipped from the manufacturer and I appreciate their thorough packing!

Installation is very simple. I believe RallysportDirect has a DIY on Eibach lowering springs. It's almost the exact same step plus removal of the rear shocks (2-10mm bolts on top, accessable from rear wheel well)

The finished result! The front heights were factory spec and the rear's are about 15 turns down. The rear adjuster comes unassembled so I had to guess how much lower it should be.

The ride quality has definitely improved. The spring rate on the Bilstein's are about 100 lbs higher than the stock so it's not that harsh on my back even on uneven LA freeways. The ride is much less bouncy and highly responsive. With the stock wheels, on a very hard turn, the fronts will scrape. Depending on how heavy you are, result will vary. I weigh about 105 lbs and it does scrape very lightly on a harsh turn or on a bump. I am planning on raising the front just a bit to reduce the scrape and to even the drop with the rear.

Overall, I am very happy with the purchase and highly recommend this to other owners who want nice handling upgrade without breaking the bank. I got this set for about $770 shipped and I bet you can get cheaper one if you shop around. I have not taken over to a track or anything yet, but I will have my test day up at Angeles Crest Highway and I'll update this review.

what happened with angeles crest review ?? and hey can you please tell me if the b14 bilstein allows you raise the car to stock height ? you talked about it on your thread but I am confused about the back or rear. I want to know that b14 shocks can be adjusted to STOCK RIDE HEIGHT in front and REAR. I want performance shocks with the ability to adjust

 

[chalituna]

what happened with angeles crest review ?? and hey can you please tell me if the b14 bilstein allows you raise the car to stock height ? you talked about it on your thread but I am confused about the back or rear. I want to know that b14 shocks can be adjusted to STOCK RIDE HEIGHT in front and REAR. I want performance shocks with the ability to adjust

I have had these coilovers for quite awhile now and I've taken my Fiesta over to Angeles Crest for countless number of times and they really are wonderful. The way the dampers rebound is simply joyous and it's a perfect combo for daily driving and spirited run.

As far as the stock height, I'm going to have to say that they'll be about 0.5 inch lower all around even at their highest setting. I haven't adjusted my height in quite a while and last time I adjusted, I can't quite remember how many more notches I can make it go up.

You can definitely lower this car down to the ground but if you want additional height lowering capability, get the Fiesta ST specific model instead of the regular Fiesta model that I have. As I mentioned before, they both fit our cars but the ST specific model has shorter travel distance and lower height.

Hope this helped.

 

[CSM]

Installed mine today.

Have them set to near top of the adjustment range. Not much lower than stock (if any) which is exactly what I wanted.

BEFORE:

AFTER: